Green Office Certification Program Offers Tips for Home Offices

10 Tips to Green Your Home Office 

1. Don’t use plastic water bottles. Instead, drink from the tap. 

2. Change out lightbulbs in your home office to LEDs. 

3. Set up containers in your office to make recycling easier and more convenient. 

4. Use natural lighting instead of artificial when possible. 

5. Use an ecological footprint calculator to see the impact of your actions on the planet. Here are a few recommendations:

• The EPA Carbon Footprint Calculator looks at your utility bills to calculate your household’s carbon footprint. 
• Ecology Footprint Calculator from the Global Footprint Network shows your own personal Earth overshoot day. An Earth overshoot day is the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth’s ecosystems can renew in a year. You personal Earth overshoot day shows when that date would be reached if everyone consumed the same resources as you. 
• Carbon Footprint Calculator from nature.org does a good job of showing how you compare to the national average. 
• Carbon Footprint Calculator from conservation.org provides tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint. 

6. Set your computer to go to power-saving sleep mode if unused for 10 minutes. 

7. Turn off your printer when not in use. 

8. Layer up or use blankets instead of turning up the heat. 

9. Try to go paper-free. Take notes on your computer and don’t print out unnecessary documents. If you do use paper, recycle it when you’re done. 

10. If you’re snacking throughout the day, try to eat things that are purchased locally or that use minimal packaging. 

Submitted by LaTawnya Burleson, Green Office Certification Program representative for the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences