Growing a Green Policy

I mentioned earlier in the week that I want to start adhering to a green policy when working from home.

As reported on the Greener Office Web site, when Independent consultants WSP Environmental looked into it they found that home workers typically produce almost a third more CO2 in a year than employees working primarily in the office. This figure was based on the fact that office workers share electricity and heating while home workers don’t. There has still been little significant research in this area but it is something the Location Independent Working project may cover in the future.

I think the key to making change is to plan your policy (no matter how insignificant it seems) and try to embed it into working practice. So here’s my list:

My Home/Remote Worker Green Policy

Recycling

• I’m not going to print things unless absolutely necessary. If I must print I’ll go for double sided printing and if feasible squeeze 2 pages onto one side. Paperless office?…Hopefully one day…
• I’ll also try to recycle all office waste – plastic, carboard, paper etc.

Energy

• I will turn all equipment off at the end of each working day and turn my monitor off at lunch.
• I’ll make sure I only boil the kettle when necessary and put in just enough water for one cup.
• I will continue to use low energy bulbs
• I’ll try to avoid turning my heating on unless absolutely necessary. (Time for a warm jumper or quick walk round the house to improve circulation.) I’ll also look into loft insulation.

(We had a whopper of a heating bill this year and once we’ve cleared out the loft we really need to look into better insulation. I’m wondering if in the future activities like this might be funded by our employer in an effort to keep us home workers happy and improve our (and indirectly their carbon footprint.))

Travel

• If I can avoid flying I will.
• If I can avoid going anywhere I will! Obviously this can’t effect my work but if there is a feasible alternative I’ll look into it. There are plenty of video conferencing tools that still need to be tried out and blogged about!

Food

• I’m going to try to eat more local, organic food during my lunch break. It helps that I’ve started growing a lot more in the garden.

Is there anything I’ve missed?