SAIF Corporation is committed to reducing its footprint and its expenses, as well as increasing its sustainability. Your business can benefit from taking sustainability measures as well. If you are thinking about enacting sustainable business initiatives, here are some areas where most businesses can reduce their environmental impact and their expenditures at the same time:
Sustainability planning
It begins with creating a vision, and continues with building collaboration and teamwork, prioritizing your impacts, setting goals, developing baselines and metrics, identifying actions you can take, evaluating your progress, ensuring continuous improvement, and communicating the results within your company.
Green building
Whether you're building or remodeling, let sustainability guide you. With respect to measures that increase energy efficiency, there are incentives offered through the Energy Trust of Oregon, the Oregon Department of Energy, and the federal government (some tax credits are available through December 31, 2008).
And materials aren't as costly as you might think: prices for many green building materials have come down substantially over the past few years as they have become more popular.
Renewable energy
As energy prices are on the rise, companies are focusing on renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. (Check with your utility company to see if you may purchase power from these sources.) Renewable energy can save you money on gas/diesel, electricity, natural gas, and heating oil expenses. It can lower your maintenance costs, create a healthier workplace, and improve air and water quality throughout our region. In addition, making small changes to your energy consumption habits can rack up big savings over the long haul.
Green fleet
There's more to a green vehicle fleet than simply replacing your standard cars with hybrids. Other "green" fleet initiatives could include:
- Establishing high MPG standards for each vehicle class
- Making sure your vehicles are sized appropriately for the job (sometimes smaller is better)
- Eliminating inefficient or underutilized vehicles
- Keeping vehicles well maintained
- Implementing an anti-idling program for employees, contractors, and vendors (this saves gas and reduces smog)
- Optimizing travel routes
- Setting goals and monitoring compliance with your goals
Green purchasing
When creating a green purchasing initiative, consider that there are environmental and economic ramifications to everything you buy. With respect to your bottom line, consider that buying locally produced, higher-quality items could mean longer shelf-life, less maintenance, and cheaper disposal.
Toxics reduction
Thousands of chemicals make their way into the products and materials we use in the workplace, and some have been tied to illnesses. By using more natural products, you are not only promoting a safer, healthier work environment, but you also are decreasing the amount of disposal pollution associated with these chemicals.
Water conservation
Water is finite and becoming expensive. For most businesses, saving water can be a fairly simple venture. If you have lawn space, consider swapping it for xeriscaping and drought-tolerant plants — you'll save on irrigation as well as reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides. Both reducing your water intake and managing your runoff or waste-water are important factors in any water conservation effort and can have a major impact on your ledger.