Home Office

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Green Your Home Office in Three Easy Steps

September 28, 2009 in Home Office by Jennifer | No comments

There are plenty of important steps to a greener home office, here are three of the biggies.

1. PAPER USE:

The Worldwatch Institute notes that about 42% of all trees harvested are used to make paper. Making paper not only uses precious resources like water, energy, and trees, but cutting down those trees can ruin entire wildlife habitats in the process. Instead of virgin paper use recycled paper – which is readily available nowadays. You can also plan for a paper-free, or less paper used office.

2. ENERGY USE:

Computer use is a big drag on your home energy bill, especially when you get a few users per home. Make sure you’re using eco-savvy, energy saving computer tactics. You can also adjust your office lighting using CFLs or CFL alternatives. In some cases you may be able to use LED lighting (if you have a smaller office space. Also, be sure to unplug items like your printer and fax machine when not in use.

3. GREENER OFFICE SUPPLIES:

First off think reusable, refillable, and long-lasting green office supplies. For example refillable pencils, refillable ink cartridges, recycled notebooks and binders, recycled clipboards, and so on. You’ll also want to look for sustainably made office products and only buy what you actually need. For office furniture you can go with used pieces or sustainable pieces. Also see: Fun Green Home Office Supplies.

Fun Green Home Office Supplies

April 27, 2009 in Home Office by Jennifer | No comments

Sometimes office supplies can get a little ho hum. Especially if your goal is green office supplies. You see a lot of neutral colors and basic designs. However, if your home office could use a little green pick-me-up, check out See Jane Work for an array of colorful and fun eco-office supplies. Such as…

Colorful recycled pencil cups. In many shades and bold designs. I like the orange best though. Read the rest of this entry »

Sustainable Paper for Your Home Office

February 17, 2009 in Home Office, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

I recently read that Americans use about 580 pounds of paper per year. That is a ton of paper and tree waste if you’re using new virgin fiber paper and not recycling.

Easy tips for more sustainable paper use:

Switch to a mostly paperless office – use your computer calender, electronic fax, pay bills online, and don’t print out emails. Cut paper use wherever you can.

If you have to print, make sure you REALLY need to print. For example, as a writer, I can’t proof on my computer, it just doesn’t work as well for me as a print out and a red pen. However, I know this about myself, so I make sure I’m close to an end proof draft before I print out copies. I never say, print out a first draft.

When you do print, use both sides of the paper.

When you do print out something unimportant (say like my proof drafts I mentioned above) use old scrappy paper you’ve got laying around. You’re the only one who is going to see it.

Recycle all your paper after it’s been used.

Buy the best eco-friendly paper. You want to look for 100% post consumer waste paper, chlorine-free paper, acid-free paper, and paper with smart eco-packaging (soy inks, paper not plastic, and so on).  You can snag some earth-friendly paper from the following companies:

NOTE: Even places like Office Depot and other mainstream office stores carry recycled content paper nowadays, so if you don’t want to shop online, you still can find eco-paper.

Learn more!

How are you greening your home office? Do you recycle all your paper?

Where to Get Eco-friendly Home Office Supplies

January 20, 2009 in Healthy Green Home, Home Office by Jennifer | No comments

Last week we started looking at eco-home office ideas. You can catch up by reading:

It actually used to be hard to find eco-office supplies; at least on a budget. The places carrying these items were few and far between, so you had to pay a lot for even simple things like recycled content printer paper. Currently though, things are a lot better. So many places carry eco-office goods that you’re sure to find what you need at a decent price.

Here are some good places to start your eco-office supply search:

Later I’ll post some cool specific green office products – nice green office bling you’ll adore.

One Small Green Step You Can Take – Ban Paper Calendars

October 18, 2008 in Holiday, Home Office by Jennifer | 1 comment

With the new year almost here, it’s a great time to take this small step. Ban those paper calendars forever. Paper calendars are an ultimate eco-baddie, because you always need a new one. Every year you’re replacing paper with new paper. If everyone quit buying paper calendars, imagine how many trees we could save.

Other ideas:

Go digital. Use your pda, computer, cell phone, what have you. All these items have handy calendars – usually included in basic software programs. If not, you can always create your own, using say, Word and the table maker. Or you can buy calendar program, some people like Outlook. I hate Outlook (long story), but you can also try one of these options.

Never Buy A Calendar Again – Unique Perpetual Calendars

If you must own a paper calendar be sure to go recycled. Try one of these:

And for some fun recycling read: Uses For Old Calendars

What sort of calendar will you be buying this year?

Reduce the Junk Mail Coming to Your House

October 8, 2008 in Home Office, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

Junk mail is a big bad; not eco-friendly at all. About 4 million tons of junk mail arrives at U.S. homes each year. Some of us recycle, but not all of us. Also, not all areas even have proper paper recycling. What to do?

Stop junk mail: This is obviously your number one option. Unless you find junk mail an exciting read (I sure hope not) then why not cancel it?Over 100 million trees are used up to create junk mail, and you really don’t want to be a part of that.

How to stop junk mail:

Contact companies personally who send you junk mail, and tell them to take you off their list. If they don’t listen, I’d start sending it back.

Join Green Dimes. Not only will they stop junk mail cold, but they’ll plant 5 trees in your name when you sign on as a premium member.

Register at Mail Preference Service.

Try the Stop the Junk Mail Kit.

If you’d like to put the junk mail you already have to work, save it up for holiday wrap.

Junk mail is annoying and an eco-baddie, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it.

Tips for Greening Your Home Computer Use

September 17, 2008 in Home Office by Jennifer | 1 comment

Green computing at home is a smart move. Not only can computers drain tons of energy, but their parts, and all the fancy gear that comes with them are not always earth-friendly.

Use these tips to keep your home computer use green:

Use a laptop because it drains less energy than a desktop. You can also make sure to buy one of the newer Energy Star computers.

Unplug when you leave the room – or at the very least turn your computer off. If you suck at remembering to turn your computer off pre-set your computer to turn off or sleep automatically after a set amount of time with no use.

Use an energy strip.

Buy only recycled and reused extra computer gear and equipment. Recycled computer paper, reused-refilled ink cartridges, and refurbished computer desks are all good ways to save resources.

Make sure to recycle your computer when it’s good and done. If there’s still life in the old computer then consider donating to an organization that could use one.

Also recycle other computer items like computer disks.

Quick Green Home Office Tip

August 18, 2008 in Home Office, Quick Green Home & Garden Tips, Save Energy by Jennifer | No comments

If you’re looking to green your home office experience, you can start with the energy factor. Even when your computer, printer, and lamp are plugged in, they’re draining energy. That costs you money and resources.

Unplugging is a possibility, but also a pain if you’ve got a ton of office equipment. Charges, lamps, electronics, and a radio; it’s a lot to remember.

What to do: Invest in one simple power strip, like the ecostrip. Once you’re ready to leave your office, you can simply turn off the powerstrip, rather than unplug each and every cord. This is a simple green tip that can save you money, time, and resources.