Mar
30
Categories: Green Living at the Office
Tags: going green, going green at the office, Green Collar jobs
Do-It-Yourself Going Green Ideas
Mar
30
While in the past many people were not thinking about the environment, especially at work, increased awareness of the importance of conservation and saving the environment has even made business owners begin to take a second look at practices they can change to improve the environment. If you haven’t considered how your business is affecting the environment, it may be time to consider what you can do to operate a little greener. Today it is becoming more and more popular to go green at the office and it is relatively easy to use great policies at work that can help the environment and make your business more successful as well. Not sure where to begin? Well, here are a few tips to help you out.
Tip #1 Go with Green Vendors: If you want to go green at your office, it’s going to be important to go with green vendors for your needs. Find out if vendors have green policies of their own in place already. Each vendor your use, such as your office supply company or even the bank you use should have green policies to help with the environment. Find out which businesses do use green policies and then support them and their choices by giving them your company’s business.
Tip #2 Make Donations: Another thing that you can do to keep your office environmentally friendly is to make some donations. All the pens, phones, books, computers, and other supplies that you have at the office that are no longer being used can be donated. You’ll find schools, libraries, charity stores, and nursing homes will be glad to take them off your hands. This way someone else can get some use out of them and you won’t be throwing them away.
Tip #3 Purchase and Plant Trees around Your Business: Trees are great for helping the environment by releasing oxygen into the air. Why not plant some trees around your business. Perhaps start an initiative at your office for people to earn their own tree. You may even want to set a special day aside for planting some trees. This will be great for the environment and it can be excellent for your business promotion as well. Purchasing some small saplings should not be all that expensive to do, and consider even using these trees as awards or incentives in the office instead of paper certificates.
Tip #4 Put in Electric Hand Dryers: Many businesses go with paper towels in their bathrooms, and this promotes the use of natural resources that could be saved. Instead of using all that paper, why not invest in some electric hand dryers for your bathrooms. This will save on using paper towels, and not only is it great for the environment, but it is also going to be cost effective as well, since you’ll save quite a bit on the cost of the paper towels.
Tip #5 Go with Recycled Products: There are a variety of different recycled products that you can use for your business that will help you in your pursuit of going green at the office. Some of the recycled products that you can use include recycled paper goods, recycled toner and printer cartridges, and even recycled plastics. You should recycle yourself, and also use recycled products as much as you can.
Tip #6 Purchase Personalized Coffee Mugs for Your Employees: How many Styrofoam cups do you go through a day at the office? If you have many coffee drinkers in the office lounge, more than likely you go through quite a few. Why not go ahead and purchase some personalized coffee mugs for all of your employees. This is a great gift that you can offer and they’ll be able to use their mugs over and over again instead of having to actually use Styrofoam cups, which are not great for the environment.
As you can see, there are many things that you can do that can help to improve the environment. Going green at the office is actually a lot easier and cheaper than you probably thought it would be; in fact, it can even save you money in the long run. So, if you’re ready to start taking care of the world you live in, consider using these tips at the office to make it as green as you possibly can.
Author: Bennetta Elliott, CEO Personalized Gift Express, great source for custom coffee mugs and more.
Author: Bennetta Elliott
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Mar
27
Many folks want to send cards as soon as they remember to colleagues, family, and friends. SendOutCards gives them that chance. I was hooked right away, because this is the kind of company that will always have customers. There’s just a vast array of personal and national and religious holidays that require a card to be sent, so I knew that it was a great idea to build a company around the idea.
However, just because so many people everywhere do send cards, there was still some wariness about whether this was a real chance for wealth. Could distributors connected with SendOutCards really make big profits compared with all the time, money, and energy they’d put in? Is it possible to work from home and make a nice income, and would this company really pay when push came to shove?
The internet site for SendOutCards lists five methods for making a profit with this company. We can review and see if they’re really attainable to most distributors or if they’re just a pie-in-the-sky ideal that no one can reach. The number one method is called “Retail Profits From Preferred Customers.” You can get these paid to you every month, given several different price points.
One of these is called an “Annual Account”, and those just starting out will probably want to buy one of these. They’ll get an Annual Account Card and this can be used to buy points right from their distributor. The distributor really should encourage potential customers to buy this Annual Account. The payout is $25 and you earn 50 cents or so for every point you buy.
