ION PRINT SOLUTIONS
What we've learned about being "green".
Volume 1: Why print metallic ink when you don't have to.
When we first started planning our business cards we were going to print metallic ink on a coated stock, not very environmentally friendly. It is extremely difficult to separate and remove metallic ink from paper. Being studious and always learning, we found a new paper that would allow us to accomplish the same look with little environmental impact. The answer was Starwhite Flash, a new FSC-certified metallic sheet from Neenah paper. Because ink isn't completely opaque, it allowed us to print one side of our cards and get that amazing metallic look without metallic ink. That same logic applied to our presentation folders. They were the same problem and we've remedied them since then. For anyone looking for a paper either with a cool metallic look, or a suede-like finish, take a look at Starwhite. We think you'll love it, and it is 100% FSC certified. If you haven't seen one already please ask your ION account manager to give you one. They'll be excited to hand them out.
Volume 2: Think "big picture" when planning the design of your print job.
When we first did our ION note pads, we had printed them with a flood solid on the back. Again, not very environmentally friendly. It took, unfortunately, one of our customers to point out the error of our ways. It's a notepad! Why not make more note space on the back? You double the writing area and cut the amount of paper you would have wasted.
On a similar topic, if you want to maximize the efficiency of your press-sheet and you have some flexibility in the finished-size of your print piece, try this project sizer out. It will help you optimize your project size and reduce paper waste.
Please note: When specifying or playing around with "grip" or "gripper edge", please allow for at least a 1/2 inch.
Volume 3: Buy new hardware, recycle the old ones.
What do you do with your old computing hardware? Do you donate them to schools? If not, did you know you could recycle them? Well you can. Just drop them off at our City of Edmonton Eco Stations. There is no charge! Doing so will dispose of old equipment the right way. Not only are we saving them from the landfill, but we're also limiting the release of harmful chemicals into our natural resources, in other words, our air and water. If you're wondering what can be recycled, thrown out, or taken to an Eco Station, click here.
Eco Station Locations:
South: 5150-99 Street - Enter on 99 Street only
North: 11440-143 Street
Hours:
Summer - March 30, 2009 to November 7, 2009
9am to 6:30pm, Monday - Saturday
Closed Sunday and statutory holidays
Winter - November 9, 2008 to March 28, 2009
9am to 4:30pm, Tuesday - Saturday
Closed Sunday, Monday and statutory holidays
For more information:
Telephone: 311
Email wasteman@edmonton.ca
Volume 4: Watch which papers you specify. Even 10% PCW makes an enormous impact.
Over the last month, as we've been going over our paper purchases and recycling tonnage for the past year to calculate our environmental impact, we discovered that many of the papers that we've purchased, either for ourselves or our customers, could have been better selections.
Case in point, last year alone, 262,461.8 pounds of paper was specified at ION that could have contained some measure of post-consumer waste (PCW), even 10% would have made a huge difference. Assuming all of it was uncoated paper, please see Figures 1 and 2 below for the results.
With every passing year, more and more paper is becoming FSC certified. If you would to download a list of all the current FSC certified paper, including percentages of PCW content, please click here.
Volume 5: Lightpollution, the Environment and Climate Change.
The issue of light pollution sprang to mind again tonight after reading about some cosmic events I'd really like to see. Sadly, many people never even get to see the true night sky due to light pollution.
Imagine what night time on this planet would have looked like from space just a few hundred years ago. It would have been very.. dark.
To give you some idea of just how much of the modern world has spread it's tendrils across the planet, check out this image of the earth at night:
Image courtesy of NASA
A larger, clearer representation can be viewed here (will open in a new window). Even though places like Australia seem to have very little in terms of night lights; the larger image shows in better detail that even this country with it's relatively small population does seriously light up the night sky.
This above image is a composite image of hundreds of pictures made by DMSP satellites; released by NASA back in 2000. Given the pace of modernization in developing countries and continuing urban sprawl elsewhere across the planet in the last 10 years, I hate to think what the same image would look like now. I'd also hate to think how much electricity usage that snapshot represents.
Do you live in a city? To understand the effects of human generated light; make it a goal to at some stage head out to an isolated area on a clear night - get as far as you can from any major light source. Then look up to the skies - I guarantee you'll be awe-struck at how beautiful our small section of the universe is. If you get a particularly clear night, it's almost as though you can reach up and touch the stars.
To get an idea of what you're missing out on if you're living in a city or even a relatively small town - view this image (will open in a new window).
Our modern world steals these breathtaking sights from us - this light pollution is also known as photopollution or luminous pollution.
Sadly, aside from light pollution, at the rate we're going with airborne pollutants and dust in the atmosphere, even viewing the stars from remote places won't have the clarity that it does now. I often wonder what the night skies looked like prior to the industrial revolution.
Light pollution is also a symptom of another serious problem affecting the entire planet - global warming. To create light takes electricity; and electricity is generally generated by the burning of fossil fuels, which increases carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which in term contributes to global warming and climate change.
Some of the other environmental impacts of light pollution include:
- Some nocturnal birds use the moon and stars for navigation during their migrations; and they can become disoriented when flying through brightly lit areas.
- Female sea turtles shy away from areas with bright lights, which interrupts their nesting patterns. Newly hatched turtles are also drawn to lights, so instead of heading to the ocean, they often head inland instead.
- Other reptiles and mammals are believed to suffer from bright lights in relation to feeding and mating habits.
- Wasted resources through over-illumination
- It's recently been discovered that light pollution can increase air pollution. Light from our cities can destroy nitrate radicals that form at night and help to cleanse the air.
