Tips To Make Your Employer More Environmentally Friendly, Part 2
Editor’s note: MarketGreener has accepted some guest posts by the good folks at uSwitch, a utilities price comparison Web site aimed exclusively at businesses to help them save money on electricity. This and the last post are from uSwitch.
Areas to investigate
These are three areas which are worth looking at, because they can be simple to organise, can save money and don’t require much effort to operate as schemes.
1. Energy use
A few simple procedures can make a significant difference to how much energy the business uses and so pays for. If it’s possible to introduce an energy monitor, it will be easy to show this.
Heating and lighting are simple to tackle, as it takes little more than a bit of thought to save energy. Office equipment uses a lot of energy, so introducing a few simple procedures will make quite a change. Get people to:
- Turn off lights in empty rooms
- Keep doors and windows shut when the heating is on
- Turn off PCs, photocopiers and printers at the end of the day
- Use any power-down or sleep mode functions the PC has
- Unplug phone chargers when mobiles are charged
For increased energy savings:
- Leave plenty of space around radiators, as putting furniture in front of a radiator means it will need to work harder to heat the room
- Unless it’s really cold, try to keep the thermostat at 19°C. Heating costs go up by 8% each time the temperature is increased by just one degree
- Don’t heat unused space, such as corridors or storerooms
- Turn off or reduce the heating whenever the workplace is empty
- Replace bulbs with energy saving ones
- Invest in ‘ecobuttons’ – for a few pounds, this gadget will put a PC into an energy saving mode with a simple press of a button
2. Recycling
Business recycling is growing. A number of organizations are now accepting and even collecting recyclable waste from companies. Find details of recycling services local to you.
Items which can generally be recycled at work very easily include:
- paper and cardboard
- plastics
- printer cartridges
- drinks cans
Find out what can be recycled by other organizations and arrange some collection points at work. These might include:
- mobile phones
- old computer equipment
- textiles and clothing
If your business produces a significant amount of a particular type of waste, see if the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) or US Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD) can find someone who can use it.
Find out what else can be recycled at Recycle Now.
3. Travel
Travel initiatives can make a significant impact on an organisation’s carbon footprint. Ideas to include in a travel policy at work include the following plans.
Car sharing, where two or more people travel by car together for all or part of a trip, can cut down on travel costs and reduce carbon emissions. On an average day on British roads, each vehicle carries 1.6 people, with approximately 38 million empty seats. For many people, it may reduce the stress of the daily commute and other may feel an increased personal security when walking to and from the car.
Car clubs, which provide members with access to a vehicle on an hourly, daily or weekly basis. Vehicles are usually parked close to homes or workplaces. For some people, joining a car club and having access to a car means they don’t need to own one, which could be a consideration in saving money.
Cycle to work schemes, where employees are encouraged to cycle, saving money and getting healthier. It may be possible to introduce a scheme for employees to buy tax free cycles through work. Cyclescheme explain how it works. For other ideas about cycling schemes, Wikipedia Community bicycle program has a number of useful links.
Alternative transport for business travel can be introduced. Some companies in London give employees Oyster cards as a practical alternative to company cars. Others give rail cards, which the employee can use for personal as well as business travel.
More efficient company cars could be used. These can help reduce carbon emissions and local air pollution, and will often save money on vehicle tax and other charges. A fuel efficient new car could also save the equivalent of three months’ worth of fuel over a year.
Awareness
Most people are happy to be involved in environmentally friendly initiatives. If you can get schemes off the ground, you probably won’t need to convince most people to take part. But you probably will have to make them aware that they have been introduced! If you do, you will find a great deal of support and make a real difference to your place of work.
This article was produced by uSwitch For Business a utilities price comparision website aimed exclusively at business’s to help them save money on their electricity bills.
Tips To Make Your Employer More Environmentally Friendly
Editor’s note: MarketGreener has accepted some guest posts by the good folks at uSwitch, a utilities price comparison Web site aimed exclusively at businesses to help them save money on electricity. The next two posts are from uSwitch.
No-one can ignore environmental issues. Most of us are becoming used to recycling at home and many consider ethical sources for food, clothing and other goods. But business has been slower to catch on. Is there anything you can do, as an individual employee, to make your workplace more environmentally friendly? This practical guide gives you some ideas to make a difference at work.
Be practical
In the current economic climate, many people are more worried about their immediate financial position than the future of the planet. If you want to make changes, you’ll need to offer practical reasons and plans.
You may have seen the TV advertisement being run by a major supermarket, showing how employees are getting involved in environmental schemes, which save the customer money on their shopping. That’s the kind of reasoning people are likely to listen to.
Research
Find out what is already happening in your organisation.
- Do they have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy?
- Are there any existing environmental initiatives?
- Is anyone else already running schemes?