Just to summarize the point system: for a greeting card you’d get two points, and for a postcard or upload of an image you’d get one point. When you’re deciding to come on board, you’ll notice that these aren’t big chunks of change; but once you’re in the system and have the right people with you, the end of the month can yield some nice profits.
The second point is that distributors can earn extra awards for coaching new members. These can be collected every week. Customers can choose from varied available packages, and the distributor will decide which commissions come with each. For $298 the “Wholesale Package Plus!” has a lot to offer, such as a distributor coaching session. Besides that, you can pay wholesale for the product. The distributor him or herself makes $120 from selling this package to a new member.
There’s also an “Entrepreneur Plus Package!” for $398. The distributor earns $120 for selling this one, too, but also gets $15 – $50 for the coaching sessions they give. This really yields nice money for those who’ve recruited lots of good folks. Those on the downline who receive the package and the coaching also get additional benefits.
It’s necessary to realize when you’re considering the SendOutCards opportunity that as a distributor you’ll want to develop a big group of customers so you can sell in volume. Every card doesn’t yield a lot of profit, but with a domino effect the number of sales can certainly give you big financial results by the end of the month.
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Article Source : Sendoutcards: Is This Your Golden Opportunity? : ArticleBase
Ellie Gant –
About the Author:
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Mar
24
I’m suffering from “Blue Barrel Anxiety,” and so are a lot of other people around the country. What is BBA you ask? Think of it like this. You are cleaning up after a family picnic, the table is covered with paper plates, an empty pickle jar, a plastic mustard container and lots of other things made from plastic and paper…lots of other things. If you have ever wondered, does this go in the trash or recycle bin, then you have experienced what millions of us have, the dreaded BBA, “Blue Barrel Anxiety.”
I was suffering so badly from BBA that I didn’t know what to toss into my blue bin…I’d even gotten a letter from my trash collection company warning me that I was about to lose my Blue Barrel privileges. Don’t be disheartened, I’ve discovered the cure for BBA. It turns out that by educating oneself, BBA can be reduced and more importantly for me, no more letters.
I set up a tour to my local recycling center. WARNING and DISCLAIMER: Prepare yourself, seeing firsthand what becomes of the things you put into your recycle bin may shock you. Perhaps you might consider taking a friend or the entire family for moral support. You’re going to need it.
How did my tour go? Well it wasn’t what I expected. The facility I went to gave the tour from an enclosed area where we observed the process through glass windows. We didn’t hear much of the noise or enjoy the smells. The room we were in was equipped with a room deodorizer that periodically shot a mist on the air which covered up any noxious odors. I wondered what was in the deodorizer and why suddenly I was feeling a lot of love for all those recyclers working the picking line, hmmmmm.
Anyway… the thing that got most my attention was the amount of “recycled” items that aren’t recycled. A lot of the stuff…most of the stuff, we put into our recycle bins isn’t recycled, it is disposed of in the landfill. I was a little taken aback and somewhat hurt that all the plastic, cans, and containers that I had rinsed and carefully placed into my recycle bin were being treated like garbage and I was wondering why?
The tour guide must have seen the questions in my eyes…I heard the mister spray again and the love return. The tour guide went on to explain that recycling, while being good for the environment is in the final analysis a business activity. Items we toss that don’t have market value are stored or sent on to the landfill. Most of what I saw being saved was plastic containers and cardboard, so I assumed most of the unwanted material became garbage. The tour guide went on to say, “When something has value or there is a market for a recycled item it is captured, bundled and sold.” I pointed out a bin filled with glass bottles and I asked our tour guide why they weren’t recycled? His answer was that it’s cheaper to make new glass than recycle. I was becoming educated and my BBA was starting to ease. I learned that recycling is about money, at least here in the U.S. it is, and until there is a demand for recycled glass or the price of virgin glass goes up….it’s off to garbage land with used glass.
It turns out that U.S. Recyclers are very picky about what they want and are only willing to spend the time, labor and money on items that can easily and quickly be captured from the recycle stream. In other countries recycling has taken on a whole new meaning. I recently read about another country where even a tennis shoe is dismantled for the metal, leather and rubber. Is that cost effective? Probably not, but those countries are coming closer to a sustainable life style than we are. The tour was an eye opener and it got me to questioning if there was any real value to recycling here in the U.S., or was it all just a way to make money, appearing to be environmental?
