Having a home based business comes with a lot of benefits. Benefits like having a short commute to work. My commute is just steps away to my basement office which means I don’t have to drive to work every day. Being able to walk to work means reducing the amount of vehicle emissions that are produced. But working from home can increase your home energy usage, giving you larger energy bills.
Working From Home Has It's Advantages
Today’s post is for all of the home based business owners. With a little thought and effort you can work from home in the green. The best part is that not only are you helping the environment but you also will save money on your energy bills. Make your business an environmentally friendly business. The number one thing you can do as a home based business owner is to choose your office equipment wisely.
When buying your office equipment – computers, fax machine, printers, monitors, etc. look for the ENERGY STAR emblem. Energy Star office equipment uses 50-90% less energy than the standard versions.
In addition to the energy savings, some Energy Star office equipment can reduce electromagnetic field emissions (that come from computer monitors).
Besides buying more eco friendly home office products, there are some other things that you can do to reduce your energy consumption. Here are some energy saving tips that you can use in your home office:
- Unplug any office equipment that doesn’t have to be on all the time. If the device is turned off but remains plugged in, it still uses power.
- Avoid leaving unused items on “standby” mode. For example, leaving your computer printer on “standby” uses power just waiting for you to print something.
- If you go on break, (yes even home based workers get a break from time to time) turn off your computer monitor. Avoid using screen savers because they use the same amount of energy as normal computer use.
- If you are leaving your desk for more than an hour, manually turn off your computer. If you don’t want to turn your computer off completly, at least put it in sleep mode.
- When working at night, consider using task lighting instead of using room lights.
- Set our thermostat to a comfortable level. Using a programmable thermostat can help you save money.
- If possible, set up your home office where you can use the natural light coming in as apposed to turning on the lights.
By using these tips, you not only help the environment and reduce carbon emissions, you also save yourself some money on energy bills. The next time you go to work in your home office, think about what you can do work in the green.
Tags: carbon footprint, energy efficient, energy savings, energy usage
Today, more and more people are trying to be more green and more environmentally conscious. What better way to to help the environment than to get your kids interested in their own planet when they are young and impressionable?
Every year parents spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on toys for their kids that often don’t even get a second look. I have friends that buy their children so many toys at Christmas time that it looks like a race to see what’s inside the next package. When they get it open you hear how great it is, but what’s in the next box? I know that kids need structured play and toys can help provide that, but do they need so many toys? Just thinking about the carbon footprint of each toy makes me want to cringe.
Every toy, board game, book, computer game, and television show has be designed and redesigned many times over in order to make in entertaining and educational for children. But what about giving your children the largest, cheapest, most environmentally friendly playground available?
What I am talking about is the great outdoors, nature is the world’s largest playground and the best part about nature is that it can be found right outside your back door and in most cases exploring nature is totally free.
Nature's Playground
You don’t have to pay for expensive toys, jungle gyms, or any number of the other expensive things that you can find at your local store. You can still give your children stimulating and educational play by exploring nature. It may mean going out in your backyard, to the park, or maybe to a local nature center, all of which will make your child think. Researchers have found that if children explore and experiment on their own to figure out the answers, they learn better and retain more information. It also helps kids to develop skills to be able to learn things on their own later. What better place to learn things than out in nature.
Playing outside is fun. It may be easy to forget but childhood isn’t just about learning how to be an adult, it’s also about having fun. Playing outside in nature gives kids a chance to use their imagination and be free to just be a kid. What may look like fun time for them right now, could turn into a future hobby, a life-long talent, a world saving invention, or a career later in their life.
If you are worried that your child isn’t getting enough structured play, check out your local parks, zoo, or museums. There is a good chance that places like this are currently offering structured classes and learning sessions that focus on the natural world and since many of these places are not for profit, they are usually affordable in addition to being educational.
In these tough economic times, people are looking for ways to cut costs. Before you spend another dollar on a toy that may or may not hold your child’s interest for more than a few minutes, think about giving your child the biggest playground possible. Spending time outside in nature is so important for developing minds. It can also be a great escape for you as well.
Tags: carbon footprint, environmental impact, environmentally conscious, environmentally friendly playground