While our planet will likely never return to it's natural state of darkness at night, there is something we can all do to help with issues relating to over-illumination. It is a serious problem, accounting for somewhere in the region of two million barrels of oil per day in energy wasted in the USA alone.
What you can do:
- Light only where needed
- Don't overlight
- Don't waste light
- Shine light downwards, using shields and reflectors
- Light only when needed - use sensors where possible
- Light with energy efficient sources such as LED's and compact fluorescents.
There's not just the environmental aspect - by cutting back on lighting and using light wisely, you'll also save a wad of cash.
Volume 6: Not All Recycled Paper Is Created Equal
As we were researching for this section on how different products are recycled, we were amazed to discover that recycling paper can at times be a rather environmentally damaging affair and the promotion of recycled paper products be somewhat misleading.
This doesn't mean we should stop recycling paper or buying products made with recycled paper - but perhaps just make more informed choices.
First up, there's the issue of recycled content. There's no hard and fast rules in most countries for how much a paper product needs to have in terms of recycled components to make the "recycled" claim - it could be as little as 5%. So when shopping for paper, look past the big "Recycled!" blurbs and look for smaller text on the package that should indicate the % of recycled content. The higher the %, the better.
The more people buy the higher percentage recycled content paper, the quicker those manufacturers offering the lower percentage varieties might lift their game and stop trying to pull a fast one on the consumer.
Also, you should also look for how the actual paper was manufactured. Was it manufactured with 100% Green Energy? What is created Carbon Neutral? Paper makers like Mohawk and Neenah have papers that are created this way. You can also look to check to see if the paper is FSC Certified. Being FSC Certified means that the paper was created responsibly from well managed forests. Learn more by visiting FSC Canada's website.
There are a couple of different variations of recycled content:
Post-consumer content
This uses material that has previously been consumed as a product, whether it's a newspaper or cardboard box.
Pre-consumer content
This is from waste generated by the manufacturing process.
Of the two types, post-consumer content could be considered the "greener" of the two as it has completed an entire consumption cycle. However, that doesn't mean you should necessarily turn your nose up at pre-consumer content as its better the waste is reused than goes to landfill.
Some brands of recycled paper also may be a mix of post-consumer content and pre-consumer content; the amount of each should also be noted on the package as a percentage.
Recycled paper scams
There have been instances in the past where companies have been touting their paper is 100% recycled and it's simply not the case. This hasn't confined to small operators either.
For example, in Japan in 2008, a major scandal involving Nippon Paper hit the headlines. Nippon Paper admitted copy paper it claimed to be 100 per cent recycled contained only 59 per cent recycled paper. Other Nippon Paper products were also found to have lower than stated recycled content. This had been going on for 15 years according to this news item. Some of the virgin fiber used in these "recycled" products was coming from the forests of Australia!
I do think the Nippon Paper scandal put all the major manufacturers on notice though, so this type of blatant greenwashing shouldn't be a problem these days. Still, it doesn't hurt to do a search around the web on brand names to see what you can uncover. If you need a starting point, you can always use Mohawk or Neenah.
Recycled vs. recyclable paper
Another trick to watch out for is the term "recyclable". This just means the paper can be recycled and has no bearing on whether it contains recycled content.
Chemicals
In next week's section "How stuff is recycled" we'll examine that sometimes during the process of making recycled paper, nasty chemicals may be used. Try to avoid products that use chlorine in their production - chlorine bleaching creates highly toxic chemicals called dioxins.
As with all things green living related, remember it's not just what you use that makes a difference, but how much - as recycling takes energy and resources too. Remember the three R's — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Volume 7: How Stuff is Recycled
Our busy modern lives disconnect us from all sorts of things - how food is grown, how goods are produced, our waste dealt with, and the processes behind recycling. The following is a brief overview how some products are recycled past the point of extraction from the waste stream.
Aluminum can recycling process
After arriving at a smelter and inspected, the crushed aluminum cans are shredded. The pieces are then heated to remove the paint and any moisture, after which the material passes over fine screens to remove contaminants.
The material is then heated to melting point (around 600C) and chemicals added to separate more impurities that are then skimmed off. Aluminium and other metals may then be added to bring molten material to the required alloy specification.
The molten aluminum is poured into very large ingots and once cooled and cleaned, sent through rollers multiple times until a thin sheet is produced; which can then be remade into cans.
It's an energy intensive process, but the recycling energy savings are around 95% compared to mining and smelting from new raw materials and aluminium can be recycled an unlimited number of times.
Steel can recycling process
After arriving at a steel smelter, bales of crushed cans are placed in a furnace with other recyclable steel. Molten iron is added and oxygen is pumped into the furnace which heats up to around 1700 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. By the end of this time, impurities have been driven or skimmed off.
The molten steel is poured into large ingots, then go through multiple rollers while still very hot until the desired thickness is achieved for making products such as cans.
While the steel can recycling process doesn't have as many stages as aluminium cans, much higher temperatures are used therefore requiring more energy. Regardless, the recycling energy savings are around 62 - 74%. Steel can be recycled over and over in this way.
Plastic soda bottles and bottled water containers
This deals specifically with PETE (or PET) plastics (plastic resin code 1). The bottles are first inspected for foreign materials then sorted into colors. The bottles are then sterilised, crushed and chopped into flakes.
The flakes undergo another separation and cleaning process to remove remaining foreign materials. The flakes are then chemically reverse engineered by either methanolysis or glycolosis, which can restore the material to the original raw materials and then blended to create new PET.
The recycling energy savings of plastic soda and water bottles is around 90%.
