Click here to see the infographic.

A more cost-effective and long-term solution is to install a water filtration system in an office or building. Water filtration can be as simple as a Brita-style carafe, great for small businesses; it can be as comprehensive as a whole-building system filters water as it enters the building. Most water filters have o-rings to help facilitate a water-tight seal between the filter sump and head. According to filtersfast.com, an o-ring should be replaced every two filter changes to protect your water filter system from leaks. Some water-filtration companies analyze water for free as part of its sales processes. This is a good way to start. After you have had your water analyzed, you can choose which of the following four primary types of water filters, according to Consumer Reports, will best fit your needs:

Carafe Filters

For a business with just one or two people at the location, a carafe will work, but if the office staff is larger and drinks more than a gallon or two of water per day, a carafe will not meet the office needs.

Manufacturers includeBrita and Pur. Carafe and filter systems range in price from $10 to around $50.

The disadvantages of carafe filters are that they are slow, may clog easily and need frequent filter replacements, according to Consumer Reports. Continuing costs can be high as filter cartridge life is short. Businesses will want to stock several so an employee can change the filter easily.

Photo of a Brita Carafe Filter by pjohnkeane via Flickr

Faucet-Mounted Filters

Faucet-mounted filters are a cinch to install. You simply unscrew the faucet aerator and replace it with the filtering device. Most models come with adapters so they fit faucets threaded on the inside or outside. Some models include an indicator light or signal when the filter needs to be changed, according to Consumer Reports.

Prices range from under $20 to as much as $100. The filter must be monitored by someone and changed as needed.

Although not having to hire a plumber is a plus, faucet-mounted filters are really carafe filters that fit the faucet. They are slow when used for filtering water and require frequent filter changes. In some cases, they may not fit on the end of your faucet.

Photo of a Brita faucet filter by gocarts via Flickr

Countertop Water Filters

Countertop filters screw on the faucet after you remove the aerator. The filter system is larger, lasts longer and removes more contaminants than smaller filters. However, they take up counter space and may be difficult to locate in a business with little or no counter space. These are priced from $60 to more than $250. A plumber is not needed for installation. Most filter cartridges last for 500 gallons of water, according to datcp.wi.gov.

An inconvenience for businesses is the need to assign someone to periodically check the filter and change it when needed. Replacement costs for the filter can be costly — dependent on how efficient the filters are and how many contaminants the filter removes.

Photo of a Countertop Filter by Sam Bald via Flickr

Under-the-Counter Filters

These plumber-installed single filter units take under-the-counter space. A hole is drilled in the counter top for water outlet. Depending upon the manufacturer, the number of contaminants removed varies from only a few to over sixty. Under-the-counter filters and countertop units commonly handle great amounts of water, according to Consumer Reports. Filter cartridge replacements are about the same as the countertop units. Someone needs to be responsible for filter changes.

The filters start at around $80 and can easily exceed $200.

Photo of a Culligan under-the-counter filter by Average Jane via Flickr

Reverse Osmosis filters

Reverse osmosis is a good technology for removing many contaminants from water and is the only method approved for removing arsenic from water.

Costs range from $130 to $500.

Businesses must deal with the high cost of acquisition — the filters waste up to three gallons of water for every gallon filtered, according to Consumer Reports, and need to be cleaned with bleach on a regular basis. As this system uses a porous membrane for filtering, it eventually needs to be replaced.

Photo of an RO water filter by Nat Tarbox via Flickr

Whole Location Filters

Initial costs are higher and installation requires some minor plumbing work. However, filter life is the longest of any water filtration system and all the water is filtered as it placed at either the inlet pipe or the cold-water distribution pipe. Less contaminants are removed than from a reverse-osmosis filter but the system is attractive to business owners with a large facility that has more than one break area, according to Consumer Reports. Usually, these businesses have a maintenance department to monitor the system and replace filters.

These filters start at the $50 mark and can go as high as $1,000.

Photo of a whole location filter by USDAgov via Flickr

This Earth Week, Momentum is challenging employees across the country to work from home one day to help reduce carbon emissions and fuel consumption.

While many of us know the benefits of working from home, it can sometimes be hard to stay focused and resist the lures of laying on the couch. Losing the structure of a regular office can sometimes be harmful to some employees’ success, but there are a number of ways that you can be just as — if not more — productive at home as you are in the office.

