When we think about green business practices our business could engage in, we tend to think of the obvious things that we hear about everyday such as the use of energy and water and emissions of carbon. However there are other less obvious ways for a business to go green, for example choosing sustainable wood products for your furniture, office fit-out or the construction of a new building. Choosing wood from sustainably managed forests or using reclaimed wood or fast growing wood can reduce the environmental impacts of your business.

Approximately 13 million hectares of forest is lost each year. This is an alarming rate considering the important role forests play in sustaining life on earth and providing habitat for many species. The clearing of forests for agriculture and the use of wood either as fuel or as a product itself, affects the amount of carbon dioxide in the air as well as the biodiversity of the planet. As a result there are strong reasons for ensuring that forests are managed sustainably so the resources they provide will be available for future generations. Demand by consumers for sustainable wood products is one of the drivers for sustainable forest management.

Sustainably Managed Forests

One way to reduce your environmental impact is to choose wood products from sustainably managed forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a not for profit organisation that provides a voluntary international certification for forests to show they are managed sustainably. A certified forest must adhere to the FSC principles and criteria. The FSC also has a ‘chain of custody’ certification for product manufacturers to show they use responsibly produced timber.

Reclaimed Wood

Another way to reduce the impact of wood products is choosing to use reclaimed wood. Most reclaimed wood comes from abandoned structures such as old barns, decking or factories but wood has also been reclaimed from old wine barrels and box cars. Using reclaimed wood avoids the environmental impacts that occur from cutting and treating new wood and some projects prefer the unique look that reclaimed timber has.

Choosing Fast Growing Wood

For some lightweight options it may be possible to choose a different material such as bamboo. Since it is fast growing, bamboo plantations replenish quickly and the root structure is not destroyed when bamboo is harvested. However there is still concern that bamboo is environmentally damaging as in some places existing forests have been cleared for bamboo plantations.

The US Green Building Council recognises the use of FSC certified wood, reclaimed timber and rapidly renewable materials for awarding points under its LEED green building certification. So as well as being a green business practice, choosing more sustainable wood and wood products could also help with environmental certification.

Next time you are purchasing wood or a wood product, think about where it comes from and and the environmental impact of its creation. Asking your suppliers about the environmental impacts of their products and more sustainable alternatives is one of the steps in implementing green business practices.

Want a quick green business practice to reduce the energy used in your office?

A standard part of both Windows and Mac operating systems are power management features that put the computer to sleep after a period of inactivity. These power options can be changed by the user and in some computers are not activated at all so it is worth checking to make sure these options are turned on. By having the computer power down when it is not needed you will reduce your electricity consumption (and your power bills).

If you want to go even further you can check out software designed to manage your computer power options. For example:

Edison by Verdiem – Free software that works in a similar way to the operating systems power management features but also allows you to create different times for powering off parts of the computer depending on whether it is work or non work time. You can also put your local cost of electricity per kWh and the program will show you your estimated annual savings.

PowerSave – Is software available for both Windows and Mac. The software goes further than the normal operating system standby and monitors usage of the CPU, hard drive, monitor, keyboard and mouse to determine which parts of the computer can be powered down while ensuring critical programs continue to run.

If you have a whole computer network in your business the savings from using power management tools can be substantial. On a Windows Vista network you can use Group Policy for power management. Otherwise for 2000 or XP machines Energy Star offers a free tool for network administrators.

Increasingly companies are looking to offset the impacts of air travel when implementing green business practices. However there are many factors that affect the level of your personal (or company) emissions. Here I outline the different factors that affect your level of emissions and experiment with four different air travel carbon calculators.

Factors that Affect your Personal Level of Emissions

Radiative Forcing: As well as CO₂ from buring aeroplane fuel, aeroplanes also release water vapour, nitrogen oxides and methane into the atmosphere. The environmental impacts of these is greater when released at high altitude than what it would be at ground level. While these impacts are not entirely understood, it is generally agreed that a radiative forcing factor should be used when calculating the impacts of air travel (although there are differing opinions on what the radiative forcing factor should be set to). Radiative forcing is the rate at which a given atmospheric gas alters radiation that is entering the atmosphere. Treehugger has a great article on radiative forcing here.

Short or Long Distance: Short distance flights are less fuel efficient overall due to the fuel consumed during takeoff and landing but they also generate less condensation trails (water vapour) due to the shorter time spent at high altitude which also have an environmental impact.

Type of Plane: Newer planes tend to be more fuel efficient than older models.

Occupancy of the Flight: Calculators work by determining the overall level of emissions for the flight and dividing this by the number of passengers. If the flight is not full each person is responsible for a greater percentage of emissions. Some calculators use historical trends to determine this.

Business or Economy: Business class seats take up more space so each person in business class is responsible for a greater level of emissions.

Air Travel Emissions Calculator Examples

I thought I would put the calculators to the test by considering the emissions of a flight I took a few months ago. The flight was a one way direct flight from Singapore to Brisbane flying economy class. Although there are a huge number of calculators available, I selected these four from doing what a lot of people do when wanting to offset emissions – a google search on “air travel emission calculators”

International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) – Carbon Emissions Calculator

The ICAO calculator has you enter your origin and destination, whether you are flying economy or premium class and whether the trip is one way or return.

The result was a distance travelled of 6,143 km generating 479.41 kg of CO₂.

To understand the calculator a link is provided to a 15 page document which explains the methodology and data sources. The calculator is not linked to carbon offsets scheme.

Choose Climate

The Choose Climate calculator uses a map where you choose your origin and destination. There are no place names on the map so accurately picking these is a challenge. The calculator also lets you choose between economy or business class, one way or return and lets you change the occupancy figure for the aircraft.

The result was a distance travelled of 7,466 km generating 273 kg of CO₂.

The site gives some details of their calculations but not a full methodolgoy and it is not linked to a carbon offset scheme.

Terrapass

The Terrapass calculator has you enter your origin and destination, whether the flight is direct, one way or return and what class you are travelling. The calculator also asks for the airline.

The result was a distance travelled of 3,814 miles (6,138 km) generating 1,1001 lbs (454 kg) of CO₂. To offset this through Terrapass costs $11.90.

CO2 Balance

The CO2 balance calculator has you enter your origin, destination and whether the flight is one way or return.

The result was a carbon total of 1.44 tons (1,440 kg) which can be offset through the website (the price depends onthe project you choose to invest in). The website has some notes explaining its methodology.

Choosing a Calculator

In the end end choosing an emissions calculator will be a matter of personal choice. However the more robust calculators include radiative forcing and provide details on their methodolgy. Out of four calculators tested, ICAO and Terrapass provided the most detail on their calculations and also came up with similar results.