“Green”,
“Socially Responsible” and “Sustainable office” are the new business buzz words
AND being green is good for business!
Creating a “sustainable office” saves
companies money while conserving natural resources. The State of
Many businesses
have found that reducing the amount of solid waste they dispose of and conserving
natural resources, such as energy and water,
can result in significant cost savings, improve the work environment, increase employee
retention rates, and enhance worker productivity
and satisfaction. In addition to the benefits your office or building will
realize, you will be helping to ensure that the earth's natural resources are available for generations to come. (www.ga.gov)
The Maple Group is glad
to help our clients become GREEN companies.
Below are some tips
and tricks to being GREEN.
WHERE & HOW TO DONATE/RECYCLE USED COMPUTERS & CELL
PHONES
PREPARING COMPUTERS FOR RECYCLING OR DONATION
IT OPERATIONAL GREEN PRACTICES THAT SAVE MONEY
DONATE/RECYLE USED ELECTRONICS
& CELL PHONES
FACTS:
If your
system is still in good working condition, you may want to donate it to a local
charity. Most charities have guidelines
on what types of systems they will take.
I don’t think there’s a charity out there that will take an old 486
computer or anything that runs under 1 Gigahertz. So if you have really old computers or other
computer hardware that is broken or outdated like printers, scanners etc. you
may have to recycle them instead of donating them.
There are
several local resources that take broken and/or computers in working
condition. Some of the recyclers charge
a fee to take a desktop tower, monitor, or printer off your hands. The EPA's
Web site has a useful page with a list and links to company take-back programs
and local programs. (www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/recycle/ecycling/donate.htm).
Earth 911 (earth911.org) and the Consumer
Electronics Association’s myGreenElectronics.org
have resources for finding a recycling center in the
Ebay is in the green game with http://pages.ebay.com/rethink. They have partnerships with non-profits and
other companies to help Ebayers find local charities and recyclers for computer
equipment.
Don't recycle, Freecycle: There are 4,226 Freecycle.org online
groups helping more than four million users give away "junk" to
others who can use it. The Atlanta
Chapter is very active and can be found in YAHOOGROUPS. Look for freecycle-ATL.
This site lets you offer something for free and the end user
comes and picks it up.
Take an HP, Lexmark, or Dell printer cartridge to Staples for
recycling and you will get a $3 coupon for ink or toner. (Staples.com). Walgreens also recycles and fills ink
jet cartridges for cheap. And if you
purchase your ink at Walgreens, they will refill it the first time for free (walgreens.com)
PREPARING COMPUTERS FOR RECYCLING
OR DONATION
There are a few steps to take prior to donating/recycling your
old system.
1) BACK UP YOUR FILES
2) WIPE YOUR HARD DRIVE CLEAN OR REMOVE IT
Don't assume that someone at the recycler or non-profit that you donate the
system to won’t plug it in and look at the files. Just to be on the safe side, it's a good idea
to wipe the hard drive completely, including the operating system to remove
your version of Windows and your administrator's account.
If the recipient is a non-profit and also wants all of the
software to be included in the donation (some do so they don’t have to purchase
another copy of the OS and Office etc.) wipe the hard drive clean and give them
the disks that came with the computer. For
more details on how to accomplish this task ask Joe.
3) SALVAGE WHAT YOU CAN
There may be spare parts to be had in this old computer. Hard Drives, RAM modules, IDE cables, cooling
fan and optical drives are good examples of components that are easy to remove
and less likely to become obsolete. If
you are recycling a computer – pull out the hard drive and then you don’t necessarily
have to wipe it clean.
BUY GREEN COMPUTERS & HARDWARE
FACTS:
Many computers that are new generally have the Energy Star 4.0 rating. Energy Star rating is quite stringent,
demanding highly efficient power supplies and very-low-power idle modes. (energystar.gov). However, computers can get this rating prior
to any Virus software or other power hungry programs are loaded.
PC Magazine (www.pcmagazine.com)
has a great rating system for Green computers that goes beyond the Energy Star
Rating. A couple of the machines that The
Maple Group likes got some of their highest ratings:
HP
Compaq dc7800
The HP dc7800 is a compact, energy-efficient
desktop that roars. The HP dc7800 has a
speedy Intel Core 2 Duo processor to work on 3D-rendering tasks, though you may
want to add another gigabyte of memory if you plan to use it for everyday tasks
in
Read PC Magazine’s review: HP Compaq dc7800
Dell OptiPlex 755
This minitower is a very green desktop and it has the most
internal storage space and is a capable business PC. It earned a PC Magazine’s Editors'
Choice award on its own merits (dual hard drives with data backup, multiple
form factors). Pluses include energy efficiency and parts that are premarked
for recycling.
