Solar Roadways: A prototype

This 5 minute video link from Conscious Media Network shows a prototype of solar roadways that would  power nearby businesses and homes as well as be roads that can be driven on. Another clever and innovative option of supplying our nation’s energy. For more information, go to Solar Roadway’s website.

Reduce Travel and Encourage Virtual Meetings

Airline travel is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. One way to reduce your company’s carbon footprint is to consider implementing more virtual meetings.

Meetings and in-person interaction are an important part of work and conducting business.  However, there are non-crucial meetings that could be done virtually, especially with today’s technology.

WebEx and GoToMeeting are two examples of software that allow for productive virtual meetings. Encourage your employees to use the computer cameras so that they can be ‘seen’. Studies show this does improve a meeting communications to see facial interactions.

Promote more meat-free cafeteria options

How many vegetarian options does the cafeteria at your office offer?  In general a vegetarian diet requires fewer resources, and thus has a far lower environmental impact.  Meat production uses a lot of resources including energy, water and grain. It takes 100 times more water to produce a pound of meat than a pound of wheat.  Essentially you would save more water by not eating a single pound of beef than you would by not showering for an entire year!!  A 6 ounce steak uses over 24 times as much fossil fuels as the same equivalent of vegetables and rice.

Eating more vegetarian also saves trees. One of the causes of rainforest deforestation is to create grazing land. When a person becomes a vegetarian they are essentially saving an acre of trees per year. Additionally, cows are the biggest contributor to methane gas, which is one of the primary causes of global warming

Adding more vegetarian options doesn’t mean there won’t still be meat options.  If there are more vegetarian options and variety to choose from often employees will choose them. Vegetarian Times has some great vegetarian recipes.

Company Cars and Fuel Efficient Driving

Many companies have a company car, truck or even fleet.  One way to protect the environment and lower costs is to develop and implement car or fleet policies.

UPS is a prime example of this with the ‘left turn’ campaign. UPS designed its routes to reduce miles and make ‘no left turns’ (this waiting loses time and wastes gas). UPS saved $3 million annually implementing this policy. UPS also installed logistics technologies that have cut 1.1 billion miles off of delivery routes, which prevented 1.9 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. Learn more in this NY Times article.

Xerox reassigned deliveries to avoid sending big trucks when small ones would do. This ‘rightsizing’ initiative along with other adjustments to routes cut 21 million miles from Xerox distribution system.

Did you know that quick acceleration and excessive braking can reduce fuel economy by up to 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent other side roads? Increasing highway speed from 55mph to 75mph can raise fuel consumption as much as 20%. Educate drivers on these driving tips and establish incentives to help them drive more cost effectively.
Learn more eco driving tips from EcoDriving USA. A great quick read for employees is the article by Planet Green called, 10 Eco Driving Tips.

Eco Label Resource: 2010 Global Ecolabel Monitor

Eco-labels were designed to help the consumers choose more environmental and social conscious products. Today there are literally hundreds of eco-labels. Although the intent is good with eco-labels with so many on the market with various meanings, it has essentially confused the consumers.

A free downloadable report by the  World Resources Institute and ecolabelling.org called the 2010 Global Ecolabel Monitor essentially is a comprehensive survey on the performance and organizational structure of all eco-labels found throughout the world. They surveyed over 340 labels from 42 different countries.

Ecolabel Index is another terrific site that is a database of all ecolabels which provides meaning and context. Another site is Global Ecolabelling Network that has good information and reports on eco-labels.