4 Ways to Use Green Technology – Help the Environment

If your business is looking to help the environment and take advantage of cost saving, Green Technology is one of the ways forward. Businesses ca also find there are Tax incentives to move towards eco-friendly practices.

Many clients are now looking to work with ethical businesses who share their ‘green’ values.  Helping the environment can also help businesses from a PR perspective.

With it being World Environment Day on 5^th June 2021, we are looking at how businesses can have an environmental impact through the strategic implementation of technology.

Green technology initiatives are undoubtably more varied than you may realise. They span beyond a paperless communication and solar panels, everything from the devices you choose to the way that you move data can have a significant, cumulative impact on the world’s environment.

Why not consider the below for a greener tomorrow?

1. Devices

Businesses purchase an unbelievable amounts of technology hardware but very few take the time to consider the environmental consequences of their choices. Such as the manufacturing, shipping, maintenance, and disposal of the tech.

Does your business support “bring your own device” initiatives? Google Hangouts or other conferencing platforms can be used to voice collaborate, eliminating the need for landline phones. When phone calls are necessary, consider a Google Voice number.  This can be used from an existing device.

Purchasing decisions can be made more informed by planning for the longevity of your technology. Example: the Microsoft suite requires upgraded devices to run the latest version of Outlook, Word, Excel, etc. Google Workspace, on the other hand, runs on Chrome. This allows users to extend the life of their existing devices and use power-efficient devices like Chromebooks.

How a business disposes of dated / broken devices can have a significant impact as well.  Be sure to abide by required disposal instructions or utilise a specialist third-party company.  The incorrect disposal can cause harmful pollutant to seep into water and soil.

2. Workflows and Processes

Although many businesses have a close-to-paperless environment that leverages email and messaging platforms like Gmail and Workplace by Facebook, there are still several workflows and processes that frequently come offline.

When a business network isn’t secure, there are concerns about retention, or the user experience is overly complicated, employees fall back to their old-school, paper printing ways.

Trustworthy infrastructure that is easy to use can tighten common process offenders like invoicing, taxes, and on-boarding.

3. Data Warehousing

If you should be fortunate enough to have the technology device puzzle resolved and your teams are operating in a 100% paperless environment. Then, what happens to your business information when it’s not being actively used? Another overlooked opportunity for environmental improvement is data warehousing.

A large amount of energy is required to maintain data and cloud facilities.  Businesses can manage their existing infrastructure more efficiently by considering Energy Star’s recommendations.  Alternatively, you can eliminate your data carbon footprint entirely by choosing the Google Cloud platform.

4. Individual Contributions

The places where your staff work, play, and learn account for nearly half the nation’s energy use. Many of the green choices that are made in the home can be adopted in the workplace.

To get you started:

• Give it a Rest: Use power management settings which allow computers and monitors to go into power save mode when not in use. Also use a multi socket adaptor as a central “turn off” point to completely disconnect the power supply.

• Unplug It: Unplug electronics such as mobile phones and laptops once they’re charged. Even when not charging, adapter still use electric whilst plugged into the mains.

• Keep it Local: You can reduce impact on CO2 emissions by travelling less.  Try collaborating on Google Hangouts as opposed to driving to a meeting.