5 Steps To Reduce Carbon Footprint In Business

As business owners we have responsibility to be mindful of our impact on the environment and our surroundings. There are many steps we can take as business owners to help reduce waste and our carbon footprints. Regardless if you agree with climate change modelling or not, we can all agree that less waste and a cleaner planet is something to strive for. By taking responsibility and taking active measures to reduce waste not only benefits the planet, it can also benefit our own businesses by sending a clear message to our clients and customers that your business actively seeks to improve the well-being of our environment.

Energy Supply

There are numerous ways we can source green energy, switching to renewable energy suppliers that harvest energy from wind, wave and solar. Businesses can also invest money into their own solar panel installations on their properties which in turn helps reduce the cost of energy consumption.

Transport

There are many forms of environmentally friendly transport available to us, and by switching from fossil fuel engines to newer and greener generations of transport not only reduces our impact on the planet, but when adopted strategically can also help us make significant savings within our businesses. No doubt the technology behind electric vehicles is far from perfect, but we are making significant breakthroughs as each day passes. A lot of time and effort is being spent on the research and development for alternative battery technologies which will eventually replace lithium batteries. Liquid and graphene batteries are a couple of newly emerging battery technologies worth mentioning that have gained my personal attention.

Reducing Energy Consumption

There are several ways we can reduce our energy consumption which can often be understated and overlooked. A couple to mention is by switching to low energy devices and utilities, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient computers and monitors, energy efficient storage heating and cooling systems. Now although these changes may seem trivial on the surface, collectively it can significantly help reduce energy consumption which is also money saved.

Reducing Energy Waste

A simple but effective way to reduce energy waste is to ensure all our devices are unplugged or switched off from the mains power supply when not in use. For example, a mobile phone charger or a laptop computer charger still uses energy even when it is not charging a device. A lot of folk have a habit of leaving these charging devices plugged into the mains with the power left on which is throwing money down the drain, I've been guilty of it myself. But by becoming aware of it, we start to become more mindful of these habits that can be wasteful. It's a good practice to undertake our own regular energy consumption audits within our businesses and homes to identify exactly where and how we can reduce our energy waste. It's good for the environment, it also gives us significant savings of money that would otherwise be thrown down the drain.

Eco Friendly Materials And Packaging

By using eco friendly recyclable materials and packaging can have a huge impact on the well-being of our planet. It can help prevent waste from being disposed of into landfill sites, and it also helps prevent waste from entering our oceans on an industrial scale. If we all done our bit as a collective, we could significantly reduce pollution around our planet. Being mindful of the materials we use to produce our products and services where and whenever we can makes a huge difference to the natural kingdom and indeed future generations.