GreenConferencing.com Blog

A simple way to offset your carbon footprint

Please welcome our guest blogger, Britt Sutcliffe - Telecom for Charity Project Manager

Investing in renewable resources, carbon offsetting, using eco friendly appliances are all a spectacular way to support the environment. But where does your company obtain the funds to support such initiatives?

Cost of implementation is often the prime reason for a company deciding not to choose an eco friendly business model. The funds to pay for renewable energy sources or carbon offsetting must come from someplace, so why not use your company’s current voice and data expenditure to pay for these?

How?

The Telecom for Charity initiative (T4C) is very simple: Any telecom services procured through this initiative will generate a monthly donation of 5% to the environmental program(s) of your choice.

A simple example for a simple program.

A company of 15 people is generating an estimated 26 tons of CO2 per year for their daily building services (electricity and natural gas). To offset 26 tons you could plant 36 trees in Kenya ($516.59) or even donate to the Clean Energy Fund ($399.75).  The same company has an estimated monthly telecom bill of $1200. This includes their phone system, calling plans, and internet connection. The services procured through the T4C initiative will now be generating a monthly donation of $60 every month to the program of their choice, for a yearly total of $720; which is far more than suggested amount to offset their estimated carbon footprint.

Win, win, win.

You are now supporting the environmental cause of your choice, you are receiving the same, if not better, telecom services as you originally had, and all for no additional monthly cost to your company. 

7 Simple Steps to Greening Your Small Business

Please welcome a guest blogger: Susan Seliger Editor-in-Chief, RiverWired.com - Good Green Fun

Small businesses are what make America great. And their influence – if they choose to go green – can be as big as the mighty corporations getting all the attention for joining the eco-friendly fray these days.

"Independent firms with less than 500 employees employ half of the private sector workforce and use half of the electricity and natural gas consumed by the commercial and industrial sectors, In 2006, small businesses accounted for 99.9 percent of the 26.8 million businesses in the country."

- Jonathon Bardelline, in The Big Impact from Greening Small Businesses at GreenBiz.com.

So here are 7 simple steps entrepreneurs can take to be a little greener  -- no matter what your core business may be.

1. Ask your employees for green ideas first.
You don’t need to hire a Director of Sustainability.  Ask the people who always have the best ideas – your team. After all, if they have to implement these plans, it’s smart to get their buy-in from the start. Offering bonuses for eco-ideas that save the company money wouldn’t hurt.

2. Buy everybody a mug.
Giving each employee the gift of a ceramic, reusable mug engenders good will – and it will save you a fortune on those nasty Styrofoam cups.  The average office worker uses up to 500 disposable coffee cups per year – and Styrofoam takes about one million years to fully decompose. If you put your logo on the mugs, you can give them to clients and visitors to use and then take home. Not a bad way to reinforce your identity as a company that cares.

3. Replace the office refrigerator, microwave – and all your equipment – with energy-efficient models.
Newer Energy Star-Rated appliances use up to 40% less energy than older versions. Look for star ratings on fax machines, copiers, printers and everything you use.

4. Recycle Paper – this is a big one – and easy, too.
Do we really have to remind you about this one? About 40% of the garbage in our landfills is paper that could have been recycled. Buy recycled paper – along with biodegradable paper plates and napkins. Encourage copying on both sides. Have bins for recycling paper in convenient locations – like next to the coffee machine – to give added incentive to toss paper in the right spot.

5. Apply the 3 R’s to electronics and office equipment, too
The eco-mantra, reduce, reuse, recycle, doesn’t stop at paper. You can refill ink cartridges. Recycle electronics safely – Staples and Office Depot are getting into the recycling act. When in doubt, go to Earth911 to see where to recycle – or donate – in your area. You may even qualify for a tax credit for donations to local schools or non-profits.

Other recycling resources: Top 10 Recycling Resources ;   Electronics Recycling;  Who Makes The Greenest Electronics?

6. Replace bottled water with a water filter
Bottled water costs too-to-three times as much as gasoline. Americans spend more than $8 billion a year on bottled water – and generate over 1.5 million tons of plastic that will not break down in landfills for tens of thousands of years. A water filter costs pennies per gallon. You do the math.

7.  Consider laptops – instead of desktops – for staff.
A laptop’s LCD screen uses 1/3 the energy of a typical Cathode Ray Tube. And employees can take laptops with them – at night or when they travel -- to get more done. Win-win.

What is a carbon offset? The offset & clean energy basics!

