4 Tech-friendly Retrofits To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

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4 Tech-friendly Retrofits To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

The Underground Peoplemover to the International Terminal
Stuck in Customs / Art Photos / CC BY-NC-SA

Regardless of size, a great way for a business to cut overhead expenses and go a long way towards having a positive impact on the environment is by effectively reducing its carbon footprint. The effects that businesses can exert on the environment are staggering and that is why many entrepreneurs are now looking for ways to develop sustainable business practices that do not limit or setback production.

Manage the energy your business consumes

Understanding where exactly your business stands on energy consumption is the first step in cutting costs and reducing its carbon footprint. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by taking advantage of one of the online services or web-based software packages designed to carefully track energy consumption and in some cases, how your business uses paper products throughout the office.

Walk the path of the paperless

Cloud technology is one of the advancements in business technology that has very few rivals when it comes to the positive effects it’s had on streamlining business practices and productivity. Cloud technology in its basic form is really nothing but a series of third-party multi-tenant servers which can house data for different companies.

This data can be securely accessed by representatives of the parent company from anywhere in the world across multiple platforms. The reduction in your carbon footprint and maintenance costs comes from the fact that investing in cloud-based services means you don’t have to spend the money or consume the energy necessary to maintain the exact same server side services in house.

Say goodbye to over the top software prices

Virtual servers are very much like cloud servers except that virtual servers move beyond just the storing of basic information. These servers can also house software which employees can access at any time, from anywhere in much the same way as within the cloud. In addition, many of the SaaS (Software as a Service) models being offered by many corporate brands are becoming increasingly popular and allow small business owners to lease access to their favorite business software such as Quickbooks online from intuit.com.

Just as with a cloud server, virtual servers are multi-tenant servers that are maintained by a third-party which saves your business a lot of money on the cost of maintenance and software upgrades; not to mention business data is securely stored and backed up frequently allowing for painless data retrieval in the event of a local disaster or theft.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

Recycling outdated computers and office equipment is another, often overlooked step that many companies can implement into their business practices in order to have a more positive effect on the environment. Electronics are often the most difficult products to properly dispose of and placing them in the trash can not only adversely affect nature by filling up landfills, but it is also a huge security risk for any company to take with their corporate data. Fortunately, services such as newtechrecycling.com are readily available and offer affordable options for electronics disposal and depending on where you company is located, you may also be eligible for rebates or write-offs on your taxes.

About the author

Zoey Maldonado Zoe Maldonado is a freelance writer and blogger for TechBreach who enjoys writing about all things mobile and electronic and spending time with her very active twin boys.

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  1. I have become a huge fan of cloud storage. The software aspect of cloud computing seems to still be in its infancy but there is so much possibility with this.

    I received a letter from Apple yesterday about changes being made to iCloud. Their office software will soon be made available in the cloud. This puts them in the same park as Microsoft and google when it comes to accessability.

  2. JeriWB says:

    I'm still dragging my feet about getting all my cloud storage possibilities squared away.