So Bob, how do you feel about the color GREEN?
A green workplace starts with the building. A building can be certified by a nonprofit called the U.S. Green Building Council if it meets standards for water savings, energy efficiency, material selection and indoor environmental quality. The council that was created is LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) and is in response to the demand for standardization in the budding area of green architecture. The LEED rating is given to buildings that minimize their energy dependence by incorporating green principles from the ground up. For instance: by picking a location near mass transit and/or using recycled material in construction. There are only 41 office buildings in the U.S. that are LEED certified at the platinum level.
Most office space is leased, making businesses limited in going green. The Green Building Council has created a LEED certification rating for making certain modifications in office settings. For example: Installing automatic shutoffs for lighting and setting computers to power down automatically after 15 minutes of idle time. This cuts the computer’s energy use 70%. Some companies are switching from old toilets that use up to 8 gallons per flush to ones that use a maximum of 1.6 gal. Toilet flushing is the biggest water usage in office buildings in the U.S., using up to 4.8 billion gallons a day.
According to the EPA, employees commuting to and from work cost U.S. employers approximately 3.7 billion hours of lost productivity yearly, or $63.1 billion in wasted time and fuel every year.
Using mass transit and carpooling saves thousands of gallons of gasoline, not to mention, cutting down on the mileage of your vehicle.
Instead of purchasing new furniture, refurbish current furniture or choose second hand tables and chairs. Be creative, go green. And remember, “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!”