Implementing Sustainable Business Practices

There's so much to think about when running a business. Switching over to green business practices might not seem like top priority, but you might want to consider it.

More and more people are taking an interest in things that are green. That also means they are choosing companies which follow sustainable business practices. Also, there are so many ways to save money when you are being more green. So if you're considering switching over to green business practices, here are some tips for how and why you should make the switch.

Prevent Air Pollution

Look for this logo when considering business appliances & materials. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By installing Energy Star qualified products you can help reduce the air pollution your company produces. By making your company more energy efficient, you will save money on energy bills while helping the environment. Energy efficient products use less energy and therefore emit less pollution into the air by using less fossil fuels. 

Switch to Renewable Energy

Using fossil fuels is costly and bad for the environment. Look for ways to add solar panels, geothermal technology, wind, hydro energy, and biomass. There are incentives for using renewable energy sources through the government which can help “buy down” the cost of these kinds of upgrades.

If you're a small business who cannot afford to buy all of these environment-friendly products, then contact your energy companies. You can purchase green energy at a slightly higher cost. Don't forget, people might just buy your product just because you have taken more steps to be more green, so the added cost can potentially lead to more sales.

Reduce the Use of Paper

Giving electronic receipts over paper receipts for things will help use less paper and fewer trees. The energy used to produce paper is significant as well. So the less paper you use, the less energy is being drawn to produce said paper. Not to mention the energy used to harvest trees and transport them, and then ship the paper to you.

Aside from offering electronic receipts, you can also do double-sided printing. Use paper that has high recycled content. Recycle your paper as much as possible.

Graph originally published in 3rd International Congress on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources Proceedings, 2007 paper: DETERMINING ENERGY SAVINGS USING UTILITY BILLS. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reduce Waste

This can save you huge amounts of money by having smaller removal costs, as well as cost savings on raw materials, and it can make you more efficient, productive, and will improve your public image. To accomplish this, simply produce less waste. You can do this by:

* Exchanging, selling, or giving away unneeded goods
* Redesigning products to use less material
* Redesigning packaging
* Designing a packaging return program with your customers
* Reusing shipping/packing materials
* Developing a product take-back program
* Eliminating, reusing, or recycling cardboard
* Repairing broken furniture to extend its life instead of tossing and buying new
* Buying products made from recycled material
* Using and maintaining durable equipment and supplies
* Purchasing environmentally preferable products
* Not using catalogs or sending junk mail
* Finding ways to reuse products you no longer need or passing them along to someone else
* Recycling. Whenever possible recycle.
* Conserving water. Getting water to your building uses energy unless you have a well system. So to save here, make sure you repair broken pipes, use water efficient appliances, have controls that turn faucets off automatically, water efficient landscaping, install an energy efficient water heater, and insulate pipes. 

Doing these things will save you and your business money in the long run, and in general will be good for business. As more and more people become interested in energy conservation, they will also seek out companies which have the same values.

Can You Use A Green Energy Source Like Water to Power A Car?

For more than a century, we have relied on oil to fuel our cars. But did you know that the world’s oil production is now in permanent decline, and will eventually dry up completely? While that may not happen tomorrow or next year, or in the next decade, we are getting ever closer because of the increased demand in the world market, as well as the fact that fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource. Why wait for that day when we can rely on a green energy source like water to power our cars?

BMW Hydrogen 7 Engine From the TED Simulcast Lounge. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you think that’s impossible, you may be surprised to learn that this innovation is already in the works, but just not yet being made on a commercial scale.

The German automobile company BMW has recently produced the world’s first ever hydrogen powered car. While only 100 of these units were produced, it just goes to show the possibilities that can be achieved in this area.

The initial model, the BMW Hydrogen 7, uses the body of the 760i gasoline model. But once you pop the hood, you will notice that the engine is different since it uses both gas and hydrogen. Obviously we have not yet totally abandoned our dependence on gas. But given more time and money, the current 4.7 miles per gallon the car can travel using water alone could hit double digits in the near future.

The biggest challenge to using water as a green energy source as opposed to oil in vehicles is the engine. While there are cars around like the Prius, which runs on electricity and gas thanks to fuel cell technology, the hydrogen combustion engine is less than 10 years old so you could say we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

To prevent the water from evaporating in this type of engine, it has to be stored in a large, 30-gallon, bi-layered and highly insulated tank so this does not evaporate into compressed gas, which could pose a safety hazard. Another safety mechanism is the valves which are designed to open should the pressure within the tank exceed 5 bars.