Glass bottle and jar recycling process
Glass bottles are separated by color and then broken into small pieces, usually at a recycling center, in order to cut down on volume for shipping. They are then transported to a bottle making plant where the material is crushed. Magnets, filters and vacuums remove foreign objects such as labels and metals. The cleaned powdered glass, known as cullet, is mixed with raw materials and placed in a furnace which melts it into molten glass; ready to be formed into new bottles and jars.
Glass recycling uses only two-thirds the energy needed to manufacture glass from raw materials.
Paper recycling process
The paper is sorted according to quality and then shipped to a paper mill where water is added in order to turn it into a pulp. Foreign matter is then removed by various filters and screens. Chemicals are added to remove the ink from the pulp. Depending on the type of process, de-inking can be a simple detergent process or one that may involve chlorine or other more harmful chemicals depending on the ink being removed. The ink used in newspapers and packaging these days is usually soy-based, however, copy machine and laser printed document "ink" is a plastic polymer burned onto the page which requires harsher processes to remove.
Once de-inked, pulp is then flushed with more water and air is injected to form an inky foam which is skimmed. The remaining water is drained and reused. The pulp is then bleached - more often with hydrogen peroxide these days as chlorine can combine with organic materials to form dioxins - one of the most deadly of man-made poisons.
More chemicals may be added at that point and the final pulp is either pressed into sheets and dried or mixed in with virgin pulp.
Recycling paper uses about 60% less energy than making paper from new materials; however, each time paper is recycled, it loses quality - so in effect it is really downcycled each time. Given the wide range of processes that may be used, not all recycled paper is created equal from an environmental aspect - a topic we address in last week's article.
Another product often recycled is motor oil - most people don't realize that motor oil can be fully recycled into new motor oil as it never wears out; it just gets dirty.
As you can see from above - recycling isn't all that straightforward and there can be a lot of chemicals involved. We all need to continue recycling of course, but reducing consumption is equally as important. For example, perhaps next time you feel like a can of soda, consider heading to the tap for a glass of water instead. Instead of buying a newspaper, duck online and read it there.
Volume 8: Triple Bottom Line — People, Planet, Profit
In any business, there's always a bundle of jargon to go with it and green business is no exception.
If you're about to launch a new green business or are considering steering an existing business to more environmentally friendly practices (or perhaps encouraging your employer to do so); you may have heard the term "triple bottom line". The phrase was first used in 1989 by John Elkington, co-founder of a consultancy focused on sustainability.
So what does it mean?
Sometimes referred to as "TBL", or "3BL. Triple bottom line simply stands for:
• People
• Planet
• Profit
Sounds warm and fuzzy doesn't it! But it's actually a serious and increasingly recognized concept. Triple Bottom Line reporting is becoming an accepted way for businesses to demonstrate they have strategies for sustainable growth.
The triple bottom line is a form of reporting that takes into account the impact your business has in terms of social and environmental values along with financial returns.
Whereas traditional models were all about profit, profit and more profit; triple bottom line accounting recognizes that without happy, healthy people to staff a business and the natural environment able to sustain those people and supply resources for trade; business is, well, simply unsustainable in the long run.
Let's break down the three terms and how they apply:
People
This is also known as Human Capital. It really just means treating your employees right, but furthermore also the community where your business operates. In this part of the Triple Bottom Line model, business not only ensures a fair day's work for a fair day's pay; but also reinvesting back some of its gains into the surrounding community through sponsorships, donation or projects that go towards the common good. This reinvestment can usually be written off come tax time as part of business operating expenses.
Planet
This is Natural Capital. A business will strive to minimize its ecological impact in all areas - from sourcing raw materials, to production processes, to shipping and administration. It's a "cradle to grave" approach and in some cases "cradle to cradle" i.e. taking some responsibility for goods after they've been sold - for example, offering a recycling or take-back program. A 3BL business will also refrain from the production of toxic items.
Profit
This is more about making a honest profit than raking a profit at any cost - it must be made in harmony with the other two principles of People and Planet.
While many major corporations used to sneer at the idea of a Triple Bottom Line reporting system; some have taken the bull by the horns; with a positive flow on effect to their suppliers. Because supply chains are also accountable to the overall impact of a company, they also come under scrutiny in the triple bottom line audits. A good example of this is some big box stores "greening" up their act and in doing so, demanding that their suppliers use less packaging, offering concentrated products or banning certain ingredients from products.
The importance of Triple Bottom Line
Here's a somewhat unsettling fact - according to CorpWatch, of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are businesses; the other 49 are countries. This is why Triple Bottom Line concepts are so important - it's not just about commerce, it's about civilization.
Triple Bottom Line is not an award, accreditation or a certification you can achieve - it's an ongoing process that just helps a company keep on track towards running a greener business and demonstrates to the community at large they are working not just towards riches, but the greater common good - and that's what consumers are increasingly wanting to see these days.
Green business is simply good business and hopefully before too long it will be the only way to engage in commerce.We at ION, feel that this is not only the future of business, but it is the only good form of business.
Volume 9: A Green MBA and other Environmental Degree programs.
In the forums and sites I haunt, I was seeing the term Green MBA used quite frequently among the more academic.
A green MBA is basically a sustainable business degree. Traditionally, MBA (Master of Business Administration) students tend to give even less thought to environmental impact of business after they graduate from business school than they did before they commenced. That's because business degrees have been focused on profit and consumption.
... but so is a green MBA; just with a new twist on thinking; a more responsible approach to business with the environment as an important aspect.
Just a few years ago, less than half of the top U.S. business schools offered anything associating social and environmental concerns to business; but that's rapidly changing.
