10 quick ways to be greener at work

Okay. no major lifestyle changes...these are 10 quick and easy ways to go greener at your company or home office. Each takes less than 15 minutes!

Tomorrow, 10 more for the house and car.

1) Instead of ordering printed business forms, get your business forms, employee forms and HR information online from sites like G.Neil.com, which offers lots of printable stuff like printable state-specific job applications. Time to make change: 5 minutes

2) Set your office computers to go into sleep or hibernate after hours, and use Wake on LAN to allow after-hours updates and remote access without wasting energy. Time to make change: 10 minutes

3) Next time you shop for breakroom supplies, replace the foam plates and cups in the lunch rooms with recycled/recycable paper and provide a recycle bin. Better yet, encourage people to bring their own mug and provide bio-safe dish soap. Time to make change: 5 minutes

4) Replace paper memos with electronic ones. Ban paper ones, ban printing the electronic ones. (Make the penalty for violation funny...like having to wear the paper memos pinned to one's shirt for the day!) Time to make change: 1 minute and some good laughs as people adjust to the new rules

5) Take out 10 light bulbs in your office and replace them with high-efficiency green light bulbs. Time to make change: 10 minutes, assuming no lawyers or other lightbulb joke participants are involved)

6) Install hand sanitizer stations in restrooms and breakrooms to reduce water and paper towel use. Time to make change: 10 minutes per station

7) Instead of placing a paper insert ad, spend 10 minutes a day promoting your company or product on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social sites and networks. Time to make change: 10 minutes per day

8) Replace the toxic cleaners in your offices with green, safe versions. Or better yet, mix your own natural cleaners from things like baking soda and vinegar. Time to make change: 15 minutes or less per product

9) Send out a green tip of the day to employees (via the Internet, NOT on paper!) Encourage employees to submit their own green ideas and lifestyle changes to include in your list of tips. Time to make the change: 5 minutes or less a day

10) Change your subscription on two professional journals, bills or order confirmations from paper to online only. Do this once a week until everything that can be paperless is paperless. Time to make the change: 10 minutes a week

There you go! 10 quick changes, each 15 minutes or less! Ready, set, green!

Wind turbine timing saves bats

The popular wisdom tells us that bats can "see" anything in the dark, thanks to their remarkable sonar. Well, apparently, that doesn't apply to wind turbines.

The mix between clean energy generating wind mills (or wind turbines) and these tiny winged mammals has been deadly. A study performed by the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (yes, that is for real...trust me, I could not make that up) found that as wind power has increased in popularity, so have bat fatalities. Turning the wind turbines off at night if the wind is low (bats' favorite time to be out and about) resulted in a nearly 79% drop in the number of bat deaths.

(Okay, forgive me here, folks. I like bats. I really do. I had a big barn in Pennsylvania that was partially leased to a neighbor, and when I found out he was planning to put moth balls in the lofts to get rid of the bats, I threatened to remove all of his stuff and revoke the lease! I used to watch the bats come out at dusk...so I really do like them. But somehow, with this story, I keep getting images of old Batman episodes and Batman and Robin coming out of the Batcave and hitting into a giant windmill placed there by the Joker or Penguin or some other arch enemy...doesn't help that the sources I'm using also talk about bird deaths, and that brings to mind Robin...Anyhow, forgive me if I stray, because I know this is an important topic but I needed to warn you in case my subconscious gets the better of me and inserts a pun or two...)

Bats are critical to the environment, as a primary control on the insect population. No bats, lots more bugs. And clean energy is critical to our environment, too. Wind turbines are an excellent and affordable choice for energy. We need to get beyond oil. So the deadly clash between the two is a major concern for both environmentalists and clean energy producers.

Scientists are studying the reason for the problem, as they aren't sure whether the bats can't see the spinning blades, which can reach speeds of up to 180 miles per hour, or if they are attracted to the shiny metal in the blade itself. There is also some concern that the movement of air around the blades may be interfering with the bats' sonar or even affecting their lungs because of the significant changes in air pressure around a turbine (think divers and the bends.)

Experiments are being conducted to create sonar barriers or physical barriers around the blades to protect the bats. For now, turning the turbines off on low wind night seems to be the best choice, and one that most clean energy producers are willing to try.

