Author: Michaela Resch
Date of Publication: 28/11/2022
With the persistent energy crisis and the increasing energy prices, it's more than ever necessary to save money at your workplace. By saving energy at the workplace, you will not only save money but also contribute to saving the planet. In addition, most countries nowadays have set environmental laws. This means that businesses and companies are required to be eco-friendly. Here are a few tips on how to become one.
Ways to save money and protect the environment at the workplace
1. Use eco-friendly bulbs
If you change your traditional bulbs to energy efficient (halogen or LED) lights, it will cost about 25 to 80% less energy than your old ones. In fact, the new bulbs usually last 3 to 25 times longer than the traditional bulbs. This means that you will have to buy bulbs less often, which will save you money.
2. Electrical devices
Another easy, probably redundant tip to save money, is to switch off everything you don't need at the office. For example, you could switch off the light when you have enough natural light to work, or when you leave a room office. If you have a water boiler, only heat up the water that you need for a cup of tea. Don’t fill the boiler to the maximum level every time! Lastly, by using a water cooler instead of an electric stove to heat up the water, you could save up to 50% of your power consumption.
3. Reduce water consumption
Instead of washing used dishes by hand, you could use one of the new energy efficient dishwashing machines. With a dishwasher, you can actually save around 50 liters of water per load compared to hand-washed dishes. However, a really important thing here is that you fill in the dishwasher well before you press start. This is because the same amount of water is needed for a full and half-full machine.
4. Paperless is key
Probably the easiest way to both save money and protect the environment at the workplace is to work paperless. All you need is an online archive where you can store your data. In this way you can have access to everything you need wherever you need it, and you don't waste any paper.
5. Recycling
Separate your garbage into plastic, paper, general waste, metal, and glass. Then place each bin in every office space. Individual recyclables can be sorted out and sold to some recycling companies, which will bring you additional income. At the same time, total waste is reduced, and disposal costs lower.
Takeaways
To conclude, it is relatively easy to save money, thereby protecting the environment. Indeed, the most difficult task is probably to make these actions a habit. It might also be challenging to make your colleagues aware of how their habits contribute (or not) to saving money and the environment. Hence, a good starting point would be to add the above mentioned tips to your company's guidelines.