Organizations that promote and support recycling here in the U.S. need to do more toward developing new markets for the goods we now toss into our landfills. Most of their efforts are spent on maintaining the status quo of recycling and they don’t take kindly to anyone rocking the garbage boat.
Public awareness and acceptance for environmental programs continues to grow and recycling organizations need to embrace environmentalism and its potential benefits. The U.S. needs to follow the lead of countries that have successful recycling programs, programs that are reclaiming up to 75% of waste materials. Recyclers need to get away from the idea that recycling is just a for-profit business and begin to look at recycling as the anchor for all our environmental programs.
Use, reuse, recycle and reclaiming are all about sustainability; it should become the mantra of all businesses and consumers. We need to rethink how our products and packaging are designed, used and when the life of a product is over how the resource is reclaimed. Sustainability is important for our future and it’s the only way we will be able to ensure a healthy planet and that resources will be available for future generations.
Article Source : I've Got A Case Of Blue Barrel Anxeity : ArticleBase
Max Clark –
About the Author:
Max Clark
Mar
21
Some people may think that there’s really only one type of fire extinguisher, but there are a few different types commonly used by homes and businesses. Fire extinguishers are separated into four different categories. Each category is based on the type of fire it can be used to handle.
The four categories that extinguishers are placed into are Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D. Class A extinguishers are for ordinary materials like paper, plastics, and wood. Class B fires are ones that involve flammable liquids. Such liquids would be gasoline, kerosene or oil. Class C fires are electrical related fires. Using water to put these types of fires out can be dangerous, as the risk of electrocution is possible. Class D fires are chemical fires, caused by combustible metals. Class D fires are generally found at chemical labs, and shouldn’t be a concern to the average home.
Certain fire extinguishers are made to put out each category. Water extinguishers, dry chemical extinguishers, and carbon dioxide extinguishers are three of the most commonly found in households. Water extinguishers are only useful for a Class A fire. Usually they work using air pressure to spray the water inside the tank. Using them on electric fires, grease fires, or any Class D fires will cause the fire to spread and grow. It can be incredibly dangerous to use them on anything other than a Class A type fire.
Dry chemical extinguishers are another common household extinguisher. They are sometimes referred to as powder fire extinguishers or foam fire extinguishers. These work by using powders or foams and pressurizing the tank using nitrogen. These can be used to put out Class A, B and C fires. When used, these extinguishers can leave behind a corrosive residue. So after insuring that everything is safe, cleaning the extinguishing foam off will prevent any extra corrosion of materials.
Carbon dioxide extinguishers, or CO2 extinguishers, are used to put out Class B and C fires. These work by using very highly pressurised CO2 filled tanks. The tanks are so highly pressurised that it’s common to see small bits of dry ice come out of the nozzle. These extinguishers don’t work well on Class A fires, and may or may not be able to put them out.
Both dry chemical and carbon dioxide extinguishers have benefits over each other. Dry chemical extinguishers leave a non-flammable substance, decreasing the likelihood of a fire reigniting. However, carbon dioxide extinguishers help prevent extra damage to electronics. The residue left by dry chemical extinguishers can cause corrosion, where as carbon dioxide extinguishers don’t.
There are plenty of different choices when it comes to fire extinguishers. Each having it’s ups and downs. Deciding which one is correct for a household depends on each home. Depending on what items of a home are most important to the owner, each extinguisher will have a higher priority. Having a different type of extinguisher in certain parts of the home is also an option. Decide on what is most important to you specifically, and pick a fire extinguisher that fits your needs.
By: By: Felicity Lightbody
Felicity is a freelance author, writing intermittent pieces in the UK about business security and safety matters. For discounted water fire extinguisher as well as Rafiki fire alarm systems, Fire supression systems and emergency lighting then please visit our site, DiscountFireSupplies.co.uk
Article Source : Fire Extinguishers – The Significance Of The Different Types Available : ArticleDashboard
Mar
18
The ‘Green’ revolution that has taken over modern advertising in recent years has brought to light a number of products that boast their environmental benefits to both the consumer and the world, but how many of these products are merely an advertising slogan and which actually live up to their boasts?
