I want to be green, how do I do it?

[ISO systems]

Hi Andy,

Of course not, anything that anyone does to improve the environment has great value, that's why I moved out of quality management after 16 years and into environmental management.

What my view is that some large organisations state that they are carbon neutral because they plant some trees in India, that's fine by me but there is little scientific basis behind the calculations used.

My view (and everyone is entitled to one), is simple -

Look at how you / the business interacts with the environment, and list the adverse effects, Measure or risk assess their impacts, set some measurable objectives to reduce them over a period of time, put in place simple arrangements to enable you to achieve the objectives and review them, after say 12 months. Then start the process again.

This simple method will lead to real savings not only to the environment but in the pocket, believe me.

Sorry for the ramble !!

Billy

[accountantpete]

I drive around 3000 miles in a year, grow my own veg, and use my bike when ever possible but then I see somewhere like Reno on the TV and there are a million lightbulbs flickering away trying to brighten up some dismal town.My energy saving measures would light that town up for at most 1 second- so what is the point?

[ISO systems]

Tee hee, I agree accountantpete, well at least with your point (by the way at least you save on petrol, maintenance and money, eat decent veg and keep fit), so there you are ........ There are benefits from being green....

Jokes aside, in the early days of environmental management systems, many companies who went for standards such as 14001 did so (not to be green, or save the environment), but to make real cost savings within their operations.

Its not just the savings in waste minimisation, but many insurance premiums are cheaper because of the reduced risk.

Me personally, I prefer the feel-good-factor of knowing that I'm working with the leaders in reducing adverse environmental impact, it won't be too long before the lights that you mention go out !!!! Not too many years ago the UK and US has so much smog that you couldn't see in certain cities, but we are learning and so will the others.

Well, I think that it's great here at A1, but got to sign off now, I'm sure that my 'darling' wife thinks that I'm on some dodgey site !!!!!!!

Billy

[andysv1k]

What my view is that some large organisations state that they are carbon neutral because they plant some trees in India, that's fine by me but there is little scientific basis behind the calculations used.

Hi Billy,

thanks for your reply,

do you have any examples of these companies?

its always interesting to see what the larger companies are up to.

Andy.

[ISO systems]

Hi Andy

Well to name large organisations over the website in a forum would be wrong, and pretty dangerous I would think.

However check the net for large banks and carbon offsetting, Airline calculations etc and I'm sure that you will understand my comment from Friday.

If you are really interested in this, I would strongly suggest that you read a publication called 'the carbon neutral myth' - offset indulgences for your climate sins. It's a great read.

Like I said right at the start, whatever a company does to reduce it's impact on the environment is fine by me, but carbon offsetting calculations vary so much and in most cases cannot be agreed on.

Hope this helps.

Billy

[accountantpete]

Well, I think that it's great here at A1, but got to sign off now, I'm sure that my 'darling' wife thinks that I'm on some dodgey site !!!!!!!

Billy

This IS a dodgy site!

[Dan Matthews]

In about 10 posts time I'll stick a couple of links up which will help.

But actually it's very intuitive and certainly not something you need a lot of advice about.

i) Only use lighting and heating when it's necessary, switch everything off at the end of the day

ii) don't print emails - my company has no printer at all and this has become annoying on a handful of occasions.

iii) cycle to work, or at least use public transport

iv) recycle what you throw away

This sounds terribly obvious, but the trouble is big businesses fail on at least half of the counts (particularly turning stuff off) - get them sorted and you'll be ahead of the curve green-wise

[accountantpete]

I am a dab hand in the garden so if you want to start growing veg next year ( and now is the time to start planning) open a new thread.

[thewholeleafco]

i would recommend promoting car sharing for your employees, recycling all your waste products, using ecofriendly webhosting options if you have a website, eco friendly bulbs and energy saver plugs, even go as far as insulating your premises better too save on heating, use ecofriendly disposables like mine(sorry for the plug)for all your corporate events and try and get involved and support as a company in local environmental issues.

hope this helps

peter

[swpriest]

I take it you own or are associate with carbon neutral hosting? what is the site url? Thinking of hosting a few sites on a green hosting platform.

The web host I use is carbo-neutral. See www.3dpixel.net.