Green Office – Sustainability and Office

The topic of sustainability is not only on everyone’s lips in private life, but is also becoming increasingly important in the office. Since you spend a considerable amount of time at work each week, it makes sense to concern yourself with sustainability and environmental protection during this time as well. Many behaviours can also be easily adapted from private life.

What exactly is meant by the term “green office”?

Under the term green office term bundles 3 ecological aspects of the topic of sustainability. These include Green IT (energy- & resource-efficient IT), Green Behaviour (environmentally conscious behaviour of employees) and the Green Building (energy-saving building).

Green IT

The green IT is about making the entire life cycle of the use of information and communication technology environmentally friendly and resource-saving. This means that resource consumption should be optimised during the production, use and disposal of the devices.

General resource savings can also be included here – for example, when video conferences are held instead of business trips.

In production, for example, attention can be paid to reducing energy and material consumption, waste heat and pollutants. During use, attention can be paid to reducing energy consumption, waste heat and pollutants and unnecessary printouts in the printer area. When it comes to disposal, attention can be paid to recycling and energy-saving disposal.

Der blaue Engel

There are also environmental labels that you can use as a guide when buying. The best-known eco-label is also the oldest and most successful. The Blue Angel. In the IT sector, the seal is available for computers, printers, copiers, multifunctional devices and cordless telephones, for example.

Energy-Star-Label

Another label is the Energy Star label of the American Environmental Protection Agency. The European Union has an agreement with the US government that they also participate in the programme. It labels, for example, the following energy-saving office equipment: computers, monitors, copiers, printers, scanners, fax machines and multifunction devices.

EU Ecolabel

The European ecolabel EU Ecolabel (also known as the Euro Flower) has been in existence since 1992. Products with this label have been tested for their environmental impact over their entire life cycle. If these products have a lower environmental impact than the market average, while maintaining the same level of safety or usability, they are awarded the label.

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Green Building

The idea of sustainability should also be taken into account in buildings. A green building is characterised, for example, by high resource efficiency in the areas of energy, water and materials. Furthermore, harmful effects on the environment (waste, pollution and destruction) and health should also be reduced. Here, too, the entire building life cycle is to be taken into account. This begins with project development and planning, continues with construction and ongoing operation, and ends only after maintenance and dismantling.

Some measures come to mind immediately:

Use of sunlight
Use of plants/green roofs and facades
gravel instead of concrete in the car park
Use of grey water
generation/use of renewable energy

Many countries have formulated and developed their own standards for energy-efficient buildings.

In this aspect of the Green Office, the individual employee has little influence. This is significantly influenced and controlled by the management. The next point is different. In this case, it is the cooperation of each individual employee that is important.

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Green Behaviour

This is an issue for every employee. It is important that each employee recognises the need for environmentally conscious behaviour and adapts and improves his or her behaviour accordingly.

The conscious use of environmentally friendly office materials is an important component. The first step is to use environmentally friendly materials. For printing or copying, for example, the environmentally friendly copy paper Equality Plus. This consists of 100% recycled paper and still has a whiteness of 95 CIE. It is certified with the Blue Angel and the EU Ecolabel.

For small thought-provoking items, there are the recycled sticky notes from 3-M, which are also certified with the blue angel and are made of 100% recycled paper.

The second step is to reduce materials in general. You can print many files double-sided or use misprinted ones as notepads. You can provide a tray for such note paper next to the printer or directly on the desks of the employees and put the misprints there with the unprinted side facing up.

Other behaviours that are already carried out in the private sphere can also be implemented in the office.

separate waste
use reusable instead of disposable tableware
take the stairs instead of the lift
Use refill products
Buy environmentally friendly products
Plants for general well-being
Climate neutral shipping
Reuse envelopes or cardboard packaging

How green is Raja already?

We are constantly working to transform our office into a green office.

Green IT: We regularly check and replace the IT hardware to ensure that it is efficient and saves resources. In addition, the PCs are automatically switched off in the evening.

Green Building: We have consistently implemented this topic with the new building in 2013:

Due to the new LED lighting, up to 80% of the energy used is saved compared to the old lamps. There is also demand-responsive lighting through the use of motion detectors and light meters as well as self-regulating workplace lights.
The existing building management system makes it possible to control the lighting from a central location, for example, or to detect faults in the ventilation and heating systems more quickly.
We completely dispense with conventional energy sources such as gas or oil and heat and cool the building with a groundwater-powered heat pump and heat exchanger. This also applies to the recovery of energy from the building's exhaust air.
The purchased electricity is an energy mix of conventional as well as renewable energy sources.
In order to keep energy losses during building ventilation as low as possible, the building is equipped with fully automatic control technology that regulates the indoor temperature to the desired level depending on the prevailing outdoor temperature. The climate concept is completed by underfloor heating/cooling.
A decalcification system is used for the treatment of our drinking water, which not only improves the taste of the drinking water, but also prolongs the life of the water-bearing equipment, as the lime content is reduced by up to 70%. Ultimately, this also benefits the environment, as we have to use less cleaning agents with the soft water.

And what do the employees contribute? Or how are they supported in contributing to the topic of green behaviour?

To promote the well-being of the staff, more than 200 plants have been placed throughout the building, which not only have a positive effect on the air quality, but also contribute to a more pleasant atmosphere.
There is a charging station for e-bikes and 2 charging points for e-mobiles to support the traffic shift towards environmentally friendly vehicles.
Stationery that had to be replaced in the course of the changeover was donated to kindergartens as colouring and handicraft paper.
Reusable crockery is used in the building

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Where to start?

If you want to address the issue of green office, the quickest way to bring about change is through green behaviour. In everyday office life, you can change many small things and behaviours directly. You can work on green IT in the medium term and gradually make changes to existing equipment or pay attention to the presence of eco-labels when making necessary new purchases. Green buliding is something you have to work on in the long term.