The question isn’t an easy one to answer and while this article certainly can’t comment on every single one, we’ll give you a general idea on what to look for and what to avoid when it comes to the cleaning products in your home.
In 1960, the federal government passed the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act that basically freed companies from having to disclose any dangerous ingredients in household products unless certain reaction or side effects would immediately be noticed after use. If you think about it, this is a rather sobering fact.
For starters, cleaning products don’t fall under the same government regulations that food products, for example, do. If you purchase a product that is labeled ‘bio-degradable’ or ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘natural,’ these words are, in effect, meaningless. There is no oversight with regard to these labels as there are in foods that claim to be ‘organic,’ for example.
How many products are in your home right now that claim to be natural or biodegradable? What is ‘natural?’ Lead is natural but we’ve learned in recent years that it’s not something we would really want to be around everyday. We certainly wouldn’t want our children to be exposed to lead on a regular basis, would we? But it’s natural. Then there’s the biodegradable label. If you wait long enough, just about every product ever created with degrade.
In recent years, however, there have been new programs develop to combat the misleading and sometimes malicious labeling that occurs within the cleaning product business. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has created the DfE label that it affixes to products that use the safest available ingredients from each category in its products. This doesn’t classify a product as ‘safe,’ however.
The Green Seal, created by the company with the same name, is attached to products that are non-toxic, non-corrosive, free of carcinogens, mutagens, and are truly biodegradable. So when you’re looking for the best cleaning products, look for these labels. Don’t forget to take a closer look at that vacuum cleaner you’re using, either. Many of these new bagless systems boast environmentally safe claims as well.
The best advice is to look closely at the fine print and do your homework.
By: By: D Roth
Dave Roth is the owner and operator of Vacuum Cleaner Talk, a vacuum cleaner site full of reviews for many different vacuum cleaners. Find Dyson vacuum reviews, as well as reviews of Eureka, Kirby, Miele, and Oreck vacuums.
Article Source : The Truth About Environmentally Safe Cleaning Products : ArticleDashboard
Mar
18
Most people like staying cool during the summer and warm during the winter. At times it is hard to do in some houses because the windows are very inefficient. The heat or cool in the house leaks out through the unsealed windows wasting the energy that you paid for to either cool the home down or to warm it up. It’s necessary to have more efficient windows to help you save some energy.
One huge tip is to go out and get more efficient windows. This will be a serious cost to get quality windows which will eventually pay off over a number of years with the savings. At times in certain places you can get tax credits or rebates for buying these types of windows to help with some of the costs. This is the best strategy but some people can’t afford it or are renting and not allowed to make these types of buying decisions.
The other option is to make these windows more efficient on your own. In the winter months you want to take some heavy plastic and put it around the window to make sure you are getting a seal around the window where there might be some cracks. Next you want to hang heavy dark curtains. This can even be a blanket. At night make sure the blanket is sealing off the window. During the day when the sun it out, open those blankets for a bit letting the sunlight come in and heat up the room.
In the summer time, do the same plastic seal on the whole window. The difference is that you want to use light sheets. These will stay over the window all summer more best results. The light material will help repel some of the heat from the sun. The plastic and the sheets will help keep heat out and keep the cool of your air conditioner in.
Article Source : Window Tips For More Efficient Heating And Cooling : ArticleBase
Avril Daniels –
About the Author:
For further information on our pocket sheets please visit the author’s website. Here we will provide you with an excellent deal on deep pocket sheets.
Mar
16
Almost everyone has some knowledge as to what measures should be taken for fire safety in his or her home. Many families have designated an escape route or routes in the event that a fire was to break out. They have at least one fire extinguisher in the house and each wall is mounted with a smoke detector. However, a private residence isn’t the only place where a person should be fire safety savvy. It is also important that one be prepared for a fire emergency at their place of work as well. Large companies are required to set up an escape plan for their employees and conduct fire drills on a routine basis. Businesses are also equipped with smoke alarms and are marked with several “Exit” routes to make avoiding the dangers of a fire easier. There are also fire extinguishers designated at certain areas within the buildings but would you or a co-worker know what type fire extinguisher to use on which kind of fire?
