The Small Business Administration says that as many as 52 percent of Americans who work are employed by small businesses. But while you may be more or less familiar with small businesses, you may not realize the powerful effect the small business world has on your environment. Reducing the carbon footprint that small businesses have a part in doesn’t require fancy tools or big budgets. Instead, becoming more eco-friendly, even when working for or running a small business is simple and can help you accept a role in creating a more sustainable business. Follow these easy tips to help your business become increasingly environmentally friendly.

Use recycled paper – Simply using recycled paper for printed items can make a small dent in paper waste within your office.

Take advantage of technology – Advances in technology have made it possible to hold meetings with the click of the mouse or a simple conference call. Videoconferencing programs, like Skype, can help you spend less time traveling and more time on the task at hand.

Email – Emailing clients and customers with your monthly newsletter can whittle the time you spend proofing printing as well as reduce the costs that accompanying printing. In addition to being a great way to cut costs and become more efficient, email newsletters are easy to track and can reveal whether your efforts are successful by providing information about how many people read your newsletter and how many actually clicked through to your website or additional information.

If paper is necessary, recycle – In some instances, using paper for flyers or print material is necessary to achieve the results you desire. But while using paper may be important, reminding those who receive your correspondence to recycle the paper can be helpful in reducing waste.

Shop locally – Buying goods and using vendors that are local means you don’t have to pay the extra costs for shipping and also helps reduce pollution.

Take advantage of the internet – The internet gives you access to countless consumers who may want your goods or services. In addition to giving you access to consumers you may not normally be able to reach with your small business, it also saves time and money, without forcing consumers to have to drive to your location. Selling your products and services online can also give consumers 24/7 access to your company and brand and allow effective and cheap communication between you and your customers.

Use sustainable promotional goods – While it may seem tempting to buy cheap promotional products, like plastic water bottles, the resulting waste will not help your company once the good is tossed in the trash. Instead, promote your business with products that last and don’t end up in our landfills. Mugs or reusable water bottles will last longer and are better for the environment.

Use green office products – Many companies provide sustainable office products that can be just as effective in your office as their traditional counterparts. Seek green certified to insure the products you buy are actually green.

Try reusable and recycled envelopes – There are an array of reusable envelopes that can be effective for your marketing campaigns. Recycled post consumer content envelopes are also a great option for your direct mail items.

Be mindful of your transportation – When traveling for business; use a vehicle that gets good gas mileage. Public transportation and carpooling can also be a good option for you and your employees when viable.

List your products on green websites – Websites like GreenSeal.org and Goodguide.com are good resources for your company if you sell sustainable products or if you are particularly mindful of the green movement. They give other green-minded consumers and companies access to your business.

Promote green behavior – Promoting green behavior in your customers can be as simple as giving them some incentive to adopt healthy behaviors ad habits. Coupons and savings for those who volunteer within your community is just one way to help while promoting your business.

Encourage green behavior within – While promoting sustainable habits within your circle of consumers is vital, it can be even simpler to provoke such behavior among co-workers and employees.

Use recycled goods for shipping purposes – Shredded paper that may otherwise be thrown away can be the perfect barrier for the packages you send, saving money on shipping products while eliminating waste.

Look for green methods of printing – Printing is often unavoidable but can be done is a more green way by using eco-friendly printers and products to complete in house printing. Look on the web for green certified products and companies.

List your website – While you find yourself interested in other companies who try to adopt more environmentally friendly business practices, they are also seeking to work with like companies. List your website and information on green listings, which specifically highlights other green minded businesses.

Encourage feedback – Feedback from customers and potential customers can be helpful and offer powerful insight into improvement opportunities for your business and costs nothing at all. Yelp is one example of a site where your customers can find you and review you, giving potential consumers an idea of what you are all about.

Give your customers the choice – Buying mailing lists for marketing campaigns can provide hit or miss opportunities. Instead, let consumers opt whether or not they receive offers and information from you. Less marketing materials will be wasted and you will receive more business for less money and effort.

Give back – Some business practices may be somewhat necessary yet, may not always be the healthiest for our planet. Giving back to organizations that help the environment can help offset some of the problems you may not be able to avoid as a small business. TreesForTravel.info is an example of one such charity.

 

Danny is a veteran commercial lender with over fifteen years of experience in accounts receivable funding. For more information on how to grow your business with the right funding company visit http://www.factorfunding.com.

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Photographer: Marcus Woelfle

Chances are if you use eyesight correction, you already have strong opinions on using contact lenses and glasses. With more of us going green, it may be time to consider the environmental impact as well. Glasses may seem like the obvious choice because they aren’t disposable, but the small size of contact lenses means there’s less total material, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. It’s difficult to get an exact amount for the plastic, paper, and other materials used to make glasses and contact lenses, particularly for eyeglass frames, which can vary widely in materials and design. However, there’s enough data out there to get a rough estimate.

Plastic

The average pair of glasses lasts two years and two-and-a-half months. How your lenses are made makes a big difference in the amount of plastic used in the lenses: blanks contain 120 grams of plastic before milling, but pre-formed lenses weigh only 35 grams.

According to a study conducted by Eurolens, a one-year’s supply of contact lenses and the associated packaging creates 953 grams of plastic waste. The same study found that monthly contact lenses, their cases, and the solution over a year created 549 grams of waste. That works out to about 1.2 kg (2 lbs. 10 oz.) of plastic for monthly contacts and 2.1 kg (4 lbs. 10 oz.) of plastic for dailies during the life of a pair of eyeglasses.

To put this into perspective, the average American generates 1,600 lbs. of trash per year. Between buying and disposing of a pair of glasses, most people throw out 13.2 lbs. of trash in the form of plastic shopping bags.