I don't think that anyone would argue that green business is the Next Big Thing.. in fact, it's the Current Big Thing; there's so many eco-focused business success stories to prove the models can work. But once the honeymoon period is over, there will be more than just a place for green and sustainable business, it will simply become the norm.
Green business is not about forgoing profit for the sake of the planet; quite the opposite. Much of it is about efficiency - for example, using less packaging, less electricity, less chemicals - all of which are money savers. Being sustainable in a business isn't just about the environmental warm and fuzzies, it's about the bottom line.
MBA programs also emphasize a triple bottom line, also known as "TBL" or "3BL" -- profit, people, planet. See last's week's post, if you miss this.
Profit: what keeps business in business :)
People: Fair business practices toward staff, contractors, suppliers and the community in which a company conducts business
Planet: Sustainable environmental practices
The curriculum can include courses such as Triple Bottom Line Accountability & Management, Green Marketing & Environmental Product Design/Recycling, Corporate Social Responsibility & Ethics and Sustainable Enterprise Development & Leadership - sounds a lot more interesting to me than a dry old traditional business degree!
Some institutions also offer degrees in sustainable business that you can undertake online.
One such university offering a online green MBA is Anaheim University. They offer 6 "green" courses in Sustainable Management through the Anaheim University Kisho Kurokawa Green Institute. You can complete the Online Green MBA from anywhere in the world on a part time basis. We thought this sounded pretty great. Couple that with Disneyland being in Anaheim and you get a Woohoo!
Online Sustainable MBA courses start every 6 weeks and Anaheim University offers an 18-month intensive program. Anaheim University is listed in the US Department of Education's Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institution and Programs.
The cost of a green MBA is around the same as a traditional MBA, just not as widely available - yet. In the years to come, I can see there being no distinction between the two - sustainability will be key in any business.
If you or your children are considering a career in business and would like the letters after your name that seem so important these days when applying for positions, consider going for a green MBA.
But you dont have to stop there. If you, or your children, are interested in this focus of study, there are lots of schools in Canada that offer a multitude of environmental-based undergraduate and graduate programs. Everyone from the University of Calgary, to Acadia, to McGil, all offer an array of sustainability programs. For this full list, click here.
Volume 10: Safe, Green Document Destruction.
It's kind of funny, we're a print company who tries to limit the amount to paper we use, or more specifically, waste. We've tried to move to paperless statements wherever we can, but some of the agencies and suppliers we deal with are still deeply rooted in the 20th century.
For what remains, it is a business imperative today to securely destroy documentation that you don't need. Especially sensitive material that needs to be destroyed due to privacy legislation.
We already recycle all of our production paper, but what about everything else? As always, we did a little research.
One option we found was Capital Paper Recycling. "In Calgary and Edmonton the paper is securely collected and hauled to one of two 35,000 sq ft facilities, which operate under 24 hour security surveillance. Our processing facilities are fully enclosed to ensure confidential storage, destruction and disposal of your important documents. One hundred percent of the collected paper and cardboard is recycled."
This intrigued us, so we dug a little deeper. What else is out there? Our internet research discovered companies who offered a number of secure, friendly solutions.
One company we found said their bins (which look like heavy duty lockable wheelie bins) hold about 60 - 70 kgs (130 - 150 pounds) of paper. You would get the bins for two weeks or call them when they were ready to be removed.
They would accept any grade of paper - white, coloured, brochures, magazines, newspaper, check and deposit books. Certificates of Destruction were also provided.
The contents of the security bins are shredded at their premises within hours of arrival at the company depot.
All sounds very good, but here's the great aspect: all the shredded paper is recycled into tissue and toilet paper!
Problem solved! It's kind of nice to know that in the near future, I could be using toilet paper made from old financial statements or documentation issued from Revenue Canada. ; ).
Secure document destruction services are available the world over, but they are often fairly localized, so a good way to find them is to run a search on Google... of course.
A longish story to say, look for options concerning your document disposal, you may be surprised by what you find.
Volume 11: Green Meetings
Back in the days when I donned a suit and tie, it wasn't unusual for me to travel for hours to attend meetings of an hour or less. I was reminded of this insanity recently when a colleague still working in the "real" world expressed frustration at having to travel for half an hour for a very non-productive 5 minute meeting.
These are common scenarios and a waste of people's time and lives, not to mention impact on business productivity and profit. But they also have a huge environmental footprint.
In our society, often technology moves much faster than people adapt to it. Meetings, conferences and seminars are certainly one of these areas. The tools to help minimize the negative business and environmental impacts of meetings are already here and are very effective.
Aside from the general impact of the fossil fuel industry, think of all the emissions involved with transporting the millions of people who travel to and from meetings each day. Travelling by car to meetings is bad enough, but when it comes to flying; the news is even worse.
So much air travel is business related and according to a recent WWF study, due to the way emissions from airplanes interact with the upper atmosphere their warming effect is thought to be greater than equivalent emissions at ground level - around 2.7 times. The study says that aviation fuel related emissions account for 5% - 10% – of the total impact of carbon dioxide on climate change.
The case for online meetings
While telecommuting full time isn't for everyone, most businesses can take advantage of technology to reduce meeting and conference travelling impact by holding them online. Video conferencing and online meeting services have come a long way in recent years.
The services and software now used include all sorts of amazing features such as video, chat, private audio, application sharing and whiteboards that everyone can interact with.
As long as you have a broadband connection, these services work very well and are quite easy to use. I've been increasingly using online conferencing over the last couple of years and they are far superior than just getting by with email and phone calls.
Online meeting services are also excellent for webinars - the online version of seminars.