Here are Momentum’s 10 best tips for increasing your productivity while working from home:

1. Define your workspace. To increase your productivity, separate working from home activities by dedicating a specific room to work. That way, when you enter the room, you know you’re going there to work. It can help change your state of mind from “I’m at home” to “I’m at work.”

2. Don’t work unshaved and in pajamas. Maintain a professional appearance, even from home. You’ll feel better and be more productive if you take a shower, have breakfast and get dressed in the morning. You’ll be more motivated to make a list of sensible tasks for the day and get started.

3. Make a daily to-do list. Writing out a list of the tasks you need to do each day will help keep you on track and reduce your desire to procrastinate. If you tend to put projects off, you may need to have your manager or supervisor give you deadlines to help you schedule out your time.

4. Communicate well and often with your colleagues. Maintain good, clear contact with the people you’re working with. Communications platforms like unified messaging, video conferencing and web collaborationcan help bridge the gap between remote work locations and the office.

5. Don’t stop working if it’s a hard day. Just like in the office, there will be times when you don’t have good ideas or just don’t feel productive. It may be tempting to do other tasks or browse the web while you’re at home, but train yourself to keep working in some way. Otherwise, you’ll never get anything done.

6. Give yourself small breaks. Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you need to be locked in your home office all day. For every hour you work, give yourself a 5-minute break to clear your mind and digest what you’ve done. Then come back to your work.

7. Plan your work, if possible, around your natural schedule. Some people are most productive in the mornings; others thrive during the afternoon. If you have the flexibility, schedule your work day around your peak productivity time so you get the most done.

8. Tell your family and friends to leave you alone. Your family probably doesn’t disturb you at the office with questions they can ask you when you get home. But when your home is your office, they may not show the same restraint. Tell your family that even though you’re working from home, you may not always be available.

9. Make time for some human interaction. Don’t make all of your work connections through email. It’s more valuable for your career and your mental well-being to have some real conversations with coworkers, even if it’s just over the phone.

10. “Leave” at the end of the day. The majority of people go home to get away from work. When work is in your home, it’s important to set defined times when you’re going to work, and when the time passes, stop. If you don’t rest at the end of the day, you can throw off your work-life balance.

Are you ready to telecommute but need to get your boss on board? Download our free remote work policy template to help get the conversation started.

And pledge to participate in the Go Green 9 to 5 challenge and work from home 1 day this week during Earth Week 2013. Learn more at http://betterearth.gomomentum.com.

Progressive Tech is a company based in Seattle, WA, that specializes in both computer repair and tech support.  If you have a problem with your desktop, laptop, or Apple device, Progressive Tech is knowledgeable and experienced and can get your device up and running again.  One of the reasons they are so good at this is because they continually seek to be a green and sustainable business, both through their services and their “Re-use-Recycle” attitude.  Rather than offering the latest and greatest gadget, they want to help you  resolve your current tech situation and get you moving again with as little impact on the environment as possible.

If you are looking for a new computer, Progressive Tech is not your shop.  They offer a wide variety of services, such as computer repair, data recovery from damaged or inoperative drives, and consulting expertise for questions, but their shelves are empty of new products.  The common phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” can be reversed to teach us “If it is broke, fix it.”  Progressive Tech has taken this to heart as a business model.  Most of the time, electronics that are broken can be fixed.  If they can’t, the vast majority of their parts can be salvaged and recycled.

Even outside of the services they provide to customers, Progressive Tech demonstrates their commitment to maintaining a green and sustainable business.  Their store operates entirely on renewable sources, such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power.  All of the building renovations that have been performed in their shop have been eco-friendly, including using non-toxic plants, natural wood flooring, and natural fiber carpeting.  They implement their green policies on a daily basis by using natural, recycled, and proven environmentally-friendly cleaning products, garbage bags, paper goods, and soaps.  Even their vehicles are environmentally friendly, with each company-owned car operating entirely on domestically produced, renewable biodiesel fuel.

The services offered by Progressive Tech take these ideals to an even higher level.  When you bring a broken electronic to their store, their first attempt is to fix it.  According to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, more than 50% of computers that are thrown away are either still in working condition or could be made to work with minimal repairs.  Rather than immediately discarding your device, bring it in and let an expert try to fix it, saving you money while simultaneously easing the damage to the environment caused by pollution and landfills.

