The recession is driving many businesses to look for a new big thing to make them more competitive, and many are choosing to become GREEN.  Some of us choose to be GREEN because it’s in our heart and soul to do so.  The problem with GREEN is that there is no single definition or certification to define a GREEN business or a GREEN product.

I thought I would share my view of a few simple areas that will help you “green” your computing world, and by extension your business.

First – define GREEN for yourself.  Whether you are “light green”, “dark green” or “off purple”, we believe your goal should be to improve what we have been doing to our planet, and try to reverse some of the damage.  None of us can go back to the dark ages – every business and home today runs on technology.  What we can do is be SMARTER about reducing what we buy and dispose of, reusing as much as possible, and recycling what we no longer find useful.   We can also be SMARTER about what we consume, how it is packaged, and where it comes from.

Although Electronic Waste (eWaste) is less than 10% of our current solid waste in the United States, it is growing 4 times faster than any other waste category.  As you work to reduce, reuse and recycle, here are some pretty obvious areas of focus for small business/home office computing:

1. Energy Usage:  A large IT shop for a multinational has a big focus on power and cooling in the large data centers that power their networks.  A small shop or home should have the same focus – reducing energy usage and determining what it takes to power computers, monitors, servers, network devices, etc. – including the desk lamp and microwave.   What should you do? Use power strips and UPS devices that shut down monitors, desk lamps, etc. automatically when there is no activity; turn off monitors, screens and other devices when you are done using them; unplug devices with LCDs when they are not in use (including Laptops); recycle old CRT monitors and seek Energy Star certified monitors, laptops and other appliances to ensure you reduce power usage; and turn off the power strips for TVs, VCRs, coffee pots, etc. when not in use.  Ask All Covered for ideas to reduce power further in your home or office.
2. Product Packaging:  In 2006, Americans generated 60 billion pounds of plastic waste, and recycled just 7 percent of it.  Packaging waste accounts for ONE THIRD of the waste generated in the United States.   One out of every $11 spent in a store pays for all that packaging.  We pay to receive the packaging, and then we pay the waste companies to pick it up.  So, we’re not just drowning in it from a waste perspective, we’re paying to drown.  What should you do? Buy products in eco friendly packaging or no packaging at all; buy EPEAT(tm) labelled electronics whenever possible; watch movies online through either iTunes or Netflix to avoid a ton of packaging and shipping costs.
3. Manufacturing Processes:  In 2007, the UK Green Party declared Microsoft Windows Vista a “landfill nightmare.”  Why?  Because Vista created a need for hardware upgrades that was unprecedented in the software world.  The United Nations University of Tokyo reports“a 2-gram memory chip requires 1.3 kilograms (1,300 grams) of fossil fuels and materials”, while a whole computer and a big monitor requires“1.8 tons of water, fossil fuels and chemicals to make”.   Electronics manufacturing consumes chemicals, raw materials, fresh water, energy and creates vast wastelands of unusable land.  What should you do? The EPEAT(tm) (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) certification is a designation for electronic product manufacturers, and is similar to the LEED certification for building.  EPEAT is used to provide a yardstick to measure technology providers’ impact on the environment.  EPEAT certifies more than 1,000 manufacturers’ items in 51 different environmental criteria, and requires Energy Saver certification as a baseline for entry. There are three levels of EPEAT certification – bronze, silver and gold, with the top two levels exceding baseline criteria with optional steps. Look for the EPEAT logo on every electronic device that you buy.  This will help assure you that the level and quantity of harmful chemicals and processes are reduced simply with your purchasing decision.  Use the Electronic Environmental Benefits Calculator to review your entire operation.  Buy printers and other devices made with recycled plastics.  Reduce what you buy, reuse or donate electronics, and recycle your old computers, printers, monitors, CDs/DVDs, batteries, flourescent light bulbs, etc.
4. Shipping:  Every Internet purchase made in the U.S. has a very high cost – including the carbon footprint of shipping, packaging materials, and large distribution centers, the cost to local business, and the cost of goods sold to the consumer.  During the 2008 shopping season many on-line vendors offered free shipping; shipping costs, driven up by the high price of gas, have to be made up somewhere.  Retailers increase handling and other costs to manage their “free shipping” offers.  The real cost of shipping of course is impact on fuel usage and increased product packaging.  In order to reduce their risk of breakage or other harm to shipped goods, online retailers use enormous packages for the smallest items, packing them in bloated non-biodegradable packaging materials.  What should you do? Shop from a local retailer whenever possible.  Most will match prices you find on the Internet, and because they receive shipped items in bulk, they reduce the overall packaging and shipping impact.  If you have to shop on the Internet, recycle or reuse all packaging materials, and do your own “bulk” ordering by making your orders from fewer vendors in larger shipments.
5. Printing:  Money spent on printed materials is a wasted resource – of special concern is the printed e-mail message.  The money that goes into production, reproduction and distribution of printed materials is money that is scarce in today’s economy. Even scarcer are the trees used to create that paper. What should you do? Don’t print out e-mail messages or other documents unnecessarily.  Use e-mail marketing solutions to reach your customers, instead of printed media.  Stop buying printed publications:  most news sources are now online and available; choose wireless reading devices such as the Amazon Kindle or iTunes for books and other media.  Use two-sided printing whenever possible, and buy only recycled paper.
6. Meetings:  Much research has gone into the cost of meetings.  For an interesting cost calculation, see Effective Meetings.com.  The cost of meetings though goes beyond the time spent in the meeting, the meeting facilities, etc.  The true cost from an environmental standpoint is the cost of traveling to and from the meeting, including energy, hotels, food, etc.   Don’t get me wrong on this:  Face to face meetings have their purpose in bringing a team together.  But f2f should be the exception, not the rule. What should you do? I ran worldwide teams, sales trainings, and customer briefings for HP and for Nestle via the telephone.  Telephone meetings (conference calls or concalls) are sufficient for nearly all types of meetings.  There are a multitude of online meeting tools that are free or for cost that allow you to share presentations in real time, providing online chat and other tools to all participants (e.g., Webex, Go To Meeting, and many others).  Videoconferencing allows you to meet visually, and can be done with an inexpensive webcamera.

So, do go and get GREEN.  Let eco-friendly businesses know that you support their efforts.  And do what you can to reduce, reuse and recycle in the most environmentally friendly way possible. To learn more about building an effective and smarter IT strategy, contact All Covered at 866-446-1133.