A study on business travel in Europe prepared for ETNO and the WWF in 2006 concluded that by replacing 5 - 30% of current air travel with online meetings and video conferencing, it could reduce carbon dioxide emissions anywhere between 5.59-33.53 million tonnes annually
A 2007 Telstra report found that video conferencing could avoid 2.4 million tonnes of Australian business related carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to 0.43% of Australia's total
Given the figures for Europe and Australia, imagine the millions of tonnes of emissions could be saved in the USA each year through increased uptake of online meeting and conferencing. For business, the extensive use of online meeting services is something that can also be used for promotional purposes in terms of the company's environmental commitment.
If you'd like to give online conferencing a whirl for your business or company, here's a couple of free trial services:
GoToMeeting: Host unlimited online meetings.
GoToWebinar: Host unlimited online meetings and deliver unlimited Webinars for up to 1,000 attendees at a time.
There are also other services like Skype, Google Talk, iChat and even Facetime (calling between iPhones and Macs) just to name a few. There are a lot of options you can employ to make you more productive and less caustic to the environment. Please also remember you need Green Electricity to power your technology, please use Bullfrog Power.
Volume 12: Consumers Greening Up: Are You Ready?
People really are starting to question their choices in products and also the companies they deal with. They are wizening up to issues such as planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence.
During this year, more of your clients will be looking for more earth friendly goods and turning to businesses that show a commitment to the environment.
The "green" wave is nothing new - it's been a long time building and it is turning into a tsunami. Your customers have increased access to information courtesy of the Internet. Just about any product you sell they can research and take apart, component by component, ingredient by ingredient.
Are you greening your business? If not, it's something that you really need to seriously consider; not just for the good of the planet, but for economic reasons; even more so during these financially challenging times.
The green consumer of today isn't a "feral hippie", they are ordinary people looking to try to make some changes in their life to be more in harmony with the planet. It's a huge challenge for them because business and society generally speaking really isn't geared to an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Where they can see an opportunity to alleviate their consumption related guilt without too much effort, they are there. Will you be there for them or will your competitors?
Even if the changes you make in your business in the short term are only small, your customers will reward you for it. Here's some simple things you can do:
• Change all your lighting to LED's or Compact Fluorescent Lamps.
• Offset some of your electricity use with green tags or switch to green electricity
• Get rid of plastic bags or use earth friendly plastic bags
• Use more environmentally friendly cleaning products
• Go on a paper reduction diet
• Use earth friendly packing materials
• Utilize used cardboard boxes
• Address standby power consumption issues
• Sponsor a local environmental group
• Reuse, recycle and compost wherever you can, including electronic waste.
• Allow your customers to order your goods online from your company web site.
• Green business meetings and seminars with online conferencing
• Set up a telecommuting initiative for your staff
• Implement green computer use practices
• Source more of your products or ingredients through fair trade certified suppliers
There's so many things you can do relatively cheaply and some will even save your business money!
All these small actions not only help contribute to slowing down the pace of environmental destruction; they will also help increase your sales if you promote what you are doing to your customers. Have a page on your web site about your environmental commitment; the things you are doing now and what you have planned. The positive feedback you'll receive will astound you - not only from current clients, but you'll also be opening yourself up to a whole new customer base.
If you do head down this path, kudos to you! But a word of warning: a very important point to remember is not to over-hype or make false statements about your green efforts. This is for two reasons:
a) People will find out and any kudos you build up will disappear
b) The process of misleading people about business environmental practices is called "greenwashing". By greenwashing, you'll be undermining the efforts of many other eco-savvy businesses. If consumers lose faith in "green" business, that will directly affect the planet.
Greening your business isn't just a warm and fuzzy short term strategy - it's just plain good business if you're in it for the long term. After all, without a planet in a reasonable enough condition to sustain us, there will be no trade...anywhere.
Volume 13: LED - Lighting The Way!
CFL technology has certainly had a huge impact; allowing millions of us to save substantial cash and carbon dioxide emissions through electricity savings when compared to using standard incandescent globes. In fact, in some countries, the sale of incandescent bulbs will be officially phased out within the next few years.
LED based lighting for domestic applications has recently been getting increasing attention due to advances in technology and reduction in price. LED lighting has been around for years; it's extensively used in applications such as those little red lights on your hi-fi, standby lights on TV's, operation indicators on adaptors and other electronic equipment. For room lighting, it's often used in off-grid setups, RV's and other 12 volt lighting applications.
LED's have no filament to burn out and they generate little heat. Heat is where much of the energy is wasted in an incandescent globe. LED's are illuminated by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material.
Safe, energy efficient and long life
While CFL's only sip electricity and have a very long life in comparison to incandescent bulbs, LED's consume less than half the electricity of compact fluorecent lampgs and last about ten times as long. While there's been concerns raised about the improper disposal and recycling of CFL's as they contain small amounts of mercury. LED's don't have any mercury content at all.
Individual LED's are quite small, so it takes a lot of them to produce an array suitable for lighting an entire room. CFL light output is omnidirectional whereas light from a LED is directional; i.e. more focused - so the application needs to be taken into consideration. In most domestic applications, the lighting appliance will be a long strip, or a cluster of LED's in a lamp fitting set at different angles, or with an array of lenses on the light cover to diffuse the light.
With so many LED's needed in a single light, the type of light it generates and the the materials an LED is constructed from being quite expensive, uptake has been relatively slow; but prices are rapidly dropping.
I had messed around with LED lighting previously, but wasn't really impressed with the light it produced - fine for flash lights etc., but for use in the home without spending hundreds of dollars on high end lamps; I found the light to be ... odd. I really can't describe it any other way; it was very cold, unnatural and much harsher than traditional fluorescent lighting.
