6 Ways Businesses Can Lower Their Building’s Carbon Footprint

Sustainability is a growing concern for countless businesses. One survey found that 63% of consumers want businesses to support sustainability initiatives.

If you want to make your business green, you will want to consider renovating it to lower your carbon footprint. You will also need to employ other sustainability practices. Here are some things to think about.

Renovation Tips and Other Ideas to Lower Your Company’s Carbon Footprint

Running a business is difficult enough. You are doing your best to keep your overhead down and the profits up. You want to expand and keep improving.

One thing you may not think about often is your business’s carbon footprint. You are going to need to make some changes to your building to make it eco-friendlier and lower its carbon footprint. Whether you are conscious about the environment or not, you can benefit greatly from focusing on how much energy, water, and other resources. You will also make your business more appealing to eco-friendlier consumers. This can help you keep your overhead down and discover new ways to innovate and grow. Below are some ways to lower your business’s carbon footprint. You can also read or previous post on making eco-friendly buildings.

Add Sufficient Insulation

Insulation is very important for improving the sustainability of your building. You are going to want to make sure that you have enough, so that you can lower your energy costs.

Embrace Remote Work

It became abundantly clear during the pandemic that not only could workers get as much work done at home, remote work also lowers your overhead. By sending workers home, renting a smaller office, and keeping the lights on less, businesses can lower their carbon footprint. So often when you are doing your best to mitigate your impact on the environment, you will also save money. Remote work also eliminates the carbon emissions from commuting and transportation. When you are looking for ways to save money and decrease your negative effect on the environment, think about embracing remote work.

Cut Down on Paper

One thing you might not think about when you are trying to lessen your carbon footprint is to cut down on the amount of paper products you are using. Explain to your employees that you are ordering a certain amount of paper towels, printer paper, and other products. Tell your employees that if they run out of paper, they’ll have to bring in their own. Paper products are made from trees that are cut down. Trees take carbon dioxide and turn it into clean oxygen. The more we cut down trees, the more carbon we have in the atmosphere. Another option is to use bamboo paper products, which can help cut down on the negative impact on the environment.

Outsource Cloud Services

If you are at all involved with technology, you are likely saving and keeping track of the data that you receive. Data is one of the most valuable assets for companies of all kinds. It is bought and sold by social media companies and other corporations. It is used to analyze how a business can grow and improve. However, some businesses don’t have the ability to handle large amounts of data.

Outsourcing your Cloud services won’t just help you organize and use it for analysis, it will also help you lower your carbon footprint. With large Cloud businesses, they already have the server storage room and are using the energy. With access control software, you have the best of both worlds. You can outsource your Cloud storage and have access to your data.

Invest in Renewable Energy

Depending on what your business does and what you’re focused on, investing in renewable energy is a great way to lower your carbon footprint and keep more money in your pocket. Are you located in a sunny place? Solar panels can provide energy to power your business and, in some cases, give you enough energy to sell back to the grid. Solar is probably the most popular form of renewable energy to invest in, but there is also hydro, wind, and tidal energy. What does your business do? Think about how you can benefit from renewable energy.

Turn Off the Heat & Lights

In the office setting, we don’t think as much about the lights and the thermostat. They’re on all day. This is unnecessary. Save money and lower your carbon footprint by turning off the thermostat when you don’t need it and keeping the lights off with no one in an office. You can also switch to LED lights and a smart thermostat. LED bulbs with EnergyStar ratings use at least 75% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. Whatever your office space is like, there are likely ways to save money on energy.

When you are running a business, you have money on your mind. You want to decrease the amount of money going out and increase the money coming in. Lowering your carbon footprint is one way to do this. When you’re trying to decrease your overhead, mitigating your impact on the environment may be a by-product but often the two occur simultaneously. Are you trying to find new ways to save money and do better for the planet? Start with these options. 

Make Building Improvements and Other Changes to Make Your Business Eco-Friendlier

You will want to take the necessary steps to lower your business’s carbon footprint. This includes making improvements to the building, using renewable energy and switching to a paperless office.