Green your computers with Wake on LAN

You want to save energy at your company and at home, but there are updates you need, remote access that's essential or data that needs to be accepted even during times when no one is around.

So do you leave the computer running, sucking up energy and waiting? Or do you miss out on the updates and access?

There is a third choice, and odds are it's already built into you computer. The process is called Wake on LAN. In plain English, it means that even if your computer is in energy-saving hibernate or sleep mode, it can wake up and accept data or allow access even when no one is around to press a button.

There's a complete step-by-step of the process on Lifehacker, but basically it's as simple as making a few tweaks in your computer's BIOS settings, then changes the settings in the Device Manager to allow your computer to utilize the new BIOS.

Best of all, after your computer has stretched its virtual arms and accepted your remote access or incoming data, you can tell it to go back to sleep (or into hibernate) again until the next update.

A free PsShutdown tool from Microsoft SysInternals can be used to script automatic standby after each use.

The whole process will take less than 10 minutes to install, but the energy savings, especially for a large company running PC's at every desk can be enormous. Who said becomig a greener business was hard?

Scotland plans on 50% renewable fuel by 2020

In an ambitious plan to recover lost jobs and reduce oil energy dependence, Scotland is actively pursing plans to harness an abundant natural resource...the wind...as a primary energy source.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Scottish representatives were at a wind power conference in Chicago last week, seeking suppliers and interest for large off-shore wind power rigs. The hope is the move will boost employment and help Scotland gain access to low-impact power sources.

According to Wikipedia,

Wind power in Scotland is an area of considerable activity, with 1550 MW of installed capacity as at October 2008.[1] Wind power is the fastest growing of the renewable energy technologies in Scotland and the world's largest wind turbine generator (5 MW) is currently undergoing testing in the North Sea, 15 miles off the east coast. There are numerous large wind farms as well as a number, both planned and operating, which are in community ownership. The siting of turbines is sometimes an issue, but surveys have shown high levels of community acceptance for wind power in Scotland. There is further potential for expansion, especially offshore, given the high average wind speeds.

And a 2005 map of Scotland's energy plans shows over 250 proposed wind power sites nationwide.

I can't help but wonder why the U.S. hasn't followed suit for our own power needs. I know some companies out there, like Green Energy Prod, are offering wind turbine systems, but I am not seeing them in action. Any ideas on how we can encourage that same type of innovation here?

Simple tips for a greener life

Check out these simple tips for a greener life from The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur....

Green holiday cards big business for businesses

In a recent survey of business owners, 40% said that the environmental aspects of the holiday cards and other business greeting cards they send out matters "somewhat" or "very much." That's up from just over 29% two years ago.

The same survey showed that 52% of businesses are using some form of green business practices with regard to paper choices and disposal within the company, an increase of nearly 30% over the previous survey.

The survey did not evaluate whether the owners were willing to pay more for the cards, or whether they were using green business practices in other, non-paper areas of their companies.

Organic produce production, sales down

The other night in the grocery store, I heard no less that a half a dozen people on their cell phones talking to other people (at home?) asking whether to buy this that based on price. And the differences were usually well less than a dollar. Sometimes, I watched them put down both options and walk away.

Times are tough. The recession/depression has people watching every dollar. And one area especially hard hit is organic produce and organic food products.

Michael Smith, blogger at Green (Living) Review, was discussing the fact that sales of organic produce and other organic foods are dropping. Many farmers, he reports, are returning to "cheaper" standard production methods. Consumers, when faced with two cans of beans or bunches of grapes, are opting for the "regular" version over the double-the-price organic one.

It's not that we don't want organics. We all know they're healthier. But we just can't pay the premiums growers and retailers are demanding for that often ambiguous organic label.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile will remember that I spent a few posts talking about this very issue. Green companies pricing themselves right out of the marketplace. I was talking about t-shirts, notebooks and baby blankets, but the concept is the same.

If the current economic trend continues, will organic food continue to grace our supermarket shelves in large quantities? Will producers and marketers see the writing on the wall (or on the balance sheet) and work to bring prices in line? Or are the days of organics everywhere numbered?

(Image from Tree Hugger)