7 Ways to Save Money by Minimizing Office Resources Consumption

Operating a business can be costly. There are salaries to cover, insurance and rent payments on your space. A key cost concern, however, and one that is often overlooked, is the cost of supplies, equipment and utilities.

It's easy to overlook the fact, for example, that excess usage of paper and rubber bands and failure to de-power computers and turn off lights can create unnecessary expense for your company.

Many small business owners realize that minimizing consumption is part of the "green movement," a move to implement sustainable practices to create a healthier environment. But even those folks who may not think green environmentally can relate to thinking green fiscally. Going beyond simple office paper recycling, business owners are instituting creative ways to reduce usage.

Following are some tips to minimize office resources consumption:

1. Have your employees enable the "sleep mode" feature on their computer, allowing less power usage during periods of inactivity. At the end of the workday, all computers should be de-powered. This will not only minimize electricity bill costs but can also add life to the computers. According to supergreenme.com, if every U.S. computer and monitor were de-powered when needed, the country could eliminate eight large power stations and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 7 million tons.
2. Closely monitor and evaluate your information technology network requirements. IT network-related factors can generate great expense for a small business. Your power and cooling center/system is critical to your operation, and inefficient usage can lead to breakdowns and cost wastes. On this theme, consider participating in the Green Grid, a global consortium of IT companies and professionals seeking to improve energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems.
3. With your travel policy, encourage carpooling to meetings and the use of video conferencing and conference calls as opposed to face-to-face meetings.
4. Don't provide water in individual serving-sized plastic bottles (except for use in emergencies or for safety and health reasons).
5. Request that employees use only one paper towel (or no more than two) after washing their hands.
6. Use timers, dimmers and occupancy detectors for your office space lighting system. For a modest initial investment, an occupancy detector can be installed in a room and will turn off lights when the room is unoccupied. A less costly option is to have an employee be a "volunteer light switcher" to turn off lights in any unused spaces.
7. Have employees vote at the year's end for the "greenest co-worker" with the person to receive a holiday season bonus or green gift for her or his efforts.

For those small business owners who are extremely serious about environmental issues and cost-cutting measures, a relative new product has emerged: the "green commercial office lease."

With a conventional lease, a tenant rarely knows specifics of its energy consumption, and it has minimal financial incentive to minimize that consumption. In contrast, a green lease allows both landlord and tenant to measure consumption, and work together periodically to evaluate milestones and share data.

Minimizing your office resources consumption will be effective only if you and your employees are serious about the effort. It's a mindset as much as a practice, yet the results are the same: cost savings.