In order to implement new ideas, or expand existing schemes, you need to know what is being done already and if anything has been previously rejected, the reasons for that.
Think about what initiatives could be introduced which would be simple, or make a difference to the business. Find out all the information you need to present to make the case.
Plan
Work out the business case for introducing/expanding environmental initiatives.
The boss will want to know:
What are the benefits to the business?
- Cost savings, such as lower business energy costs
- Anticipating compliance – voluntary best practice will make it easier when legislation forces business to act
- Employee motivation and retention – research shows a correlation between high retention and a company’s values matching those of its employees
- A better reputation – many consumers would prefer products and companies which have socially responsible credentials
Getting colleagues on board means thinking about the benefits for them, plus making things simple to do. Any initiatives which demand extra time or disruption are likely to have limited success, whereas those which are simple to adopt will do well.
You may find information and ideas to help your plan at Business Link and Carbon Trust, including details of interest free loans for which your company may be eligible.
This article was produced by uSwitch For Business a utilities price comparision website aimed exclusively at business’s to help them save money on their electricity bills.
TetonRaptorCenter.org Launched
TetonRaptorCenter.org was launched earlier this week.
A little background: the Raptor Center in its current form is a relatively new organization, but the activities of the Center have been ongoing for quite some time, going back pretty much as long as area wildlife biologist and raptor expert Roger Smith has been caring for raptors in the Greater Yellowstone area. Officially, Roger and his wife Margaret Creel established The Raptor Fund as a non-profit back in 1992 but have lacked a place for this organization to call home—unless of course you consider their home such a place. Since they didn’t consider their own home appropriate, they sought to establish such a place.
Having been re-established as The Teton Raptor Center, the organization, through much negotiation by their dedicated board members, was able last year to secure a lease for the Hardeman Barns at the old Hardeman Ranch in Wilson from the Jackson Hole Land Trust. With that development and a commitment to providing help for raptors and education about them, the Teton Raptor Center was on its way toward establishing themselves as a prominent non-profit organization here in Jackson Hole. And with a great new physical home established, they then needed a cyber-home for their organization.
As of Monday afternoon, April 27, they now have such a home. That was the day we flipped the switch on TetonRaptorCenter.org. Check it out; see what they’ve been up to, view some of the great photos we’ve managed to get online so far, and try to support them in their effort if you’re so inclined.
Where The Heck Is “Wydotanatah”?
"Wydotanatah": my phrase; my territory.
When I conducted my first marketing seminar I was merely looking for a way to reach a captive audience of potential clients among businesses here in Jackson Hole. Now that I’ve reached that audience, I’m continuing to look for ways to reach others here locally in Jackson Hole and in the region beyond.
Jackson Hole as a business community is unique in many ways, some of which include:
- It’s small but dense. There’s a lot of business for a community of roughly 20,000 people.
- It’s relatively savvy. There are a lot of mom and pop shops but even they realize that they they need to compete at a relative level with the national (and even multi-national) corporations that have a presence here.
- We’re a long way from anywhere. Our closest metropolitan area is Salt Lake City, and that’s a 5-hour drive. (Sorry, Idaho Falls.)
- We’re closer to the state capitals of the three closest states than we are to our own. It’s true: by car Helena, Montana, is 4.5 hours; Salt Lake City, Utah, is 5 hours; Boise, Idaho, is 6 hours; and Cheyenne, Wyoming, is 6.5 hours.
But the one way that we’re not unique is that businesses here in Jackson share many of the same challenges that businesses throughout the rest of Wyoming—and in many parts of the sparsely populated West—share: if we want to do business throughout the state, we need to travel to do so.
Recognizing that means that you also recognize that there’s little difference between traveling to Casper from Jackson to do business than there is in traveling to Bozeman to do business (except that Bozeman may be a little more geographically interesting). For that reason, and in respect to the client from Kemmerer, Wyoming, whom I just brought on, I’ve consciously expanded my regional influence and coined a name for it: “Wydotanatah.” It includes Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Utah and it is my territory defined.
Jackson Hole Chamber Marketing Seminar A Success
Twist of Lime's Chris Hansen highlights the finer points of organic vs. paid search.
I have to admit, I was a little nervous about my first seminar presentation. But I had spent a lot of time preparing—I knew my stuff and I’m comfortable in front of an audience. All in all, I have to say it was a success. (I know I should have plugged it here first, but most of my MarketGreener readers are a different audience than the Chamber’s members. Perhaps that will change…)
While the Chamber billed it as a “No/Low Cost Marketing Seminar,” I prefer to refer to it as Online Marketing 101. I covered the following:
- Optimize your Web site for improved user experience and search results.
- Interact with your customers using social media.
- Create and send effective email campaigns.