The answer to this question should be something that you consider very carefully. In each situation the cause of a fire can be different, therefore it is crucial that you are certain of what type of fire extinguisher to use. In the case of an office building you are usually dealing with a call centre or bank where there are many people working in one isolated area. Keeping this in mind there are several options that can be used. A “Class C” fire extinguisher is a dry chemical-based extinguisher that is used for putting out fires involving electrical equipment and wiring. However, they do leave a chemical residue behind that can be unsafe for the office equipment.
The preferred type of fire extinguisher used in office buildings is a CO2, or Carbon Dioxide fire extinguisher. Since this is a non-flammable agent, it can be used on both Class B and C fires without damaging the equipment that it covers. For safety’s sake, when handling a CO2 fire extinguisher, employees must remember that it is a highly pressurised device and it can shoot out fragments of dry ice when it is released, so make certain that no one else is standing in the way of the extinguisher’s throwing range when it is in use. Another handy item to have in a place of employment or a home for that matter is a carbon monoxide detector. There are many model types to choose from but be sure that the device meets all safety inspection requirements of any health and safety related organizations.
Lastly, there are some businesses that use an ABC Multi-purpose Fire Extinguisher. These are powder extinguishers that use a dry chemical called monoammonium phosphate. The powder does leave a sticky residue behind that can be damaging to office equipment, which is probably why more offices use the CO2 extinguisher instead. On the other hand, the carbon dioxide based fire extinguisher doesn’t put out as many different types of fire as does the multi-purpose.
By: By: Felicity Lightbody
Felicity is a intermittent columnist, writing infrequent pieces in the UK about business security and safety matters. For discounted powder fire extinguisher as well as fire alarm systems, rafiki fire alarms and addressable fire alarm system then please visit our site, Discount Fire Supplies
Article Source : Does Your Office Have The Right Type Of Fire Extinguisher? : ArticleDashboard
Mar
13
Occupancy Based Lighting Control
(An Intelligent Way to Save Energy)
USES:
Lighting controls play a critical role in electric lighting systems, providing the function of turning the lights on and off using a switch or adjusting light output up and down using a dimmer. Properly specified and installed, lighting controls help managers achieve an organization’s goals for lower energy costs, improved worker satisfaction and greater flexibility.
The energy consumption of lighting can reach 20-60% of total electric consumption in any office building or at any private or public places. On national scale the reduction of this energy consumption can be vital. One of the most effective energy savings opportunities not typically employed by conventional, discrete component control systems is some form of occupancy control strategy. Energy-efficient lighting control of buildings includes infrared/ultrasonic occupancy devices.
Dimming increases lamp life and saves energy – a light that is dimmed by 25% uses about 20% less energy while lamp life is increased fourfold. Automatic lighting controls can save energy and improve safety. They offer convenience to homeowners and can be a high-tech portion of a whole-house automation system.
Increased Energy Efficiency by Using Occupancy Sensors
Today, nearly 60% of an average business’s energy usage occurs in lighting its facilities. Next to heating and air conditioning systems, lighting systems account for the greatest energy consumption and costs. These significant costs can be managed more effectively through the use of lighting controls. Over the past several years, the use of lighting controls has increased throughout the country and organizations that have implemented lighting controls have realized a wide range of benefits. Some of the benefits Include:
Energy savings: Perhaps the primary benefit is that of energy savings. Lighting controls can result in energy savings of more than 30%, reducing building operating costs by 10% or more.
Convenience: When selected and implemented correctly, lighting controls operate transparently in the background, enabling users to reduce their energy usage conveniently and without disruption for building occupants.
Flexibility: Many lighting control systems are designed for maximum flexibility, to accommodate changes in workspace configuration, schedules, and activities.
Information: Some lighting control systems can provide a great deal of information about lighting energy usage, identifying when and how much energy is being used by a specific department or facility space. This information facilitates the ability to divide overhead costs among departments accurately.
Productivity: One less tangible benefit of significant economic value to businesses is the increase in employee productivity that can result from optimal lighting.