More recently, I bought one of these lights to use at the cabin:
This 12 volt lamp contains 18 LED's, but is very compact, has a total current draw of only 100mA and consumes only 1.26 watts. It draws only a quarter of the power of the energy efficient CFL I was using previously.
The LED lamp lights the shed up well and I can read comfortably. While it's still not a "warm" light, I've grown accustomed to it.
Given the lamp should last 100,000 hours; for around 30 bucks it was a good investment. Actually, given the amount I use it, this LED lamp will likely outlast me! I couldn't give you an accurate direct comparison to an incandescent light in terms of intensity, but a guesstimate would be it's as "bright" as a 25 watt incandescent bulb. If you're interested in buying one, try running a search on eBay in your area (that's where I picked mine up from).
OLED - Organic LED
The next big thing in LED lighting is the OLED, which stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. These are comprise of extremely thin organic materials layered between two electrodes that produce light when an electrical charge is applied.
One of the main features of Organic LED technology is their flexibility - OLED's could be worn on clothing, embedded in curtains. With further development, it's believed Organic LED's could be cheaper than regular LED technology and also clear the "cold" light hurdle; offering a warmer quality of light comparable to fluorescents and CFL.
As we mentioned earlier. The LED that we installed at ION produce more light than our previous fluorescent bulbs. They run cooler and use far less energy... 30% less on our power bill!
Volume 14: Electricity From The Wind!
Wind turbines offer part of the solution to the world's renewable energy sourced electricity needs, and in some countries currently represents over 10% of the electricity supply.
This percentage will no doubt increase in the years ahead and the sight of wind turbines scattered across landscapes will become an increasingly common occurrence. It's all a part of the battle to reduce global warming induced climate change and to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
While we're likely most familiar with the huge turbines that crank out electricity for hundreds or thousands of residences, there are now many smaller options available for residential use.
Wind and solar energy connection
It's important to understand that wind is actually a form of solar energy - so by saying that a wind turbine harnesses solar power isn't totally incorrect. Wind is a phenomenon that occurs caused by the uneven heating of the Earth's surface in combination with the spinning of the planet on its axis.
Turbine design
A wind turbine, instead of operating like a fan in your home that uses electricity to create wind, uses wind to create electricity. The blades of the turbine are shaped in such a way that wind causes them to rotate, which spins a low speed shaft with a gear at the end which is connected to another smaller gear on a high speed shaft that runs through a generator housing.
The generator creates electricity using much the same principle as the alternator on your car (depending on the turbine type). A magnetic rotor on the high speed shaft inside the generator housing spins inside loops of copper wire that are wound around an iron core. As the rotor spins around the inside of the core it creates "electromagnetic induction" through the coils that generates an electrical current. That current is then regulated and fed into the grid (or a residential grid connect system) after some modification so that it can be used in our homes or routed into a battery bank for storage. Where a battery bank is used, a regulator prevents overcharging.
The most common wind turbine is the horizontal-axis, which looks somewhat like a traditional windmill, but there are also vertical-axis designs that look similar to an egg-beater or paddle wheel laid on its side.
In the horizontal-axis type, a yaw mechanism in the turbine shaft is utilized to turn the wind turbine rotor into the wind, increasing efficiency. In most cases with wind farm turbines, this is a powered by a small electric motor and computer monitoring.
Turbine size and output
Wind turbines for commercial electricity production usual range from 100 kilowatts to 5 megawatts. At the time of writing, the largest wind turbine in the world had a rotor diameter of 126 m (390 feet) and the potential to generate enough electricity for 5000 households.
A wind turbine for home use has rotors between 8 and 25 feet in diameter and usually has the potential to generate between a few hundred watts and 6 kilowatts of electricity. Some wind turbines can be used in conjunction with a grid connect system.
For every kilowatt hour of electricity produced by wind energy or other green means, approximately 1.5 pounds of carbon is prevented from going into the atmosphere if that electricity had been sourced from coal fired power plants. Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming induced climate change.
Wind speeds needed
A wind turbine usually needs wind speeds of around 10 miles an hour (16kmh) to start generating electricity and optimum wind speed for large turbines is approximately 30 miles per hour ; so they aren't really an option if you're located in an area where winds are usually light and variable, although some models are now being produced that can generate electricity with as little as 5 mile per hour wind speeds - particularly vertical axis models.
Wind speed usually increases with height and where there are no natural or man-made obstructions and this why you'll often see them on hilltops or perhaps in the middle of wheat fields. The wind energy industry has been a boon for many farmers as they can still crop their land with little interference and also generate an income from allowing the turbines on their property. Increasing numbers of wind farms are also being erected offshore.
The blades of a wind turbine rotate at a rate of between 10 to 50 revolutions per minute. In a situation where wind speeds are excessive, for example if there's a gale, the turbine automatically shuts down to prevent damage.
Turbine lifespan
The lifespan of a modern turbine is pegged at around 120 000 hours or 20-25 years, but they aren't totally maintenance free. As they contain moving components, some parts will need to be replaced during their working life. From what I've researched, the cost of maintenance and parts replacement is around the 1 cent USD/ AU per kWh or 1.5 to 2 per cent annually of the original turbine cost.
Environmental impact
Wind turbines aren't overly noisy - mechanical noise is minimum these days and you'll mostly hear the swoosh of the blades passing the tower. Of course, if you're living close to a large wind farm, it could present some noise issues; but most countries have regulations regarding the placement of wind farms in relation to residential areas.
Wind turbines are created from fiberglass, plastics, aluminium, copper, steel and various other metals, so they do have an impact on the environment in that respect and there's also the energy used to to manufacture the turbine. Many turbine parts are recyclable and it's my understanding the amount of energy used in manufacture is balanced out within six to eight months after being commissioned.