Your Web site should be the foundation for all the marketing you do, whether online or off. I covered a bit of Search Engine Optimization basics, a social media overview, and the benefits of using an email service provider for email marketing—perhaps the most important section for this group.
It was a great experience and I thank Chamber Director Tim O’Donohughe and Events Manger Maureen Murphy for being open to my idea and letting me run with it. I think those in attendence really got a lot out of it.
I will make the slides available to attendees early next week.
If anyone is interested having me present to their group, I would be happy to do so.
Facebook Connect Now Live On MarketGreener
Facebook Connect is the latest gem to make a difference in social networking.
There’s been a fair bit of speculation about just how much more sociability and interactivity the new Facebook Connect application will have around ye ole Internets since its announcement last year and now quite a bit more since its launch in December. Well, here at MarketGreener we’ve been playing around with it and finally got it to work across multiple platforms. It seems there are some extra special complexities in Internet Explorer (no surprise there), but I’m no programmer and even I got it working.
After digging around a bit, I found and implemented two different fb Connect plugins for WordPress. The one I’m employing here is Sociable’s Facebook Connect Plugin I’m not going to walk you through installation ’cause you can do that there. But I’m pretty excited about the social and marketing implications of this type of interconnectivity.
So, I’m throwing this post out there for two reasons:
- Blatant self-promotion. “Hey, look at me and what I did!” OK, now that that’s over…
- If you are a Facebook member and a MarketGreener reader, please take a moment to see how Facebook Connect works for you.
There are a couple of ways you can interact with Connect here on MarketGreener:
- Connect via the “Connect with Facebook” button over there on the right. Your profile pic should show up above the button and in the “Latest Visitors” box below it.
- You can also use the “Share” button at the bottom of the individual post page. Unfortunately it’s not showing up in the most obvious place right now, but I’ll be working on that.
I would greatly appreciate any feedback any of you, dear readers, might have. I’ve tried it out on a PC and Mac on IE (not on the Mac), Firefox and Safari and all seems pretty good so far. Even seen stuff showing up well on my Facebook page.
Once you’ve done that, feel free to check out the use of the other plugin I’m trying out over on Wyoming22. This site isn’t quite fleshed out yet, but I’m trying to get enough posts up there for a formal launch by, uh, well, at least before the end of ski season. Over there I’ve employed the WP-FacebookConnect plugin developed by Adam Hupp. It works a little differently in that it should allow you to leave a comment while utilizing your Facebook account instead of logging in to Wyoming22. I’m not sure it’s configured correctly, but give it a try and let me know what you think.
360 Vodka Won Me Over With Eco Packaging And $10 Rebate
360 Vodka—eco-packaging, strong rebate and tastes great!
For example, I like Ketel One. It’s smooth. But Smirnoff is a better fit for the budget, it’s totally drinkable, and the liquor store down at the Smith’s has it for a good price even when it’s not on sale.
But while in for a bottle recently I noticed some very “green” marketing on a boutique vodka I’ve eyed from time to time but never bought, and caved. The vodka is “360” and it bills itself as the “Eco Luxury Vodka.”
The “packaging,” such as it is, is clean and simple; tasteful. The clear, round bottle sports no fancy sculpting, save for the “360” embossed on the front, and is made from 85% recycled glass, according to the label. The label is also simple: one color printing with green ink (of course) printed on what appears to be FSC certified recycled paper. They even tout the resources supposedly saved by using this particular type of label:
- 82,766 gallons of water
- 139 million BTU’s of energy
- 9,255 pounds of solid waste
- 193 fully-grown trees
- 18,052 pounds of greenhouse gasses
Recycled bottle, eco-friendly labeling, yada yada yada…whatever. Anyone can do that. The cool thing about the packaging is their use of the old-fashioned wire swingtop bottle cap and a hangtag promoting their “Close the Loop Program.” Simply remove the swingtop, put it in the pre-paid envelope provided, and then recycle the bottle. 360 will then donate $1 to a “recognized environmental cause” of their choice. That’s pretty cool. Now, who knows how many people will really go through the trouble of doing that, but I think if you’re swayed enough by the environmental bent to buy this vodka, you very well might go the extra mile. (As for me, I’m more likely to keep the bottle and the swingtop and re-use it for bottling homebrewed beer.)
OK, truth be told, even that wasn’t enough to hook me in to buying a $22, 750 ml bottle of vodka. Hey, that’s what I’m used to paying for a gallon of Smirnoff. No, in times like these it takes a little extra. In fact it was the special hangtag that caught my eye. “Save Some Green,” it says, and offers $10 off either a 750 ml or 1 liter bottle. Add to that that today this bottle was 20% off, making it about $17. Add a dollar for sales tax, subtract the rebate, and now we’re talking a $22 bottle of vodka for 8 bucks. Now, that’s a bargain! Currently each household can take advantage of this rebate twice before it expires on March 31. That’s a great rebate in these troubled times, and perhaps even enough to convert some Kettle One or Grey Goose customers (though probably not us Smirnoff drinkers).
