How Would You Set Up An Eco-Friendly Home Office?

1. The general awareness regarding the damage that has been already caused to the Earth, is definitely on the rise.
2. With more and more people come to realise the responsibility they have towards protecting Mother Nature, Eco-Friendly efforts have been steadily gaining a lot of traction.
3. Now with groundbreaking advancements in technology, it has become quite convenient to implement the green strategies in your workplace.
4. So creating an eco-friendly office is no longer very challenging.
5. The biggest advantage of having a green office is that the smart efforts on top of protecting the Earth also cut down on your operating costs.
6. COVID-19 is an ugly yet undeniable truth. It has completely changed the way we look at the world and live our lives, and this also includes the way we work.
7. Owing to this scary global pandemic, a huge percentage of the worldwide population has been forced into working from home.
8. With passing time, it is becoming quite apparent that “work from home” will be prevalent for at least a substantial amount of time in the foreseeable future.
9. The main reason for that is that this setting allows employers to drastically save up on lighting, air conditioning and power charges and several other expenses.
10. However, those costs and that carbon footprint(albeit significantly lower), will get shifted to each of the home offices.
11. Moreover, since most of the people will have to do office work sitting at home for a long time now, they will need to have a designated “home-office” space.
12. So, it is an intelligent move to turn that space into an environmentally conscious zone.
13. The following is a list of techniques you can use to make your home office more environmentally sustainable.

Green Office Supplies

Instead of stocking up on the traditional office supplies like staples, thumbtacks, etc., try to buy their Eco-friendly substitutes. When looking for cups to have drinks like water or coffee in, try purchasing the compostable ones and choose the entirely recyclable binders that completely eliminate the hazardous plastic waste, resulting from the plastic ones. Simply recycling all the supplies already in stock, instantly makes the office supplies greener. For example, you can reuse older notebooks and/or notepads, if they have pages left in them, instead of always buying a new one every now and then. You will be protecting Mother Nature while also saving up on supply costs.

Use of Pages

Use recycled paper as much as possible, for everything from printing, sticky notes, paper towels to even tissues. After that, try to minimise the amount of printing that you carry out. Especially in this digital age, the office environment does not require a lot of printing any more. So whenever you can try to avoid printing and go digital. You can maintain virtual bulletin boards, you can send E-mail Memos, Cloud Document Sharing, and a host of other digital avenues to get your work done. In case you are unsure of how to cut down on your printing, there are software programs which analyse print consumption and offer solutions as to how to cut back and also provide intelligent suggestions during new print jobs.

Customise Your “Home-Office”

Firstly, it is unnecessary to construct an expansive office space at home. Keeping the space small and simple allows you to minimise costs and also reduce the carbon footprint significantly since smaller spaces require fewer utilities and thus maintenance. Instead of trying to completely overhaul a space inside your house, you can use a spare room or your garage, which might have been unused and set your office up there.

Use Appliances Responsibly

Make sure that you always turn your appliances off when they are not in use. Computers, Printers, Copiers, etc. all pull significant amounts of power all around the clock if you do not turn them off. In fact, there are several pieces of equipment that can drain energy, even when they have been turned off. So you must pull the plugs out of the sockets, to eliminate this possibility. You can opt for a Smart Power Strips(they have in-built programmable timers). They can be set up to cut off all power, when then sense you leaving your “home-office” or when you turn off your computer, etc. They are very useful in lessening your energy bill.

Use Smart Lighting

People tend to overlook the lighting when designing an eco-friendly “home-office”, but adjusting your lighting can have a huge impact. Always work with what you have, for example, if there are large windows in your office space, you may not need lights during the day. Try to opt for “task” lighting, instead of “ceiling” lighting, so that you are not wasting electricity lighting up unused spaces. Lights acting on “Motion-activated” is a good choice for your home-based office. Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs are the most environmentally sustainable option when it comes to lights.

Lessen Your Heating And Cooling

Minimise the number of times you reprogram the thermostat. When the weather is warm, try keeping your “home-office” at a warmer temperature, to lessen the energy consumption. In the same way, try keeping a cooler temperature in the office during the winter months. Properly positioned fans can create a naturally cool effect in the occupied areas. But make sure that like all other appliances, you always turn your fan(s) off, when you leave the space.

Source Food Locally

Instead of trying to buy a host of assorted snacks, you can easily substitute them with items that have been sourced locally, and preferably, produced organically. Take a trip down to your nearby farmer market(s) and try to acquire all your necessary produce there. You get to enjoy an outstanding flavour while also cutting down on the carbon footprint. Moreover, buying from the farmer’s market means that the entire community gets promoted as a whole and even the hard-working farmers are directly benefited. In case you generally utilise a Lunch Delivery Service, or have lunch from a “Lunch Cart”, try to strike a deal with a restaurant or eatery that focuses on “locally-sourced”, environmentally sustainable ingredients.

Second Hand Furniture

In case you feel that your “home-office” requires some furniture, which you do not have at home, try not to buy “new” furniture from big stores. They leave a huge carbon footprint, especially with their production and shipping. Regarding furniture, the most sustainable products are the ones that are already in existence. However, do not fear that second-hand furniture will have a bad build quality. Structurally, they will be equally good, if not better than brand new furniture. There are hordes of online sites from where you can acquire such furniture and they can even be right to your door.

It is high time that we take a stand and work tirelessly to reverse the extensive damage that has already been caused to Mother Nature. Every person can do their own little part to protect the environment and all those small efforts add up to have a huge impact. Setting up an eco-friendly office space at home, allows you to carry out that responsibility to the environment and also benefits your health and work, to a considerable extent. You play an active and measurable part in eliminating the global carbon footprint and help in paving the way towards a greener Earth, where “Life” can flourish.

Also read:

1) How to Make Online Business More Eco-Friendly?
2) Do You Consider Yourself to be Eco-Friendly? Let’s Check!
3) How to Build an Eco-Friendly House?
4) What are Organic & Eco-friendly Products? How to start this business?
5) Biodiesel Manufacturers in India

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