Small Business Sustainable Technology Guide

Lack of Funding

A common misconception of sustainability is that it typically requires a lot of money to fully implement sustainable changes. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, you may save money by implementing sustainable practices.

For example, you can save on energy costs by investing in energy-efficient lighting and appliances. You can also reduce your water consumption by installing low-flow plumbing fixtures.

Lack of Time to Implement Changes

You may also feel that you lack time to implement changes in your business practices. However, even small changes can make a big difference.

Some simple changes you can make include changing your light bulbs to energy-efficient ones, turning off electronics when they are not in use, and using less water.

These changes can save you time and money, and they are easy to implement. Every little bit helps when it comes to making your business more sustainable.

Lack of Employee Engagement

You may find that your employees are not engaged in sustainable practices. One way to engage them is to provide training on how they can help the business become more sustainable.

You can also create incentives for employees who adopt sustainable practices. For example, you could give them a bonus or a paid day off for participating in sustainability initiatives.

Unsure Which Sustainable Incentives Are Feasible

Although incentives may help in engaging employees in sustainability, not all may be feasible for your small business. There are many ways to incentivize employees to adopt sustainable practices. However, even small incentives can make a difference.

For example, consider giving out incentives like cash bonuses, paid days off, and company merchandise to employees making a sustainable difference.

Lack of Information

You may feel that you lack the necessary information to make your small business more sustainable. However, there are many resources available to help you get started.

Plenty of resources, provided by the Library of Congress, or other organizations offer helpful tips and advice on making your business more sustainable.

You can also consult with experts in the field to get advice on how to make your small business more sustainable.

Evaluate Carbon Footprint, Energy Use, Utility Use, and Efficiency

When evaluating the sustainability of a business or organization, several key indicators need to be measured, including:

• Carbon footprint — Perhaps the most well-known of these indicators, a carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions an organization or individual produces.
• Energy use — This measure includes the amount of energy that a business or organization consumes daily.
• Utility use — This indicator calculates the amount of water and other resources that a business or organization uses.
• Efficiency — Helps to determine how well a business or organization can convert energy and resources into useful products or services.

When conducting a sustainability audit, various methods can be used to evaluate these indicators. For example, businesses and organizations can use data from their operations to calculate their carbon footprint, energy use, and utility use. Additionally, several online tools and resources can help businesses and organizations calculate sustainability indicators.

Once the data has been collected, it is important to analyze it to identify areas where improvement is needed. After all, the goal of a sustainability audit is not only to evaluate an organization's or business's current sustainability practices but also to identify areas where those practices can be improved.

Once the areas for improvement have been identified, you must develop a plan of action that will help the organization or business to make the necessary changes.

Analyze Employee Behaviors

Your audit should consider all actions of a business, including its employees. You can evaluate employee behavior in multiple ways, including:

• Review employee performance reviews and/or feedback forms. This can give you an idea of how employees are behaving on a day-to-day basis and whether they are meeting sustainability objectives.
• Conduct interviews with employees. This allows you to get first-hand accounts of employee behaviors and can help to identify any patterns or trends.
• Observe employees in their work environment. This can help you to see how employees interact with each other and with their work tasks.
• Use data gathered from employee tracking systems. This can provide valuable information on employee behavior, such as how much time is spent on sustainability-related tasks.

By using one or more of these methods, you will be able to get a better understanding of employee behaviors related to sustainability and identify areas where improvements can be made.

Identify Sustainable Design and Technology Changes

When performing a sustainability audit, you should also evaluate the technology and other business-wide design changes that may improve your environmental efforts.

There are a few different ways to go about this. One is to simply review existing designs and see if there are any areas where improvements can be made. This can be done by looking at things like the energy efficiency of a design, the use of recycled materials, or the overall lifecycle impact of the product.

Another approach is to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA). This is a tool that can help identify the environmental impacts of a product or process over its entire life cycle. A life cycle, just like the name implies, evaluates a product from its birth to its death. This includes everything from the extraction of raw materials to the disposal of the product at the end of its life.

