An increasing number of Canadian leaders, belonging to both private and public sectors, are pledging to support the government’s climate change actions as the link between climate change and human activities becomes clearer. Furthermore, as information on sustainable practices and business performance develops, business leaders are finding it challenging to ignore their benefits. This is because sustainable practices have been shown to have a good impact on businesses.
For example, according to a study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles found that the workforce in companies that have adopted sustainable practices are 16% more productive. Part of this could be attributed to the forward-thinking culture of those companies. In general, green practices have a positive impact on employees, supporting their health and happiness, compared to their traditional office environments.
Most companies now understand that having green practices implemented in the workspace is essential, but only 25% have developed a clear strategy. This is due to the lack of information and awareness across the business world – and not knowing where to start. For this reason, below, we mention three sustainable practices that you should start right away, and that will pay off well in the coming years.
Incorporate Sustainability In Everyday Operations
Many of the world’s largest and most successful businesses invest and take part in sustainable initiatives. They are keen on finding environmentally-friendly alternatives to their unsustainable business practices. For example, organizations like Apple and IKEA have already started to invest billions of dollars in building a green and sustainable infrastructure. Apple has pledged to use green energy to power its production plants, while IKEA is using plastic recovered from the ocean to make its goods and products.
To incorporate sustainability into your organization’s everyday operations, you can evaluate your supply chain and determine where the firm may be able to shift to a green alternative. Also, consider how your company can take advantage of your city’s sustainability initiatives.
Make Your Office Energy-Efficient
For some businesses, immediate benefits can be realized by finding green alternatives for supply chains, decreasing raw material consumption, and reducing waste polluting the environment. However, some of these strategies require extensive planning and a lot of time to be executed on a large scale. Luckily, there are some other ways a business can adopt sustainable practices without investing a lot of time and effort into them. Some of these practices include;
- Encouraging, educating and promoting a green environment around the office and developing sustainability policies and procedures to strengthen the efforts.
- Encouraging employees to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste materials in the office, and providing them with more convenient accessible ways to do so.
- Changing the light bulbs in the office building to LED lights that use much less energy and last longer than incandescent light bulbs.
- Lastly, make sure all your electrical loads, such as computers, lighting, HVAC systems, fans, and appliances are not consuming significantly more power than modern energy-efficient equipment alternatives. Dandelion Renewables installs energy meters that can measure and log real-time energy consumption of targeted equipment. The visibility and quantification that energy metering offers, often identifies actionable energy-conservation opportunities. Opportunities can be related to equipment repair or replacement, building automation, and behavioural low-hanging fruit.
Embrace Sustainable Energy Resources
Many businesses have an expired perspective that shifting to a renewable form of energy could cost the company more than it pays back. However, the reality is that the technology for harnessing renewable energy resources to produce energy has been around for many years, which means it is now more affordable than ever. This makes solar panels and other such green solutions even more cost effective and financially beneficial.
With solar panels, you can reduce the risk of volatile conventional commodity energy prices without having to sacrifice your energy needs. However, the answer to getting the right renewable energy technology and system design for your home or commercial building is to work with an experienced and qualified supplier and installer.
At Dandelion Renewables, we provide full-service turn-key solar power systems, and other renewable energy systems. This approach includes the entire project from conceptual system ideas through engineering, permitting, supply, installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance, and training for system owners. We install high-quality solar power systems at competitive prices. Our team of experts can help you choose the right solution, considering all the essential aspects. For more information on sustainable energy resources, visit our website at dandelionrenewables.com, or contact us today for a free estimate.