With the success of the BMW H7, the company came out with a new car that is also partly powered by water known as the H2R. While we cannot yet put our garden hose into the fuselage to fill it up, this vehicle uses liquid nitrogen as a fuel.

Tests on this vehicle have shown it can achieve 285hp and reach a top cruising speed of 185.5 miles per hour. It can also accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour under 6 seconds.

Honda FCX (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But why use water? The reason is that hydrogen combustion is clean, so it does not emit harmful gases into the atmosphere, unlike cars that run on petrol or diesel that emit carbon monoxide. Studies have shown that it also weighs less than hydrocarbon-based fuels and burns faster and more efficiently than conventional gasoline.

So when can you expect to buy a car that uses water as a green energy source? Hopefully in the next 15 to 20 years. It is really up to the automakers because all we can do is wait until a better and cleaner car hits the market.

Right now, the best option we have are electric cars. Since the electric car's introduction in 1999, more and more people are using them due to increased gasoline costs.  They provide a much cleaner and more efficient alternative to gasoline powered vehicles, and owners have been very satisfied with them. Until the hydro-powered car becomes a viable reality, remember, you may not be able to build your own hydrogen powered car, but you can vote with your wallet for cleaner and more eco-friendly choices!

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Green Energy Sources

Today, almost everyone is now becoming aware of the effects of global warming. Fortunately, it’s not too late and we can still make positive changes, which is why many are pushing for more green energy sources.

The advantage of using green energy sources is that they are cleaner so they does not emit as many harmful pollutants into the air, which creates a lesser impact on the environment. Green energy sources are also renewable which means we will never run out of them, unlike fossil fuel types such as oil, which is expected to dry up in another decade or two.

Green Mountain Energy Wind Farm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although green energy facilities are expensive to build, many can require less maintenance so you don’t have to shell out a lot of money to operate them in the long-term.

They can also bring economic benefits to certain areas, and in come cases even boost tourism.

While these sound good, there are some who say that there are disadvantages to using such technology.

While green energy sources can produce electricity, how much they can generate is often not consistent. This is because we have no control of the weather, for example, so if a certain area relies on solar energy and there is an unexpected weather disturbance which reduces the sun's rays reaching the earth, the system will not be able to convert sunlight into electricity.

Building these facilities also requires a lot of land so we may have to encroach on farmland or wildlife areas, which is what many are concerned about if more wind turbines are to be put up.

Another disadvantage is the fact that some of the green energy sources cannot be installed in certain areas of the planet. For instance, wave energy can only be utilized if ocean waves reach at least 16 feet. The use geothermal energy can only be done in geologically unstable parts of the planet.

But if you look at such arguments, places that cannot use one form of green energy source can usually substitute another. And if wind turbines need more space, they can be installed near the coast instead of on land. In fact, several studies show that you can generate more electricity with wind turbines planted in the ocean anyway.

While the weather is something we cannot control, most weather disturbances don't last too long, and if energy is being properly stored from a solar panel system, it should have enough backup energy to make it through a period without sun. .

The point is that there are ways around many of the arguments which discourage the use of green energy sources. In fact, research is ongoing to try and harness other means to generate the power we need, and new technologies and resources are being developed on a regular basis.

A very good example of this is called ocean thermal energy. Power is generated by harnessing the different temperatures in the water. It is currently being used on a small scale both in Japan and Hawaii.

Generation mix of Spain's Electricity supply - Over 50% from renewables! (Photo credit: Tom Raftery)

In the US, only 7% of our energy comes from green energy sources currently - lagging far behind most other developed countries. We actually ranked much higher just 11 years ago and if we don’t want to have to worry about the cost of oil or even reduce our dependency on it, we really have to invest more in clean types of energy.

We can get it from green energy sources such as biomass, biodiesel, geothermal, solar, water and the wind. These are things we have all around us and all it takes is for someone to harness them instead of relying on traditional non-renewable means to produce energy. The future of our planet, and humanity, depends on us using our creativity and great brains to develop methods to utilize these resources in an efficient manner!

Geothermal as a Green Energy Source

We have the technology to do a lot of things and one of these is to tap the earth’s energy. This is exactly what we do when we use geothermal which happens to be a green energy source.

Image via WikipediaGeothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping heat from the earth itself. This comes from magma and the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium, and potassium.

The downside to geothermal energy is the fact that it can be expensive to harness. On the other hand, because the earth's crust continuously decays replenishing the heat, it is still a renewable source of energy.