Wind farms do have an impact on birds - there have been recorded cases of birds being killed by rotor blades when they fly into them; but there's a great deal of research being carried out to try and minimize the problem. It's also an issue taken into consideration in most countries when choosing a location for a wind farm in relation to bird migratory patterns.
Costs and regulation for residential turbines
Turbines used in residential situations are much quieter than their wind farm counterparts, but you'll need to check with your local authorities as they are still not permitted in some areas - this being the case, your best options for renewable energy is solar power. If you do meet resistance with your local council, talk to them about vertical turbine options as these emit lower noise, have a lower profile and are considered to be generally more aesthetically pleasing than their horizontal axis counterparts. As local government tends to be behind the times with technological developments in renewable energy, it doesn't hurt to raise the possibility of that alternative.
Wind turbines for home use vary in price and greatly depend on your electricity needs vs. wind availability, but you can expect to pay around $12,000 to cater for the average home. However, bear in mind that cost can be greatly offset by renewable energy rebates offered by many governments.
Many people think that wind turbines are ugly, and I tend to agree; but I feel that way about most things man made that are added to a natural landscape. Aesthetics aside, the other point that people should bear in mind that if we want to maintain the level of comfort we've grown accustomed to in our modern lives, there will always be some sort of price to pay beyond dollars and cents.
If I had to choose between living close by to a wind farm or a coal fired electricity generation plant, I'd certainly opt for the wind farm and I'd definitely consider a residential model turbine if wind was a reliable factor in my area - there's nothing quite like the feeling of gaining independence through your own electricity generation :).
Volume 15: Green Computer Use
Computing has changed the world - a great example is the Internet. It's hard to imagine either not existing.
While computer usage can actually lessen our environmental footprint, for example, being able to work from home (telecommuting) or control of farm irrigation and many other tasks, the energy consumption involved with casual computing and gaming generally is massive.
There's not just the actual computer usage related electricity consumption, there's also all the millions of tons of plastic and metal used to create the billions of computers in their various forms now on this planet.
We can all do our bit in lessening our impact and the following are tips for more earth friendly computing, some of which will also save you cash!
- When not in use for extended periods, switch your computer off at the wall to avoid phantom power load consumption.
- Have your power saving/management options enabled and properly configured for periods when your computer is temporarily not in use. In Windows, this can be found in Settings/Control Panel/Power Options
- During usage, only have your screen as bright as you need it - unnecessarily bright screens really chew the juice
- If you're going to use a screen saver, use a blank (black) screen - animated screen savers just consume electricity unnecessarily.
- When buying components and peripheral items, try to choose those that come in the least amount of plastic packaging as possible.
- For your next computer, consider a notebook instead of desktop - these use under 50% the electricity of a desktop machine
- If you can afford it, buy extended warranty with your new system so there's less likelihood of you needing to junk the computer within the first few years if an expensive repair is needed.
- Do you really need a 22 inch screen? When considering your next screen purchase, balance your wants with your actual needs.
- Before purchasing a new computer, consider upgrading the hardware in your current machine. Some extra RAM (memory) or a new hard drive may be all you need to restore life to your current system. According to this site, the energy needed to churn out a new computer is enough to power a system for a decade!
- Following on from the above point; it's not uncommon for Windows to get slower as time goes on. This isn't necessarily your machine, but software bloat. All the updates, installing and uninstalling of software, applications running in the background that you don't really need take their toll and basically clog your machine up; seriously impacting on performance, which in turn is more wear and tear on hardware and increase electricity consumption. Consider doing a reinstallation of Windows and your software. A lean machine will sip less electricity and perform much better.
- When you do replace your current computer system, donate it rather than bin it if possible. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, e-waste is now the fastest growing aspect of the municipal waste stream. You can find places to donate your computer to on Earth911.org
- Consider a refurbished computers for your next purchase. These aren't dusty old machines that have just been wiped over; often they are display models or recent purchase returns with very little wear and tear that are thoroughly checked before sale, and often have the same guarantee that new units do. You can save a ton of cash this way!
The computer recycling problem
While putting a computer in for recycling isn't the worst step your could take, it's important to remember that e-cycling (recycling of electrical components) is a bit of a minefield.
Sometimes they aren't recycled at all and in some instances your computer could be shipped to China (more emissions in transportation) where poorly equipped and impoverished people are set the gruelling task of stripping down the systems and reclaiming some of the precious metals. It's nasty and highly toxic work and just another instance whereby we've been outsourcing our pollution.
If you are going to recycle your machine, check the recycler out - ask about their practices; for example, if the system will be stripped down locally and in safe/environmentally responsible conditions. Also try to keep as many components as you can as backups - for example, the mouse and keyboard.
Here in Edmonton, we are fortunate to have our Eco Stations to dispose of our old computers and peripherals. Please make use of them. If they are usable, they make them available to anyone who wants them. Go check it out. If they are simply done, they dispose of them properly.
Eco Station Locations:
South: 5150-99 Street - Enter on 99 Street only
North: 11440-143 Street
Hours:
Summer - March 30, 2009 to November 7, 2009
9am to 6:30pm, Monday - Saturday
Closed Sunday and statutory holidays
Winter - November 9, 2008 to March 28, 2009
9am to 4:30pm, Tuesday - Saturday
Closed Sunday, Monday and statutory holidays
For more information:
Telephone: 311
Email wasteman@edmonton.ca
Volume 16: The Paper Reduction Diet
The widespread use of computers was meant to herald the dawn of a new age - the paperless office. Unfortunately, that hasn't eventuated. The demand for paper and paper based products is still incredibly high and growing.