So we've been talking a lot in previous posts about "doing something" and making choices.  If you're looking to reduce the footprint of your company's data center, find a better way to power your office or home, or just try to balance the impact you're having, we've gathered some info for you below.  We talked to the folks at Green Mountain Energy to get some intel about making smart choices on energy and carbon offsets.  Here's what they had to say:

1.  How is energy “cleaner”?

Renewable energy is “cleaner” because it does not emit carbon dioxide, a harmful greenhouse gas that has been proven to contribute to global warming. The different types of renewable energy are wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass. These energy sources are classified as renewable because they use resources that are either inexhaustible or rapidly replenished to generate power.

2.  When I use “cleaner” energy, does that reduce my carbon footprint?

Yes, because part of your carbon footprint is the emissions from the electricity and heat you use in your home. When you use renewable energy instead of fossil fuel s for your electricity, you reduce the demand for “dirty” electricity at a fossil-fuel burning power plant. That means everyday activities that use electricity no longer add to your carbon footprint.The other parts of your carbon footprint are vehicle travel, air travel, heating, and sometimes diet.

3.  What is a carbon offset?

Carbon offsets come from clean technologies such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and forest sequestration. They are called carbon offsets because they help offset the carbon impacts of activities such as electricity generation from fossil fuels and transportation. When you buy a carbon offset, you are buying the right to claim that you are balancing out either all or a portion of your carbon emissions over a specific period of time.

4.  Can both residential and business emissions be offset?

For example, at BeGreenNow, we calculate the carbon footprint of the home or business according to data provided by the customer. That data includes electricity bills, air travel records, commuting distances and vehicle fuel economy, and any other areas the customer wishes to offset. We have created two divisions to serve the different needs of business and residential clients: eMission Solutions for businesses, and BeGreenNow for residences.

5.  When I buy an offset, where does my money go?

That depends on the company from which you buy the offset. At BeGreenNow, we let you see where your dollars are going – toward tree replanting in American forests, energy efficiency projects, and renewable energy facilities. But every carbon offset company backs up their carbon offsets differently, and you should never do business with a company that doesn’t explain its offset sources. Although there is no universal quality standard for carbon offsets, BeGreenNow strives to use the best sources that reliably remove carbon for your offsets.

Visit BeGreenNow to learn more about carbon offsets, calculate your carbon footprint, and explore our different options for offsetting your home and travel emissions.

Can webinars make an environmental impact?

Please welcome our guest blogger, Ken Molay . . . .

I’ve been enjoying reading The Green Blog and I applaud InterCall for helping to raise awareness and keep the conversation going about green initiatives. Consequently I was delighted when the gang asked if I would contribute an article about green trends from my perspective tracking the webinar industry. I stay pretty well connected with news and information from vendors and users of web conferencing technology through my own blogs in that arena (www.TheWebinarBlog.com and www.WebinarWire.com).

It’s certainly no secret that environmental benefits are a hot marketing trend at the moment. You can take your pick of pithy and (sometimes) witty headlines such as “Green Is The New Black”, “Green Is Sexy”, and “Green Is Good.” Web conferencing providers have an easy play in this space with the obvious benefits they can promote from meeting attendees forgoing travel in favor of remote participation.

Some conferencing providers have started providing “carbon reduction” calculators to help their clients estimate environmental impact reduction by not traveling to a central meeting space. Anything that helps people to think more about the subject and want to take a more active role in reducing their environmental footprint is welcome, and I would be the last person to denigrate vendors for their efforts. But even the most avid supporters of such calculators would have to admit that the estimation algorithms are crudely drawn at best.

The usual discussion around environmental benefits of virtual meetings centers on carbon output from commercial air travel, with perhaps a few extra points tacked on for automobile rides to and from the airport. I’ve always been a bit cynical about the air travel piece of the calculation. Those planes are flying fixed routes and carrying freight and mail in addition to your personal 250 pounds of body and luggage. The net incremental impact of you taking a seat on that flight or not might not be so very large (unless we all stop flying and the airlines cancel some flights completely). The percentage additional fuel burned to support each additional passenger probably isn’t all that much. (Disclaimer: I’m not a aeronautical engineer and I haven’t researched the real numbers. I may be all wet on this belief.)

But I think the impact calculators overlook some hefty additional environmental benefits that are harder to estimate, but very real. Consider the case of a virtual seminar, rather than a smaller team meeting or collaborative session with a few participants. Web seminars may have hundreds of people in the audience and may include several presenters, located in different cities or countries. If we ask presenters and attendees to travel to a central location for a physical meeting, it’s not just the air travel that impacts the environment. A meeting room that had been sitting dark now needs lighting, air conditioning, electricity for sound systems, vacuuming, possibly washed and dried tablecloths, and so on. Attendees use hotel rooms with yet more resources devoted to lighting, temperature control, washing sheets and towels, vacuuming, etc. If you serve meals or snacks to your attendees, you are responsible for additional transportation of the ingredients, along with the impact associated with cooking, serving, and clean up. Since individual attendees have no control over what foods or portion sizes end up on their plates, there is inevitable wastage (along with more clean up and disposal impacts on the environment).

