Unique Tips to an Eco-friendly Office
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Punch in the key words “green office tips” and you’ll find 933,000 resources available on the internet. In this post I’ll share some popular and unique tips to help you eco-fy your office.
Popular Green Office Tips:
- Turn off your monitor when it is not in use
- Shut off your computer if you won’t be using it for several hours
- Use recycled paper that has at least 30% post consumer waste
- Open the blinds and use more natural light and less artificial light
- Work from home/telecommute
- Purchase carbon offsets to become carbon neutral
The unique list below is something you cannot find by doing a Google search, but maybe now with its unveiling it will end up on the first page of a search! 
Unique Green Office Tips:
Purchase refill kits for ink cartridges - Printer cartridges can be refilled with high quality ink, by purchasing this option you create less consumer waste and you create demand for your used cartridge when it is time to throw it away. You can also buy kits that will allow you to refill your printer cartridges yourself.
Purchase refill kits for toner - Your copiers, faxes, and laser printers all use toner cartridges, but the toner runs out long before the useful life of the cartridge has been reached. There are refill kits available for toners similar to ink jet printers which will allow you to extend the life of the cartridge and save some serious $$. This will allow you to refill the cartridge 3 times, give or take. Find refill kits at ABC Ink and Toner Refill Yourself.
Use technology to print less - There is a company called GreenPrint that has created a solution allows you to maximize what available print space. If you have ever printed something that contained 3 useful pages and a fourth that had just the URL or legal disclaimer? The solution from GreenPrint allows you to decide what to print so you only waste as much paper as you want to. The downside of GreenPrint is that currently it only runs on Microsoft based systems. So, while this will handle 94% of computers it won’t help business like mine that run on Macs.
Buy used or refurbished office equipment - In addition to saving loads of money, buying previously owned machines means one less machine has to be manufactured, with one less box, and one less instruction manual. If you don’t mind being slightly behind the bleeding edge this tip will allow the money you save to be used for more important things.
Buy used or refurbished office furniture, or make your own - I love the story about how Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, was too cheap to buy desks and instead chose to make his own out of old doors and 4″X4″ pillars. By making a statement that your company is serious about both cutting costs and being more green, people will think twice before buying unnecessary items or items that are not good for the environment. You do not have to do it all yourself as their are a number of ways to purchase used and refurbished office furniture, I searched Google for “used office furniture, portland” and came up with more than enough hits.
Use Thin Clients instead of PCs - Thin Clients are an old technology that is making a comeback. Previously referred to as “dumb terminals” these devices let a larger computer handle all of the processing while the Thin Client basically displays the output. Sun Microsystems* has a version that let’s users
“hotdesk” from SunRay (product name for their thin client). So with an employee specific card they can use any terminal in an office once they slide their card in and enter their password. This helps fully utilize office space by letting anybody use a system that is available. The most green thing about thin clients is in the energy savings. The typical PC requires 100+ watts of power for it to function, but Sun’s SunRay product uses between 4 and 7 watts. Granted another server or more needs to be used for the back end processing, but better to have a couple 100+ watt servers than a whole office full of them.
*Disclaimer - My husband works for Sun Microsystems.
Switch out CRT monitors for LCD - LCDs use roughly 1/3 the power that a CRT does (50 watts vs 150 watts). While LCDs are more expensive, buying used will allow you to recover your costs within a year or two, depending on usage.
So, do you have unique tips on going green in your office? Please tell us about them here.
Hi—-Melissa:
Congrats on the Green Section here at SP. Very cool.
Like you said, there are many things we can do to green our workspaces.
Below are 10 More Green Office Tips:
1.) Save Docs as PDF, avoid printing.
2.) Use energy efficicent electronics.
3.) Buy Local
4.) Create a Recycling Program.
5.) Educate others on the subject.
6.) Promote and Encourage Green.
7.) Reward Green.
8.) Have fun with green, such as throwing a contest among workers for the “most energy saved”, “trees planted”, “volunteer hours”, etc.
9.) Do some research, and loads of other earth friendly ideas will surface.
10.) Patronize socially responsible companies.
Nice to meet you, see ya around the blogsphere.
Missy.
Missy’s last blog post..Cosmetic case made from rice bags
Great post Melissa! A couple tips: think outside the box when it comes to office furniture. (I use a kitchen table as a desk.) It allows for a bigger pool of used or vintage furniture. Also, if you can’t use GreenPrint, use the fast draft mode and the “black cartridge only” printer setting. It saves ink and having to purchase the more expensive color cartridges.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing your Tips Missy! I love the ideas of rewarding green and coming up with contests.
Hi Brandie,
Thanks for the tips on used or vintage furniture and fast draft mode! It’s always great when we can recycle or use pieces of furniture in other ways.
Thanks for these ideas — I use Green Print and think it’s terrific!