Regardless of our high tech information storage systems, like plastic, paper seems to be everywhere in our lives - not just in the office, but also in our homes. Most of the world's paper supply still comes from forests rather than plantations and to create one ton of paper, it takes somewhere in the region of 4 tons of trees.
According to the OECD, The pulp and paper industry consumes the most water of all industries in OECD countries - and is one of the biggest industrial greenhouse gas emitters. Aside from the wood, water and energy consumed; chemical processes involved with the creation of many types of paper products generate toxic by-products that wreak tremendous damage on the environment - the land, water and air.
While an increasing amount of paper is recycled these days which is wonderful, we need to bear in mind that recycling consumes energy and other resources also and often the products we buy containing recycled paper only have x% recycled content.
There's many things we can all do to reduce our paper consumption - here's some tips for home and the workplace for going on a paper diet; some of which can also help you save cash!
- For the office, purchase paper containing recycled content or consider using tree-free paper alternatives
- Decrease margin, footer and header sizes and don't use double line spacing. This can save up to 50% on paper consumption (and cost).
- Print only emails and pages of documents you really need
- Encourage double-sided printing and set duplex printing as the default on your printer
- Preview documents before printing to ensure they are laid out correctly
- Print directly onto envelopes rather than print labels
- Make notepads from paper that has only been printed on one side
- Use reusable envelopes for inter-office mail
- Use erasable wall calendars that are undated
- Reuse file folders
- Post memos on a central notice board or use email
- Fax cover sheet information can be incorporated in the first page of a document rather than need to be a dedicated page
- Compose, send and receive faxes via your computer
- Ensure your copier is well maintained. During my time in the corporate world, I saw many reams of paper wasted due to jams through poorly maintained equipment.
- As an alternative to post-it notes, consider using a whyteboard
- Store letterheads electronically rather than have stock printed, so if your letterhead details change, you won't be stuck with reams of pre-printed pages.
- Offer major documents on cd or as PDF files to intended recipients
- Use lighter weight graded paper where possible
- Keep cardboard shipping boxes you receive for re-use. You can flatten them to save space.
- Ensure that other paper products you purchase such as tissues and toilet paper contain recycled content wherever you can. Read the labels carefully so you can identify and compare brands to get the the highest recycled content.
- Read newspapers online, or only buy newspapers and magazines when you can use the paper for another purpose after you're done.
- Contact pamphlet distribution companies and let them know that you don't want their junk mail in your mailbox. Add a "no junk mail" sticker to your mailbox and lambast any company whose marketing materials still appear! They may blame the distributor, but it doesn't matter, just make your feelings known - it's their responsibility to stop it. A company that ignores such requests in this age of "green" is running the risk of nasty publicity. In some countries, there are central authorities where you can arrange to have your name removed from unsolicited mailings.
- Encourage organizations you're associated with to post their newsletters on the web and to remove your name from paper-based mailings.
- Some utilities and banks that provide online account access will discontinue sending you paper statements,invoices and promotional material if you formally request it.
- Instead of using paper towels, use rags
- When using paper towel, stop and think before you use it as to how much you'll actually need. I was (and still am sometimes) a paper towel abuser.
- Paper plates are evil - consider lightweight bamboo and other reusable crockery made from renewable resources for picnics etc.
- Buy resusable coffee filters
- Utilize reusable containers instead of paper bags
- Send electronic greeting and postcards instead of paper based ones.
While there's no escaping paper, we can further minimize our consumption impact on the environment by recycling every scrap of paper we come across; don't let it wind up in landfill.
Most households and businesses are now provided with special recycling bins, but if you don't have one of these; create one of your own. It saves digging through the trash to pull it all out :).
Oh, one other tip - worms love to eat paper. If you have a worm farm, you can feed them waste paper that hasn't been printed with toxic ink and they'll reward you with a wonderful fertilizer for your garden!
Volume 16: Answering Machines vs. Voicemail - The Environmental Comparison
It's the little things we often overlook that really mount up when it comes to electricity use and general environmental impact. A watt here, a watt there all adds up - particularly when you multiply it by millions of consumers doing the same thing. The Wuppertal Institute in Germany looked into answering machines vs. voicemail type services and came up with some startling data.
For example, telephone answering machines use electricity 24/7 and can consume up to 100 kWh per year. According to the Wuppertal Institute, by replacing all the estimated 18 million conventional answering machines with voicemail, it could save around 788 GWh per year and 600,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany alone.
The Daily Green reports that answering machines in USA residences currently consume nearly two billion kilowatt-hours annually. A switchover of all these systems to voicemail services would be equivalent in terms of emission savings to taking 250,000 cars off the road.
The Wuppertal Institute also points out:
- A small number of centralised voicemail service platforms, which can cater to many users, consume significantly less materials in production than a large number of decentralised answering machines.
- Voicemail reduces the amount of problematic waste - scrapped electronic appliances - over 1,000 times less.
- There are transport savings - everything from shipping millions of devices, to consumers making trips to purchase answering machines and have them repaired or serviced.
- Voicemail services are more flexible and versatile. When you buy an answering machine, what it does is what it does. When new features become available that have you drooling, what usually happens? You go out and buy one. Voicemail services can be scaled up; broadening their range of features with no new hardware required by the consumer.
- Costs for voicemail services are quite low when you take into consideration the costs involved with purchasing answering machine equipment, upkeep and running costs.
Like standby power loads, little things like answering machine power consumption and the associated e-waste issues are so easy to overlook in our lives. Once your answering machine has bitten the dust; perhaps consider making it your last one and switch to voicemail services.