Yes, I realize that even virtual attendees need lights on in their offices and have to eat, but these impact factors can be minimized when left to each person’s individual control. A conscientious person can choose the amount and type of food they want, when they want it. They probably don’t wash their sheets and towels every night. If they work in an open space office plan, they don’t even have individual lighting costs to contend with, since the office lights are on whether they are there or off at some remote seminar location!

All this is just my way of pointing out that web seminars can have an even greater environmental benefit than you might have thought at first glance. As web conferencing technology gets better, internet bandwidth and speed improve, and people become more accustomed to getting their information online rather than in person, we should see greater and greater use of large-scale web seminars. And that’s going to be a good thing for all of us.

>> Ken Molay is president of Webinar Success, offering production and consulting services to companies making use of web conferencing for structured events.

Something Everyone Can Do To Help Go Green – If you’re Not Scared of the Dark!

We’ve been talking the last few months about how businesses can get involved and what changes you can make at work. But I’d like to get back to where we started…the movement needs individuals to take small steps towards a large change. If you just aren’t sure what you could do to help stop global warming, I’ve got the solution for you: turn off your lights!

On Saturday, March 29th at 8pm local time, there will be a global action to go dark and turn off every light that you can. Earth Hour 2008 plans on showing how individuals can ban together to make a difference for the environment. And, along the way it might just show people that they can live without the TV and computer for an hour or so.

The event was started last year in Sydney, Australia and over 2 million people participated. Great landmarks like the Syndey Opera House and the Harbour Bridge were dark. This year the event is extending to cities like Chicago, Toronto, and Dubai. In the US, the Sears Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and the Georgia Dome will all be participating.

To date, over 150,000 individuals and 10,000 companies have committed to turning off their lights. Sky Magazine estimates that if every American household turns off their lights for only an hour it will prevent more than 16,500 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

I will definitely be joining the efforts, and encouraging those here at InterCall and to do the same. If you’re a fan of Facebook, you can add this application and ask your friends to take the Earth Hour Pledge. (Oh, yes…visit the InterCall page on Facebook while you’re there!)

So now, the big question is – what are all of these people going to do in the dark? Last year Sydney had a few candlelight weddings. Chicago will have bowling by candle light and Toronto will host a free concert. Take the dog for a walk, go to the park with your kids, or just enjoy a nap! Will you be turning your lights off? (Good for you!) So, what are you going to do for a whole hour in the dark?

Carolyn Campbell
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
InterCall

Earth Day is April 22, 2008

Earth Day started back in 1970, after Senator Gaylor Nelson pondered the idea for several years. Inspired by the student demonstrations of the 1960’s, Senator Nelson wanted to create a grassroots effort that would force the environmental issue onto the political agenda.  This year, Earth Day is on Tuesday April 22.  We’ll be hosting a webinar discussing how companies can grow their business through environmental initiatives.

But, we want to know what YOU are doing to celebrate Earth Day this year.  Whether it’s a personal initiative, a community event or a company campaign – post a comment and tell us all about it!

Carolyn Campbell
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
InterCall

Oh, My Aching Footprint

This month we’re deep in the middle of the process of mapping a firm carbon footprint here at InterCall.  Based on how we do business, we know that we have a smaller footprint than many corporations…no toxic chemicals or complex supply-chains to worry about.

But oh, the complexity! The actual calculations we’re turning over to a trusted, credible consultant and the PURE organization…that part is easy. But if your organization is anything like ours, you have to rally all the experts in different groups to provide the needed information to make this possible.

Do you find yourself becoming expert in things you never before needed (or wanted) to know? Telecom routing, server power management, travel policies and waste management…

The good thing is that everywhere I turn I find people who are excited about helping with this project! People want to be involved in improving the footprint of our business in a grass-roots way, so they can see that they’re making a difference. And since management supports the initiative, we have the freedom to spend a little time working on it. Win-win all the way around, truly.

How’s it going at your company? Send a comment to let me know!

Carolyn Campbell
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
InterCall

Learn from Example

The more we talk about this subject, the more our customers are coming out of the woodwork to share their stories.  Many of our clients are setting a great example and showing us how they’ve used our services to go green, like eSurance. But, we also have other clients who are asking us where to start. And that's why we’ve created this site ... we want to give you the opportunity to explore and network about environmental concerns, and to learn from what others are doing

So as we kick off 2008, we want to call out to all our readers to share your stories.

