Making your office as energy-efficient, or as “green,” as possible is not just good for your company’s bottom line, but it can actually attract new customers. Consumers are increasingly looking for environmentally friendly businesses where they spend their hard-earned dollars, according to Time. Fortunately, there are a number of easy things you can do to save energy. You can even use your “greening” efforts in your marketing message. Read on for more tips on how to green your office.

Here are some tips to help your office:

Reduce your electricity usage

Saving on your electricity bill requires more of an effort than just turning out the lights when you leave a room. Some other things to consider include setting your computers on an automatic timer that shuts them down at night when everyone is gone, using cloud services to replace your in-house servers and trading up to more energy-efficient office equipment, like copiers

Save energy in heating and cooling your office

The Refrigeration School reports that energy efficiency means both saving on your energy bills and saving on the amount of energy your office uses. Some ways to accomplish this are to have your heating and cooling systems serviced at least once a year so that they are operating at peak efficiency. It’s also important to keep the filters clean. Most HVAC professionals recommend changing your furnace filter at least once a month during the height of cold weather season. You can also save by turning down the thermostat slightly. A single degree decrease in temperature can save you as much as three percent on your gas or electric bill, states EnergyHub. Your staff won’t even notice that slight decrease, but your budget will. 

Save paper and other office supplies

Even in the digital age, the average office worker uses 10,000 pieces of copy paperper year. One easy way to reduce this waste is to use both sides of each piece of paper for all but the most important client communications. In addition, many things that are often printed, such as phone messages, inter-office memos and even customer brochures can be digitalized to save paper.

Conserve water

You may not think about saving water in a typical office, but all those faucets add up. In fact, offices account for up to nine percent of America’s total water usage, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Reduce your water usage by adding low flow faucets, installing bathroom sink faucets that automatically shut off and planting drought-resistant landscaping plants that require less water. 

Minimize your trash

Although paper is the biggest culprit, other types of trash can get overwhelming, too. Save by encouraging staff to use ceramic coffee cups and lunch plates instead of paper. You can also reduce the number of trade newspapers and magazines you get. Every employee doesn’t need his or her own copy. One per department should suffice.

Greening your office isn’t something that you can expect to happen overnight. However, by graduay implementing energy-efficient changes over time, you’ll not only save on your utility bills and save natural resources, but you may even attract a few new, environmentally-conscience customers.  

Huong Truong