| During the last couple of years global warming has | | | | home, heating and electricity costs can be cut by |
| slowly become a respected field of study. The | | | | a good orientation of the building, by insulation, by |
| web and magazines started to include carbon | | | | using as much solar and eolian energy as possible |
| emission calculators which enable you to see your | | | | and by choosing efficient heating and electrical |
| impact on the environment, and ecological | | | | systems. |
| conscience began to evolve. | | | | Almost all of the office supplies can be recycled |
| While energy saving is quite straightforward at | | | | nowadays, starting with paper and printer |
| home, it is a bit more difficult to organize a | | | | cartridges and ending will office furniture and |
| climate-friendly company. In this article I will use | | | | computers. Green translation companies try to |
| the example of translation companies, because | | | | reduce to the minimum their use of paper, for it |
| their work has one major advantage | | | | is known that the average employee in any |
| recommending them for my purpose: translation | | | | business uses between 45 and 70 kilos of paper |
| companies deliver words, and, as such, words are | | | | each year. Reducing paper use means preferring |
| entirely non-polluting. This means I will concentrate | | | | digital copies for every internal and external |
| on the environmental effects of a company's daily | | | | document, using the printer only for contracts and |
| activity, considering a company that produces no | | | | other strictly necessary things, using recycled |
| other pollutants than those of typical office work. | | | | paper, save paper printed on one side for |
| For a translation company, the biggest challenges | | | | subsequent re-use. Finding a recycling company |
| are to reduce as much as possible its use of | | | | near you will further save some fuel energy, a |
| energy (because producing energy always means | | | | rule that applies to all of your suppliers. Preferring |
| producing more or less pollution) and to recycle as | | | | a nearby supplier means your supplies will travel |
| many office supplies as possible. These are things | | | | the least possible, and you avoid a number of |
| any company should consider. Reducing a | | | | ethical and environmental issues caused by the |
| company's use of energy can be done by | | | | production standards used in other parts of the |
| avoiding all unnecessary business travels and | | | | world. |
| choosing travel means as environment-friendly as | | | | All these measures, when used by a responsible |
| possible. This can be done, for instance, by | | | | company, will lead to a product with significantly |
| choosing the phone and internet for conferences | | | | less environmental impact. For an |
| and meetings with colleagues in other parts of the | | | | environment-conscious customer it means being |
| world and with customers. While some companies | | | | able to choose a provider that added as little as |
| encourage car-sharing, some have chosen | | | | possible to the global emission of pollutants, and |
| telecommuting, in order to avoid even more of | | | | for a company it means the integration in the |
| the emissions caused by their employees cars. | | | | green suppliers category, a recognition that might |
| Furthermore, an office can become "green" if it is | | | | become extremely important in the years to |
| as energy-efficient as possible. Similar to in a | | | | come. |