Tell us – how did you start the green process? Was it a huge initiative or a simple recycling bin? Did you reduce travel or measure your carbon footprint? Companies of all sizes are having different experiences, triumphs and failures in going green.  Share your experiences, and knowledge that will help others and we will purchase 10 trees on your behalf to help you make the world a little bit greener.  If your story is featured on GreenConferencing.com, we'll plant 100 trees on your behalf!

If you’re still looking for ideas on how your company can be green, check back in a few days and read some ideas from the experts. Or, you can check out a new guide put out by Climate Action, which has quite a bit of research to it: http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/emagazine/2007 (Yes, InterCall is still proud to be a platinum sponsor of Climate Action, a joint project of Sustainable Development and the United Nations Environment Programme...I can't say that enough! )

Happy New Year to all...and thanks for helping us make 2008 better and greener!

Carolyn Campbell
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
InterCall

You Need a Green Strategy

In the last installment, I wrote about how each individual's contribution to changing the ways we use technology can make a difference, even if your company is not on board with carbon reduction. But in the last couple of months, I've seen more and more advertisements and announcements regarding "corporate action" toward environmental policies. Let's not take anything away from that . . . the more companies that enforce responsibility on a broader scale, the better off we all are.

This month InterCall announced our sponsorship for Climate Action Programme. I was especially excited about this opportunity when it came our way not only because of the great work that Sustainable Development has done for education of environmental issues in several countries, but also because of the tie to the United Nations Environment Programme, which promises that our support will go towards high-visibility educational tools and high priority events for program participants. With the initial launch of the Climate Action Programme, an educational guide was delivered to over 40,000 government officials and corporate organizations around the world. This is, I think, a pivotal time for countries and companies to be asking "What is our plan?", and this guide will help them understand the options.

I happened to be in London a few weeks ago, when Gordon Brown announced in the Queen's Speech that he intended to introduce a bill which would make the United Kingdom the first in the world to introduce a legally binding framework for the reduction of carbon emissions.The following day, I attended a business partner event, and all the talk was of how they might be able to adapt their business practices now, so they would not be caught behind when legal enforcement went into effect. It became evident that, even in a country where environmental issues have been taken seriously far in advance of the rest of the world, most small and medium-sized businesses did not have a plan. And even with all the buzz about larger companies adopting environmentally-friendly policies and processes, many people view impact-reduction as a "big business" problem and aren't prepared to apply these philosophies to their own business.

So how is your company going green? (Please tell me you’re using conferencing instead of traveling for meetings!) But I'm curious to hear about all the ways your company is trying to change their policies. Let us know if you have a Green strategy in place. If you have one, tell us how it's going.

P.S. I'm proud to say that in the first month the Green Quiz on GreenConferencing.com has generated enough responses for us to plant over 4,000 trees! If you haven't taken the quiz yet, please do and we’ll plant one in your name!

P.P.S. Yes, I have already purchased my carbon-offsets for the trip to London. And I try to use conferencing instead of travel whenever I can. :)

Carolyn Campbell
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
InterCall

Launch!

Hello, and welcome to the Green Blog! In this first edition, I wanted to expound a bit on why InterCall created GreenConferencing.com and this blog.

While corporations and governments across the globe are redefining policies and restructuring their data centers and facilities, in reality it still comes down to empowering individuals to make the right choices in order to really be successful. While all the planning and strategies are taking place in the boardrooms and tech rooms, you as an individual can empower yourself by making the right choices whenever you can.

In this light, you'll notice that the GreenConferencing.com site is a little different from others you might have seen. We wanted to focus on building great resources and community where both companies that are looking for strategies, as well as individuals, can find the information they need to make smart choices about the business technologies and resources they use to make a difference when it comes to the global climate crisis.

At the end of the day, who decides whether or not you need to travel to meet with a client, or whether you can accomplish the same thing online? Who decides when to print out an email, or to save the paper? Who decides to power down your monitor at the end of the day?

If your company hasn’t yet defined all of its policies, and you’re not personally empowered to enact a new telecommuting policy to conserve the use of fossil fuels, my hope is that each and every person reading this message will take the opportunity to give a second thought to the little things you do every day, and decide to make a difference.

Here's the reality of it... In today’s world, nobody can really live their lives without making a footprint. We're all involved, whatever we do, just by being here. The question is, what way will you be involved? What choices will you make today, and how will you help?

For more information about what you can do individually, check out the links and tips back at the GreenConferencing.com site.

— Carolyn Campbell
Senior Director, Marketing Communications
InterCall