If, for whatever reason, you need to replace your current working machine, Progressive Tech has teamed up with a non-profit organization, InterConnection, and can help you get your machine to professionals who will use it to provide world-wide IT training.  Donating a working computer can give your machine a second life.  InterConnection and Progressive Tech agree that wherever possible, reusing is even better than recycling.

If a computer cannot be repaired, Progressive Tech’s next favorite option is to salvage parts.  Usually, when a computer goes bad, the problem lies with a single or handful of parts.  The rest of the machine is in good condition and can be used as replacement parts for other computers.  With the parts that can’t be salvaged, raw materials such as steel and plastic can be harvested and reused.  Only in extreme circumstances does the shop throw something away, and then they do so in the least environmentally damaging method possible.

Similar to their relationship with InterConnection, if you have other electronics that you want to get rid of, Progressive Tech works closely with Total Reclaim Inc., which specializes in environmentally friendly methods of electronic waste disposal.  This allows Progressive Tech to help you recycle TV’s, microwaves, batteries, and light bulbs, among other things.

Progressive Tech is a rarity in the electronics industry.  Companies producing the various devices available to consumers are very concerned with developing the latest and greatest, but they seldom take time to manage the waste that is produced by these replacement techniques.  Progressive Tech does the opposite by taking what consumers already have and attempting to prolong the electronics’ life.  They work diligently and consistently to maintain their green and sustainable business and encourage their clientele to do likewise by looking to first fix, then reuse, then recycle.

Like lean thinking, greening your business is not just a “nice to have”—it is now “must have.” It is a key economic driver for many forward-looking firms. If you are a business manager and you are yet to develop a solid plan for going green or if you are in doubt whether going green pays off, have a look at companies like Toyota, WalMart, DuPont, Tesco, Unilever, Marks & Spencer and General Electric, all of whom have invested heavily in greening their products and processes over the past few years.

Unilever plans to double its revenue over the next 10 years while halving the environmental impact of its products. GE aims to reduce the energy intensity of its operations by 50% by 2015. Tesco has announced that it will reduce emissions from stores and distribution centres by half by 2020 and that it will to become a zero-carbon business by 2050. WalMart’s Zero Waste initiative claims that more than 80% of waste generated in its U.S. operations has been diverted from landfill while the company’s goal is to generate zero waste in the first place. In 2010, WalMart announced that it will cut total carbon emissions by 20 million metric tons by 2015.

Toyota, in its Fifth Environmental Action Plan, announced that it will improve the average fuel efficiency of its vehicles by 25% in all regions by 2015 compared to that of 2005. In production, Toyota has already reduced emissions per vehicle by 37% between 2001 and 2012. If that wasn’t enough then look at DuPont which committed itself to a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over a ten year period up to 2010. In 2007, DuPont saved $2.2 billion through energy efficiency. In the same year its total declared profits was not much more than $2 billion! And the list grows longer with many small and medium size companies following suit.

However, there are still too many companies out there, who push environmental improvements to lower priorities. They are oblivious to the reasons behind why the likes of Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever have been so passionate about sustainability. Unilever, alongside the rest of the companies mentioned in the above, invest significant time and resources in ‘green continuous improvement’. None of them, however, have joined the Greenpeace! So why should they bother?

The secret of Polman’s recipe is simple. It’s a simple yet powerful realisation that the environmental and economic footprints are aligned. When we prevent physical waste, increase energy efficiency or improve resource productivity (they all mean the same thing by the way!), we save money, improve profitability and enhance competitiveness. In fact, there are often, huge opportunities which we call “quick wins”, thanks to years of neglect. That’s the secret of those companies.

There are other benefits too. First of all, investing in green continuous improvement (CI) unlocks great amounts of innovation and vigour across the organisation which in turn underpins future success. Secondly, with most industries there is a substantial and growing market for sustainable products.

Lean means doing more with less. That’s why lean thinking supports green and vice versa.

Nonetheless, today economic and environmental Continuous Improvement are separate organisational silos and sometimes even come into conflict with each other. This is one of the biggest opportunities missed across most industries. Too many greening interventions are concerned with technical fixes and top-down implementation of end of pipe solutions which hardly leave a lasting cultural change. Lean and continuous improvement practitioners, on the other hand need to obtain essential knowledge about the key environmental measures and priorities. The power of lean and green is to bring the two together.

