Cutting Carbon In The Office

Having run out of ways to cut the family's carbon footprint, I've now turned my attention to where I work.

Technically, my employers are responsible for my carbon footprint at work but that doesn't stop me cutting anything I have influence over.

The most obvious energy guzzlers around the office are the PCs and printers. Fortunately, my company's very conscious of it's energy costs, and has stickers all over the place, asking people to switch the lights off when they leave the office, turn the air-con down, and switch off their PCs & printers when they go home (You'd be amazed at how many people just leave their work computer on 24/7).

Beyond this, I've taken to putting my PC into stand-by and switching my monitor off whenever I leave my desk for more than a few minutes. I've also been talking to the network manager about PC power management software I've come across on the web like Data Synergy's PowerMAN and Granola by Miserware. I have the latter installed on my home netbook. You wouldn't know it's there but it saves power while you use it (22% for me currently), and extends the battery's life between charges.

Examples of other ways I try to lessen my impact are:

• Use a mug to get my tea from the canteen instead of the usual polystyrene cup (The mug is re-usable, while the cups just go to land-fill).

• Never use paper towels to dry my hands, instead using the roller towel or even the hand-dryer (Paper towels are way less environmentally friendly).

• Re-use all sheets I print off by using the reverse side for notes, and when I'm done with it, I stick it in the recycling bin.

I've even been asked if I'd like to be an internal energy auditor/champion by someone who's setting up the company's energy efficiency and reduction project. I said yes of course! It maybe a few weeks before anything happens but it should be fascinating.