Once potential changes have been identified, the next step is to assess the potential impacts of making those changes. This includes looking at factors like the financial cost, the environmental impact, and the social impact.

Once all this information has been considered, you can decide if it is worth it to implement the changes.

Quantify the Payoff of These Changes

One of the most important things to consider is the return on investment (ROI) of any changes that are made. After all, sustainability is all about making long-term improvements that will benefit both the environment and the company’s bottom line.

One way to quantify the ROI of a sustainable change is to calculate the lifecycle benefits of the change. This considers not just the initial investment but also the ongoing costs and benefits over the lifetime of the change.

For example, if you install solar panels, you will not only save on your energy bills, but you'll also avoid emissions from other less environmentally friendly forms of energy.

Another way to calculate ROI is to use a carbon pricing model. This puts a price on carbon emissions, so you can compare the cost of the change with the savings from avoided emissions.

Finally, you can also look at the non-financial benefits of sustainability changes. These can include improved employee morale or a better public image for your company.

Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to quantifying ROI. The best approach will depend on the specific changes you're considering and the goals of your sustainability program. But by taking the time to calculate ROI, you can ensure that your business's sustainability efforts are paying off.

Conduct Regular Audits

Regular audits are essential for any organization wanting to ensure its sustainability practices are up to par. Here is a step-by-step guide on what a sustainability audit process looks like:

1. Define the scope of the audit. This will help you determine which areas of your organization's sustainability practices to focus on.
2. Collect data. This can be done through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other research methods.
3. Analyze the data. This will help you identify any areas of improvement within your organization's sustainability practices.
4. Create a report. This should include your findings and recommendations on how to improve your organization's sustainability practices.
5. Present the report. This will allow your organization to make changes to its sustainability practices based on your findings.

Incorporate Renewable Energy Where Possible

One of the most popular ways to implement sustainability into your business is to opt for renewable energy resources. This includes:

• Solar panels to generate electricity. Solar panels can be installed on the roof of a building or other structures such as parking lots or storage sheds. Solar panels are a great way for small businesses to reduce their operating costs, as they can provide a significant portion of a business's power needs. You'll also need to determine the number and size of panels you'll need.
• Wind turbines. Wind turbines can be installed on the grounds of a company or other suitable property and help businesses reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and move towards a more sustainable future. However, it’s best to evaluate how often your business experiences windy conditions to warrant wind turbines. If you have an abundance of natural wind, you can generate a significant amount of electricity from a turbine. The cost of installing and maintaining wind turbines can also be a consideration. While the upfront costs can be significant, the long-term savings on your energy bills can make wind power an attractive option.
• Biomass. Biomass is a term used to describe organic matter that can be used as an energy source. This includes everything from wood and leaves to food waste and manure. When burned, biomass releases energy from heat, which can be harnessed to power homes and businesses. Biomass combustion produces far fewer emissions than fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. It is a cleaner and more sustainable way to produce energy.
• Geothermal energy. Geothermal energy can be used to generate electricity or heat. Geothermal energy is created by the heat of the earth's core. It can be harnessed using geothermal power plants.

Each of these renewable energy sources can help a company to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, promote technological sustainability, and save money on energy costs.

Energy-efficient Lighting

You can also choose energy-efficient lighting. There are many methods for making this switch — each of which has its benefits.

• Switch to LED lighting, which uses less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and can last up to 25 times longer.
• Install occupancy sensors. These turn lights off when a room is not in use. There are many different types of occupancy light sensors, but they all work by detecting changes in the amount of infrared (IR) radiation in an area. All warm objects, including people, emit IR radiation. When someone enters a room, their body heat will cause the amount of IR radiation in the room to increase, which will be detected by an occupancy light sensor, and cause the lights to turn on. In many cases, occupancy light sensors can help to reduce a building’s energy consumption by 10-90%, and they can prolong the life of lighting fixtures.
• Install a daylight harvesting system. By collecting and redistributing natural daylight throughout a space, these systems can reduce or eliminate the need for electric lighting during daytime hours, resulting in significant energy savings. They can also improve occupant comfort and productivity by providing a more natural and evenly lit indoor environment.