Application Areas:
This is an obvious choice for areas with access to natural light, such as atriums, perimeter offices, hall ways, and other types of areas with skylights. Most exterior lighting will be ideally suited for light level control as well, such as parking areas, customer service areas (i.e., drive-through facilities), and building entranceways.
Occupancy based lighting can be efficiently used in
• Offices
• Factories
• Workshops
• Schools and libraries
• Hospitals
• Canteens
• Staff rooms
• Residential homes
• Corridors and stairwells
• Military accommodation
• Student accommodation
• Rest rooms
• Shopping malls and in many other places
Article Source : Occupancy Based Lighting Control : ArticleBase
blaze
Mar
11
You can help the environment considerably by choosing to recycle your ink and toner cartridges. But not all recycling firms are the same. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a place to recycle your ink and toner cartridges.
Consider a remanufacturing company. Instead of recycling the cartridges, some original manufacturers incinerate their products or ship them to third-party recyclers in Asia who wind up landfilling most of them. Others disassemble cartridges and recycle some components, disposing of others. If you really want to keep ink and toner cartridges out of the environment, choose a company that specifically turns old cartridges into new ones.
Be sure they work for you. Some companies only serve customers in the States or in the U.K. Some are based online, while others are purely local. If you
Feb
7
By Bennetta Elliott
While in the past many people were not thinking about the environment, especially at work, increased awareness of the importance of conservation and saving the environment has even made business owners begin to take a second look at practices they can change to improve the environment. If you haven’t considered how your business is affecting the environment, it may be time to consider what you can do to operate a little greener. Today it is becoming more and more popular to go green at the office and it is relatively easy to use great policies at work that can help the environment and make your business more successful as well. Not sure where to begin? Well, here are a few tips to help you out.
Tip #1 Go with Green Vendors: If you want to go green at your office, it’s going to be important to go with green vendors for your needs. Find out if vendors have green policies of their own in place already. Each vendor your use, such as your office supply company or even the bank you use should have green policies to help with the environment. Find out which businesses do use green policies and then support them and their choices by giving them your company’s business.
Tip #2 Make Donations: Another thing that you can do to keep your office environmentally friendly is to make some donations. All the pens, phones, books, computers, and other supplies that you have at the office that are no longer being used can be donated. You’ll find schools, libraries, charity stores, and nursing homes will be glad to take them off your hands. This way someone else can get some use out of them and you won’t be throwing them away.
Tip #3 Purchase and Plant Trees around Your Business: Trees are great for helping the environment by releasing oxygen into the air. Why not plant some trees around your business. Perhaps start an initiative at your office for people to earn their “own tree.” You may even want to set a special day aside for planting some trees. This will be great for the environment and it can be excellent for your business promotion as well. Purchasing some small saplings should not be all that expensive to do, and consider even using these trees as awards or incentives in the office instead of paper certificates.
Tip #4 Put in Electric Hand Dryers: Many businesses go with paper towels in their bathrooms, and this promotes the use of natural resources that could be saved. Instead of using all that paper, why not invest in some electric hand dryers for your bathrooms. This will save on using paper towels, and not only is it great for the environment, but it is also going to be cost effective as well, since you’ll save quite a bit on the cost of the paper towels.
Tip #5 Go with Recycled Products: There are a variety of different recycled products that you can use for your business that will help you in your pursuit of going green at the office. Some of the recycled products that you can use include recycled paper goods, recycled toner and printer cartridges, and even recycled plastics. You should recycle yourself, and also use recycled products as much as you can.
Tip #6 Purchase Personalized Coffee Mugs for Your Employees: How many Styrofoam cups do you go through a day at the office? If you have many coffee drinkers in the office lounge, more than likely you go through quite a few. Why not go ahead and purchase some personalized coffee mugs for all of your employees. This is a great gift that you can offer and they’ll be able to use their mugs over and over again instead of having to actually use Styrofoam cups, which are not great for the environment.
As you can see, there are many things that you can do that can help to improve the environment. Going green at the office is actually a lot easier and cheaper than you probably thought it would be; in fact, it can even save you money in the long run. So, if you’re ready to start taking care of the world you live in, consider using these tips at the office to make it as green as you possibly can.
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Bennetta Elliott
Bennetta Elliott, CEO Personalized Gift Express, offering a great selection of unique favors and personalized gifts for all occasions.