Read the PC Magazine Review at: Dell
OptiPlex 755
Dell
Latitude D630
A solid business laptop with road-ready attributes,
such as its 5.8-pound frame. Besides having a fast CPU and producing more than
5 hours of battery life, it also meets most of the green standards, though it fell a little short on PC Magazine’s energy-efficiency test.
Read PC Magazine’s Review: Dell Latitude D630
IT OPERATIONAL GREEN PRACTICES
Facts:
There are several
day-to-day activities that help a company be green while reducing the power,
heating and cooling bills.
1. Dial down your screen brightness. The
brighter your screen, the more power it uses.
2. Enable any power saving features on your computers, monitors,
printers and other peripheral devices. When
you leave at night, put your computer in standby mode. Business users generally
cannot turn their computers off at night because Virus scans and Windows
updates and other system maintenance may take place in the middle of the
night. But you can put your computer on
standby mode and set up the power settings to wake the computer for specific
programs. Joe can work with you to make sure your systems are setup for
maximum power savings.
3. If you are still using CRT
monitors, upgrade to an LCD. An LCD uses about 1/3 of the power that a CRT
uses.
4. Don’t allow screen savers on computers in the office. Most monitors no longer are in danger of
having images burned into them, and screen savers actually use up monitor
power. You can manage the power settings
on the monitor so that with inactivity the monitor can shut down and start back
up once someone touches the keyboard.
5. Digitize.
Organize. Use less paper. The more you do online, the less you need
paper. Keep files on computers instead of in file cabinets (this also makes it
easier to make offsite backup copies or take them with you when you move to a
new office). Invest in document management server and software. Review documents onscreen rather than
printing them out. Send email statements and letters instead of paper
statements and letters. Use SharePoint
to collaborate and edit documents.
6. If you'll be away from your computer or other devices for a
long period of time (say, while on vacation), consider unplugging them
completely. Plugged in
computers --even if they’re not on -- drain power.
7. Maintain Servers. Regular maintenance
of servers and surrounding rack and cooling technology can save loads of
operating dollars. Maximize your cooling investment by reorganizing your server
room to make it more efficient. If you
don’t have a server room, build one out.
The cost of building a server room can be offset by the savings in
cooling and heating the general work area.
You can’t let your servers get hot.
If they are in the general work area of your office, you can’t turn down
the air in the evening during the hot
8. Reconfigure Your UPS
Software. Some UPSs can shut down power to
specific devices on a scheduled basis—very green and a great way to save money.
If your UPS can't shut down a server gracefully, then The Maple Group should
check into getting you a new UPS system that is green.
9. Use Desktop Management
Software. The desktop-management software you're using today has great
green potential. Wake on LAN, remote admin access, and similar technologies can
enforce features like sleep-mode settings, hard disk spin rates, CPU shutdown
schedules, and more to keep idle equipment from sucking loads of unnecessary
power.
10. Allow workers to telecommute one day a week. Technology enables workers to work from home
as efficiently as in the office. Microsoft's
Small Business Server 2003 allows users to access their desktop from any
PC. If you don’t have a Small Business Server,
there are other options that The Maple Group can recommend. Outlook Web Access allows users access to
their corporate (Microsoft Exchange Server) email from any PC connected to the
Internet. Some VOIP telephony systems
allow call forwarding to outside numbers such as home numbers. In addition, there are State sponsored
programs that help companies set up successful telecommuting programs and
actually pay employees to telecommute, carpool or ride MARTA.
11. Educate Your Staff. You should remind
employees to put their computers in standby mode and turn off their other office
equipment when they leave. Facilities staff should turn off lights and
power down air conditioners during off-hours (unless you don’t have a server
room --). And, perhaps most important, managers can start examining the effects
these practices have on utility cost savings, charitable donation tax credits,
and more. After all, saving money is the best way for SMBs
to keep on being green.
12. Start a Green Team at your company and
include The Maple Group in your meetings.
Call The Maple Group today for a free “green assessment.” We can work
together to insure that your company is saving all the money possible while
becoming a responsible GREEN company.
For more ideas on being Green or to discuss any of the thoughts
in this email newsletter, please email
or call Linda O’Connor direct at 770.472.7413.
The Maple Group
770.663.4455
Some of the sources used for this newsletter include:
The Maple Group’s Practice Guidelines
www.theurbanenvironmentalist.com
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