LED UV Printing

You can also improve your business’s sustainable efforts by opting for technology like LED UV printing. This method is a sustainable printing technology that uses ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) to cure or dry inks and coatings. This process can be used on various materials, including plastic, glass, metal, and paper.

One of the main benefits of LED UV printing is that it is a more environmentally friendly printing process than traditional printing methods. LED UV inks do not contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are harmful to the environment. In addition, LED UV printing uses less energy than traditional printing methods, making it more efficient and sustainable.

LED UV inks are also more resistant to fading, less likely to bleed or smudge, and more resistant to scratches and wear, making them ideal for use on high-traffic surfaces.

Recycling Ink Cartridges

Recycling ink cartridges is one way to promote technical sustainability in a company. By recycling cartridges, companies can avoid the need to dispose of them in landfills, which can help reduce their environmental impact.

Additionally, recycling cartridges can also help reduce the number of resources that are needed to produce new cartridges.

There are several ways that companies can recycle cartridges. One common method is to return the used cartridges to the manufacturer. Many manufacturers have programs in place that allow customers to return used cartridges and receive a discount on new ones.

Another option is to use a cartridge recycling service. These services often collect used cartridges from businesses and either recycle them or donate them to charity.

Using Smart Meters

Smart meters are a type of advanced meter that helps customers track their energy use in real-time. This information can be used to make informed decisions about conserving energy and saving money on utility bills.

Smart meters also provide data that can be used to monitor the electrical grid and improve efficiency. Using smart meters is one way that companies can promote technical sustainability.

Smart meters can help reduce energy consumption by providing companies with real-time feedback on their energy use. This information can then be used to decide how and when to conserve energy.

For example, if a customer sees that their energy use is highest during the day, they may decide to shift their usage to nighttime hours when rates are lower. Smart meters can also monitor the grid and identify areas where efficiency can be improved.

Promote and Purchase Computers That Are Rated for Sustainability

Computers are a critical part of any small business technology, and it's important to ensure they are sustainable. One way to do this is to purchase computers that are rated for sustainability.

This promotes technical sustainability in a company by ensuring that the computers will be able to last for a long time without needing to be replaced. Not only is this good for the environment, but it can also save the company money in the long run.

When looking for sustainable computers, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, look for computers that have been certified by EPEAT. This certification means that the computer meets strict environmental standards and is energy efficient.

Embrace Cloud Storage

Most businesses require some form of storage for their data, whether for client information, inventory management, or bookkeeping. In the past, this typically meant storing data on-site (on a company's servers) or using an off-site storage facility.

However, with the advent of cloud technology, there is now a third option that can provide many benefits in terms of sustainability.

Cloud storage essentially refers to storing data on a remote server that can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. This has several advantages over traditional storage methods and can promote sustainability by:

• Eliminating the need for a company to maintain its on-site storage infrastructure, which can be costly and energy-intensive, thus reducing a company's carbon footprint.
• Enabling businesses to access their data from anywhere in the world. This is a major advantage for companies with multiple locations or employees who work remotely and can reduce the travel costs and the emissions that come with it.

Incorporate Remote Work

More companies are transitioning to a remote workforce model, with no indication of the trend slowing down. This trend can be traced to a variety of factors, but for many businesses that make the switch, it can be attributed to supporting their sustainable technology initiatives.

Allowing employees to work from home or other locations outside of the office can save on energy costs, reduce paper use, and decrease commute times and emissions.

Additionally, working remotely from wherever can help attract and retain top talent. Casting a larger geographical net means a wider talent pool selection, leading to better candidates.

But overall, incorporating remote work can be a great way to make your company more sustainable.