Myplanet Digital: Better organizations through technology.

This article is an update to our original green plan posted in 2010 here.

We work largely with information technology, and so on the surface it would seem that our business has a relatively low environmental impact. Upon further examination, we’ve found many initiatives where we can play a key role in reducing our impact on the environment. These range from the obvious to hidden, but significant impacts, such as the resources used to run our client’s servers. At Myplanet we believe that in order to be an exemplary business we must also be outstanding stewards to the environment. 
 
We’ve made exceptional progress in these areas already, but there is always room for improvement and we must strive to transform our initiatives from better to the best they can be. These are our primary initiatives:

1. Reduce the energy used to power our facilities, office equipment and client servers through energy saving equipment.
2. Reduce our travel via car, train and airplane and offset all unavoidable travel.
3. Utilize recycled or environmentally friendly office supplies, including printing, paper and toner
4. Recycle or compost the majority of our waste, including electronics and lighting fixtures.

Here are the things we’re doing to help, we would love your feedback on how we can improve and do more. I know that we can get to the point where MyPlanet has not just a neutral, but a positive impact on the Earth that supports us and we are actively pursuing this goal.
 
If you want to improve it, start by measuring it.
 
The key metrics that we will be monitoring in 2011 and 2012 will include

• Our facilities’ power consumption
• Data centre power consumption
• Waste (garbage, recycling, compost)
• Office supply consumption (paper, postage and other)
• Business related travel (flights, train rides, hotel stays etc.)

 All of these metrics will be correlated against our headcount and number of servers so we can work to improve these numbers while offsetting our carbon footprint.
 
Data, Data Everywhere. How do we power it all?
 
Pretty much anything you access on the web is stored somewhere, likely in a data centre, unfortuntley data centres require large amounts of energy to carry out their functions. To source a great McKinsey study, the CO₂ emissions of data centres globally are now matching that of entire countries, and are expected to quadruple by 2020.

Standards have been established for improving the efficiency of data centres, including LEED and Energy Star certification. We’re committed to encouraging our current providers to advance towards these, and to begin pilots with LEED certified data centres. We are actively seeking more options to ensure that the facilities in which our client’s data is stored have the smallest environmental impact as possible.

Around our offices we’re taking steps to install more energy-efficient light bulbs such as LED’s and CFL’s and also to reduce phantom power. We make a conscious effort at the office to only turn on the necessary lights and electronics. For the power that we do use, we’ve committed to Bullfrog Power to ensure our electricity comes from renewable sources. We will also be purchasing carbon offsets for the power consumed by our data storage facilities to help minimize our carbon footprint.
 
Stop hitting the road Jack, why don’t you stay home today?
 
We generally meet our clients at their offices, and travel is required for conferences and trade shows. To a degree this is unavoidable, but we’re working to reduce and optimize our travel. This saves us time, saves our clients money, and helps the environment.
 
Our key initiatives here are to use remote and telephone meetings whenever possible, require a carpool if more than one person from our office is attending, and to purchase carbon offsets on our travel. By the end of 2011 we would like to ensure that all our travel (road, train and air) is offset.
 
Why print when there’s digital copies?
 
We’re pretty lean on our office supplies, given our love of all things technology. But we still go through them and can make efforts here to improve. These include setting the default printer settings to draft, double sided, two-sheets-per-page and the usage of scrap paper when possible. We’ve implemented efforts to track the use of our printer, toner and paper. Also we avoid printing out large slide decks and training manuals in favour of a digital copy (unless requested) – heck, we all know those just get recycled or lost after the meeting anyways.
 
In addition, we’re delivering the majority of client communications online, including marketing, industry studies and client statements. Reducing items that have to be mailed (and the associated carbon emissions) is one more small thing we can do.
 
Finally we’ve ensured washable cutlery, cups and plates for our kitchen as well as a bank of travel coffee mugs for use when going to grab a cup of joe. We have also implemented the use of a new coffee maker, which uses biodegradable pods in favor of plastic containers and coffee which is ethically sourced from independent coffee farms. We are currently working towards sourcing from environmentally conscious suppliers for office furniture, office equipment, services and supplies.

What you do use, make sure someone else can re-use.

Same as above, we don’t have a lot of waste that leaves our office, and the waste that does is largely recycled or composted.  But we’re taking steps to improve that even further. This includes a blue bin at each work station with proper clarification of what can be recycled, and moving waste bins to central locations. Finally, we’re bringing our used electronics to be recycled appropriately at our local electronics recycling facility for proper disposal.

Stop talking that Talk, and start walking the walk.

Instead of simply outlining what steps we are taking to offset our carbon emissions we are constantly pushing to have a more positive impact on our environment while making MyPlanet one of the best places to work for our employees. We are excited to share that we are currently engaged in the process of becoming a Benefit Corporation or B.Corp as it is better known.

 
So then the question becomes… what more can we do? We would love your feedback for additional items large and small. Drop us an emailor comment below.