CitiesGoGreen - January 2009 - (Page 15) Greening the Office Here’s something you can do—make your office one step greener. It all adds up. Part 1: Developing Green Office Standards There’s more than one way to go about greening office purchases and procedures. Part 2: Chicago’s Green Office Challenge Chicago’s Green Office Challenge is a new recognition-based program, intended as a model and resource for local governments who want to involve growing numbers of building owners and tenants in reducing resource use. Part 3: Greening Cleaning in Schools Cleaning agents may be the most toxic part of your workplace. Schoolchildren are even more vulnerable. Here’s what’s happening on the school front. by Page Buono ealthy, economical, resource efficient offices are good places to work. Several resources and standards are available to help offices accomplish these aims. Greening an office can mean anything from using recycled paper, to having a 4-day work week (limiting commuter and energy impacts), to having zero emissions. What matters is moving forward, so if you can only take modest steps now, maybe you can build on those in the future. Turning an office entirely green would incorporate all of these areas: • Energy • Waste • Materials • Water • Transportation • Heating and Cooling • Lighting • Cleaning No set path exists for greening your office, but there are several approaches you can adopt or combine. Graphic © Argus - fotolia Developing Green Office Standards Wherever you are now in your office practices, there’s something useful you can do to make them more sustainable. H Source suggestions Energy Star, a joint program of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy, has a “bring your green to work,” website with information about all the nooks and crannies of a green office. Also, look for Energy Star certified office equipment when it’s time to buy or lease. According to Energy Star, “If every home office product purchased in the U.S. this year were Energy Star qualified, Americans would save $200 million in annual energy costs while preventing almost 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases – equivalent to the emissions of 250,000 cars.” That doesn’t even address all the “real” offices. The EPA offers helpful information for any green office initiative, but is particularly helpful for offices going green without a step-by-step or certification structure. The “preferable purchasing” page of their website offers green purchasing case studies, office supply recommendations and access to state and local government websites, with helpful examples of other city, county and state purchasing programs that keep the environment, and the economy, in mind. A good starting step is to refer to Greenseal.org for materials certified environmentally friendly. Green Seal is a certification program for manufacturers of 15 January 2009 http://citiesgogreen.com/issues/january-2009/current-feature/developing-green-office-standards http://citiesgogreen.com/issues/january-2009/current-feature/developing-green-office-standards http://citiesgogreen.com/issues/january-2009/current-feature/chicagos-green-office-challenge http://citiesgogreen.com/issues/january-2009/current-feature/greening-cleaning-in-schools http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=bygtw.showSplash http://www.epa.gov/epp/index.htm http://www.epa.gov/epp/pubs/relatedstate.htm http://www.Greenseal.org http://www.energystar.gov/ http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com
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