Here is an example. A few weeks ago we worked with one of the largest sandwich factories in the world. A team of great men and women engaged in a programme to reduce physical waste. They used simple techniques such as value stream mapping and A3 problem solving (well know lean tools). The results were staggering. No one (including me!) expected to see nearly 1000 tonnes of waste prevented in just a few weeks, in a very mature industry. The commercial benefits were even more staggering. I am constantly surprised – in a very pleasant way – when we put lean and green together.

Our forthcoming book, “Creating a Lean and Green Business System: Techniques for Increasing Profits and Sustainability”, is packed with case studies and examples of leading firms who use lean and green as simultaneous sources of inspiration in various sectors of industry—from automotive and retail to textile and brewing.

Just to give you a little flavour of what my co-authors and I found in the process of researching for the book, I can give you an update about our benchmark study into the automotive sector. Our benchmark was done 20 years after the original IMVP Programme benchmark which led to coining the term “lean manufacturing”. Interestingly we found out that Toyota — the holy grail of economic efficiency for decades — tops the green charts too. This led us to discover more about Toyota’s notion of Monozukuri which means sustainable manufacturing and lies at the very heart of Toyota Production System (or lean thinking). For more information about the book and the power of the “lean and green concept” visit: www.leanandgreenbusiness.com

Finally, I would like to personally invite you to come and join us at the book signing breakfast on June 25^th in Chicago, IL. Hunter Lovins and Doc Hall will be there too. You may register your interest in attending the book signing and workshop here: http://leanandgreenbusiness.com/events/upcoming-events/usa-book-launch-june-chicago

I look forward to meeting you. Please do share you own lean and green stories.

Every Earth Day, the team at FlexJobs takes stock of its own efforts to be green, and we’d like to share our best tips for going green so that other small businesses can do the same. With 27 people on staff, all working from home offices throughout the U.S. and one in Europe, our green efforts are varied and we try to do as much as we can both as a group, and as individuals.

Here are six eco-friendly steps that FlexJobs has taken, and that other small businesses can take to implement green business practices and be more environmentally responsible.

Support green causes Every Earth Day, FlexJobs supports The Nature Conservancy by pledging to plant a tree for each new subscription we receive on Earth Day. This helps us and our customers go green in a special way each year.

Work from home This is a bonus for small businesses because for one, allowing employees to work from home helps us eliminate the need for costly real estate and office space. But even more importantly, working from home is a green way to work. With 27 cars out of the daily commute, FlexJobs is stopping 35.1 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere every year (based on mid-sized cars and an average daily commute).

Don’t travel for meetings There are so many amazing technologies available today that traveling (by car or plane) for in-person meetings can be greatly reduced or eliminated altogether. For small businesses with tight budgets, economical programs exist that allow for seamless virtual meetings. At FlexJobs, we use a program called Join.Me, as well as GoToWebinar, for meetings and presentations.

Encourage recycling While everyone at FlexJobs is encouraged to recycle everything they can, from paper, glass, and aluminum all the way to printer cartridges batteries, in-office workers should also be encouraged to recycle. Everyone should be given a recycling can to keep at their desk, so they can recycle throughout the day quickly, rather than making special trips to an office-wide recycling bin. Educate employees on what can be recycled, and hold drives to recycle special items that can’t go in the normal recycling bin.

Sign a pledge. Several years ago, when FlexJobs decided to formally “go green” as an organization, our CEO spearheaded a pledge that all team members have signed which states that we will all take specific steps in our home offices to be more green every day. Some of those steps include:

• Using CFL or LED light bulbs in our home offices (company-reimbursed).
• Using natural light and air whenever possible, and only using heat or AC when necessary.
• Eliminating printing altogether unless absolutely necessary.
• Maintaining an oxygen-filtering house plant in our home offices (company-reimbursed).

Enlist the help of professionals No matter how hard we try, as small businesses we are always going to be doing things that are less-than-good for the environment. To offset any carbon footprint we might have, FlexJobs is Carbon Balanced by TerraPass. With TerraPass, we can sponsor clean energy and carbon reduction projects that will continue to lower our carbon footprint each year.

Small businesses can take small steps to make a big environmental impact. And as more small businesses start greening their business practices, the better we can support each other. 