There are three types of geothermal plants. These are namely dry steam, flash, and binary.

Dry steam plants take steam out of fractures in the ground and use it to directly drive a turbine that spins a generator.

Flash plants take on water at temperatures over 200 °C out of the ground, and allow it to boil as it rises to the surface, then separate the steam phase in steam/water separators which runs the steam through a turbine to generate electricity.

Last, you have binary plants. Here, hot water flows through heat exchangers and that boiling organic fluid is what spins the turbine.

Once power is generated, the condensed steam and remaining geothermal fluid from all three types of plants are injected back into the hot rock to pick up more heat.

Geothermal plants are operational in several different parts of the globe. These are usually located in geologically unstable parts of the planet. You can see some in Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, United States, the Philippines and Italy. At home, two most prominent areas for this are in the Yellowstone basin and in northern California.

Aside from digging deep into the earth, there are some who believe we can generate power from hot dry rocks. You have to dig 3 kilometers deep first to find these hot underground radiogenic granite rocks. Right now, some Australia companies are exploring this technology.

Image by lydurs via FlickrIf you were to compare the amount of energy collected from geothermal to solar, you still get more from the sun. Despite that, many people may still find a use for geothermal energy at times, since solar energy cannot be harnessed when the clouds block the sun’s rays from reaching the solar panels.

Geothermal energy is a green energy source just like wind, hydropower and biofuel because it is renewable. By maximizing its potential, we don’t have to worry as much about the price of oil spiking in the world market.

But that is not the only thing we should be concerned about. We should also do our best to protect the environment, given that coal fired and nuclear power plants produce harmful gases and radioactive waste that may cause harm to people and the surrounding areas.

Everyone knows that our planet has changed due to global warming. For us to do our share to protect the environment now and for generations to come, we have to learn to use alternative energy sources, and geothermal is another of the many green energy sources currently available.

The Benefits of Green Energy Sources

For a very long time, we have relied on fossil fuels to provide heat to our homes, gas for our cars and electricity. But since we are now using these more than ever, we are really starting to see the consequences. We are depleting our resources and slowly killing our planet. Fortunately, we can change our ways and shift our attention to green energy sources.

Image via WikipediaBut why green energy sources? Some will argue that the problem with green energy is that it is sometimes difficult to generate all the power we need. While that may be true, there are many green energy sources available and we just need to know which ones are viable given the geographic location we live in.

The various green energy sources such as solar, wind, wave, hydropower and geothermal do not produce nearly as many negative effects on the environment as operating with coal, oil, or even nuclear power.

Coal you have to remember releases carbon dioxide into the air. A single coal plant may not cause that much damage but there are currently 50,000 coal plants around the world and that number is expected to grow.

Nuclear plants may not release anything harmful into the air. The issue is how we dispose of the spend rods and if another nuclear accident should occur. We remember Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. We have probably learned better ways to prevent another incident from happening. Through the years, a few minor accidents have occurred and although the leak was contained, just imagine if it wasn’t?

Green energy sources may not be maintenance-free but at least it does not require that much to maintain them compared to conventional means. In the end, we save money because such facilities don’t cost that much to operate. 

The next advantage of using green energy sources is that we will never run out of them. For centuries, the sun’s rays have reached our planet - so has the wind which is blown from the sea. By using these freely available sources, we decrease our dependence on oil which is a nonrenewable resource.

Image via WikipediaIf you think about it, many of us have taken these green energy sources for granted. If we do the right thing now, future generations will not have to face the mess that we could have handled on our own years before. In short, the power is in our hands. We have the technology and we know what to do with it. The only thing we need is to do is to put our money where our mouth is, because despite the number of conferences on global warming and climate change over the past year, little substantial change has happened.

It is easy to talk about how concerned we are about the environment but you have to ask yourself when will more solar panels or wind turbines will be erected? When will the number of coal or nuclear power plants be reduced?

Green energy sources are a major part of the solution to the environmental, political and social problems of this century. By spending more on developing these technologies and making them more efficient, eventually no country will have to depend on another or even a corporation for their power needs, because they will be self-sufficient, and not limited by scarcity (e.g. another country can't very well take away your sunlight, or your wind).

Get involved, and find out how you can choose and support green energy sources in your area.

Check out these resources for more info on climate change, green energy, and how you can help:
http://www.terrapass.com/
http://www.nativeenergy.com/
http://www.ewg.org/