Oh, and that other critical component for top-shelf vodka? Yes, it tastes quite good.
Thoughts on Planet JH’s “New Media in the Old West”
David Gonzales of The Snaz gets a photo op in this week's Planet JH.
Planet Jackson Hole, one of our local newspapers here in Jackson, published an article today about the state of blogging and “new media” in the Hole. The timing was quite coincidental, as a group of us local bloggers (two of whom were interviewed for the Planet article) met last night at the South Side for pizza and beer and to discuss, among many other things, blogging in Jackson Hole, the state of this media format, and of course the Planet article.
I had difficulty pinning down the explicit point Ben Cannon was trying to make in his article (I think it had to do with money), but, having some insight into the local blogging community in general and blogging in particular, I thought I’d share what I got out of it.
You have to have passion about something in order to build a successful blog around it. That is evidenced in the three main blogs featured in the article. David Gonzales, Jim Stanford and Steve Romeo are all passionate about their subject matter, and not only does it show in their content, it is what keeps them at it even when ad sales revenue likely doesn’t even come close to making these blogs a money-making proposition (with the possible exception of Romeo’s Teton AT).
It is also evidenced in the lackluster content being posted on 22Local.com. Now, in the essence of full disclosure, I must tell you that I worked at Circumerro during the early stages of 22Local and was very much involved in helping develop Latham Jenkins’ long languishing concept of this community-generated site. I think it is a very good idea in theory and I remain supportive of Jenkins’ and Circumerro’s efforts here, but in practice I doubt it will ever gain the momentum that Jenkins is hoping for. As I said before, you must have passion about your blog and its topic for your blog to be successful. And you must own that blog for that passion to burn brightest. But unfortunately for that blog’s main contributor, Sabra Ayres, 22Local will only be owned by Mr. Jenkins.
And while Jenkins’ theory of “hyperlocalism” has legs, the reality of a site bursting at the seams with user generated content is one I doubt will come to fruition, further hampering the success of the site. Rare are the local events that spur average citizens to submit their versions of it online. And the example of JH Underground’s “Rush Hour on Teton Pass” story shows how, more often than not, user generated content tends toward the banal and petty (even insulting) rather than factual, insightful or thoughtful.
One point I think the Planet article is trying to make is that of making money with a blog and that it isn’t easy. The blogs that are out there (like, everywhere out there, not just Jackson Hole) making money using the publishing model are few and far between. Low overhead and massive page views are the key, as evidenced in an article just today by Silicon Alley Insider about how “NYTimes.com Needs 7X More Traffic To Survive.” It seems the only people really making money blogging are the ones who have been successful at telling people how to make money blogging, such as John Chow and Jeremy Shoemaker.
But making money should not be the point of a blog. Gonzales and Stanford will be the first to tell you that the money isn’t what keeps them going. Rather, the blog has become a means to an end rather than the end itself. For both—and this is what I tell people who ask me if they should blog—it is not only another outlet for their creative passions, it is a way to promote their talents and show the world that they are experts in their chosen field, in turn leading to work they would not have been able to get without the exposure garnered by their blog.
Locally, Steve Romeo’s Teton AT is the one blog bucking the non-money-making trend (if he is in fact making enough money with it to get by on, which he very well may be because I believe Steve is the kind of guy who is happy to simply get by doing what he’s passionate about and doesn’t necessarily need to be raking in scads of cash). But Teton AT and Romeo are successful not because he’s got a cool blog, but because he is doing something he is passionate about, an expert at, and using his blog to get it out there.
Repeat: it isn’t about the blog. Romeo is out there gettin’ after the goods, and then he comes home and is diligent about writing coherent articles about his exploits, accompanied by photography and video that, while not necessarily of professional caliber, is accurate and supports his posts. And because he is in the backcountry all the time, he has great opportunities to use and then review gear via a medium that has garnered a large niche audience. In fact, I wouldn’t really call Romeo a blogger per se (though he certainly is); rather, he is a particular breed of professional athlete who has successfully leveraged the Internet to promote his exploits and his sponsors’ gear, and in the process has created what has become (and is still becoming) a fantastic resource for those looking for information about skiing in the Tetons.
The real value in blogging lies not in the ability to leverage eyeballs for advertisers’ cash, but in the ability to let the world know you are an expert at—or at least very passionate about—what you’re blogging about and leveraging that for more work doing what you are expert at or passionate about. And if that is the angle you take with your blogging, then, in response to the Planet and the wonderings of local bloggers, yes, this small community can buoy many bloggers.