Earth Day is April 22^nd 2013. This is about climate change, and this is about you and your business. But not only you. It affects everyone. And what is going to be found from this article about business energy efficiency is that people are talking and changes are being made – but there is still a lot of work to do. You won’t find much on turning this and that off, albeit there will be some, because business energy and efficiency in 2013 is about more than this.

Business energy efficiency makes sense

The Carbon Trust suggests that businesses can save 10 percent in energy bills by doing something as simple as automatically powering off PCs at night, while the IEA suggests that every dollar invested in energy efficiency leads to more than $4 savings. If we look at government statistics then we see that the United States ranks highest in energy wastefulness when compared to other developed nations and that 30 percent of energy in buildings is wasted. Are you getting the idea? Making the change is good sense. There are initiatives in place to help make this change, but they need business’ support. In the US there is the Better Buildings Challenge and in the UK there is the Green Deal but the change begins with you and your business.

Communication

To make a business more energy efficient in 2013 companies need to communicate with all the necessary parties, including shareholders and energy providers, colleagues and consumers. Don’t do this on your own. You need communication if effective changes are to be implemented. Everyone needs to be able to add their input and report any wastage that they believe can be improved. For big businesses and SMEs an appointed ‘energy champion’ can be the spearhead of their communications for changes.

But be realistic. Do not go out all gung-ho with measures that are nigh on impossible to implement or just downright inconvenient, as this can lead to other positive measures being swept under the carpet. This is why communication is so vital and why it should be at the forefront of a business’ mind when looking to implement changes in energy usage.

Knowledge

Businesses cannot make effective decisions in energy usage and improved efficiency unless they equip themselves with the necessary knowledge. Don’t be put off making key business environmental changes by the price tag or the effort of implementation. Do your research and make sure to consider the benefits that changes can have for staff welfare, customer service and the reputation of your business. Knowledge of energy efficiency will go a long way to making sure that businesses make the right decisions, and should be combined with a willingness to unearth the facts and make real changes.

Technology

Technology means more than simply ensuring the lights and PCs are turned off at night. There is technology out there which can make a real difference to efficiency and savings, now and into the future. Smart meters are one such way and this has research to back it up, with British Gas Business having found in the UK after looking at the data from more than 6,000 smart meters that 46 percent of electrical consumption happens before 8am or after 6pm. In the UK there is also the option of half-hourly meters which are used by large users of energy such as department stores and manufacturing plants. Half-hourly electricity meters are read every hour and provide insights into how and where energy is being wasted. This means businesses only pay for what they use, with half-hourly meters helping businesses to apply energy efficient programmes. As the Carbon Trust says, measuring usage will help you to spot patterns and to identify where changes can be made.

Other technology includes LED lighting. But there is still some work to do in this department if the energy saving benefits are to be truly worthwhile – thankfully Philips have announced an LED prototype that should be available to commercial entities by 2015 and which is proposed to be the first to provide 200 lumens per watt of high quality light.

Your business is unique

In 2013 businesses will realise that they are not all one and the same when it comes to energy efficiency. For larger corporations, low-energy lighting and upgrades in heating and air-conditioning systems is good thinking; for virtual businesses, cloud computing can save on their energy usage; for retailers, Sainsbury’s use of renewable technologies in its stores, such as solar power and biofuel generators, is a good example to follow and build on. The point being that the changes your business makes are not necessarily going to be the same as other companies.

Generate your own energy

A business can look to generate its own energy to achieve long-term goals in energy efficiency and cost savings. But this will of course depend upon your business and its goals. Solar photovoltaic panels only require daylight and work on buildings of all sizes, with the surplus energy created able to be fed into the National Grid via rewarding government schemes such as Feed-in Tariffs. Another option for businesses is thermal energy storage that can be more costly to implement than standard air-conditioning systems, but which can lower energy costs and reduce use of on-peak electricity. The technology is out there, but it requires businesses to consider the options.

More needs to be done

It’s all well and good saying how businesses should be more energy efficient, and Earth Day helps to place more emphasis upon this, but the fact remains that the level of carbon emitted in global energy supplies hasn’t changed much in 20 years, according to the International Energy Agency. Yes, there is the technology like solar panels and half-hour meters to help businesses improve their resources and knowledge, but as the executive director Maria van der Hoeven of IEA says, “We cannot afford another 20 years of listlessness.”

Learn more about Rio Designs Store by clicking here.