CO2

10.5 lbs. of CO2 is released into the atmosphere to make one pair of eyeglass lenses while the equivalent amount of daily contact lenses comes to 231 lbs. of CO2.

What can I do to reduce my impact?

Obviously, glasses come out far ahead of contacts, and monthly contacts have a lower impact than daily disposables. However, no matter which method of eyesight correction you choose, there are ways of reducing their environmental impact.

Frameless glasses use the least material, but they don’t work for everyone. Look for frames made out of easily recyclable materials like aluminum or titanium. Avoid exotic woods and bone.

There are a number of organizations that accept old glasses that are donated to the poor; some of these will also take unused contacts. Most optician and optometrist offices will have a donation box where you can drop off these items the next time you have an appointment.

If you choose to go with contacts, try to reduce packaging as much as possible. Larger bottles of solution hold more fluid per ounce of plastic and some brands do without the box smaller bottles are packaged in. Bulk packages of lenses will also reduce packaging per lens. Although contact lenses themselves aren’t recyclable, much of the related packaging is. However, some recyclers won’t accept lens cases because they’re too small for processing.

Sara Roberts is a content contributor for Just Eyewear, an eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses retailer.

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Nature’s way to efficient fuel

With every passing day, most of the earth’s natural resources are depleting at a rapid pace. Using the sun’s energy or a renewable energy source are the few viable alternative for sustainable development. With the latest developments in biofuel and efficient use of solar cells, this alternative is proving to be an alternative that most of us can benefit from.

New discovery in the manufacture of Biofuel

Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Virginia Tech as well as the University of Georgia  have successfully used cellulose along with 14 enzymes, one co enzyme and water, heated to 32 degree centigrade to produce Hydrogen which can in turn power a fuel cell to generate electricity. The cellulose for this research was obtained from wood-chips, however switch grass as well as crop waste could also be used to produce this hydrogen gas.

The reason why this is a breakthrough is because, the use of cellulose allows the use of biomass as a primary ingredient to manufacture this biofuel. And as this is a renewable source of energy, we won’t be depleting the planet’s limited resources.

If this technology is widely adopted, using only two or three percent of the annual biomass production can bring the world to a state of total fuel independence. This figure may increase or decrease for different parts of the world, depending on their fuel consumption. For instance the United States, one of the world’s largest consumers of fuel, would need to use 10 percent of the world’s annual biomass production to meet their needs, while other countries can meet their needs with a lot less.

Super efficient solar cells

Solar cells are being used all over the world to limit the consumption of fossil fuels and the related costs that come with it. While the existing solar cells may be good enough, scientists have found a way to increase their efficiency by up to 15 percent. And to do this, they have taken inspiration from one of the planet’s most humble yet versatile creatures, the moth.

Moths have special features that make their eyes different from most other organisms. They are equipped with an anti-reflector film which helps them hide from predators because their eyes don’t reflect light. This inherent character in moths has lead to the creation of anti-reflector films to coat solar cells. These reflector cells will reduce the amount of light reflected off the solar cells, increasing the amount of light absorbed and as a result, increasing the efficiency of the solar cells.

The researchers who tested this new film on solar panels both in Tokyo and in Phoenix AZ found that the efficiency of these films depends on the availability of sunlight. They found that in Phoenix which receives direct sunlight these films increased the efficiency of solar panels by 6% while in Tokyo which only receives diffused sunlight, the efficiency was down 1% to 5%. Although the increase in efficiency is very marginal, when combined with other advancements the net result will be a much greater efficiency level.

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One of the biggest hurdles with regards to going green is that it is too expensive. Most people would like to use green technologies in their home, but it is the cost that discourages them. Take solar panels. Installing solar panels to take care of the energy needs of the home will cost approximately $20,000 and take nearly 20 yrs to pay back.

Yet there are newer green technologies that do not burn a hole in your wallet and that are as effective, if not more effective than current technologies because they use materials that are found in abundance, like sunlight, salt and sand.

Clean water from dirty.

Generally affluents were discharged into large water bodies because making them clean was too expensive. In the US treating affluents in large affluent treatment plants uses up almost 1.5% of the entire annual electrical usage of the nation. Now however a simple, yet cheap technology has been invented to make these affluents clean.

The device called the planar microfluidic reactor or photocatalyst, is a very simple device. It is a rectangular glass container that is coated on the inside with titanium dioxide. This is the active ingredient that is found in most sunscreen lotions. Titanium dioxide works by releasing electrons when it comes in contact with sunlight. These electrons react with impurities in the water, converting them into harmless substances.

The efficiency of this system is dependent on two things, microfulidics which is transporting water through tiny channels, and photocatalysis which is the use of sunlight to break down impurities. Both these systems have been developed separately, but it took a team from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to put them together.

The through put of the device is very small as of now, but the team is working on scaling up the model to achieve a through put of 1,000 liters per hr. Hopefully this device will help cut down the amount of affluent discharge into water bodies helping to keep the World a green place.

Cheap fuel cells

Fuel cells are very green in that they burn only Hydrogen, and give off water. The only problem with them so far has been the cost of generating this hydrogen. As of now making the Hydrogen has proved to be much more expensive and energy intensive than the amount of energy that the resulting Hydrogen can give.

A scientist at the Michigan State University has now found a way to generate Hydrogen very cheaply.  The raw materials are Sodium and Silicon which is obtained from sea salt and sand. This sodium and silicon are combined to form Sodium sillicide. When water is added to this it releases Hydrogen. The by product is Sodium sillicate, which is a common ingredient in toothpaste.

This system has the potential to have a fuel cycle because the byproduct of a fuel cell is water. This water can be added to the Sodium Sillicide to form Hydrogen which can be used in the fuel cell once again to generate electricity and water.

Both technologies are in the early stages of development, but they have a lot of potential to help generate clean electricity which will help power us in the future.

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