Modern office designs incorporate sustainability as a significant element that may assist create a productive workplace.
There are several benefits to running a sustainable business. In addition to being affordable, it may also increase productivity and help to improve a company's reputation. Additionally, adopting sustainable practices in the workplace can result in a more contented and healthy workforce, which will improve employee recruitment and retention.
Let's look at some easy methods to make your workplace more sustainable, like promoting eco-friendly travel, going paperless, creating living walls, and more.
Adopt Eco-Friendly Furniture
Up to 8.5 million tonnes, or 17 billion pounds, of office furniture is thought to wind up in landfills in the United States each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While using flat-pack furniture has become a quick, easy, and affordable option to decorate offices, companies should reevaluate their choices in order to promote sustainability.
Start by eschewing low-quality, mass-produced designs in favour of finely handmade items made of eco-friendly materials like wood, stone, or bamboo. Additionally, some furniture manufacturers are producing models made completely of recycled plastic. Supporting these companies and their distinctive office furniture is a fantastic way to prevent more plastic from ending up in landfills.
Consider Your Lighting
In commercial buildings, lighting accounts for around 25% of the energy expenditure. Therefore, this should be one of the first issues addressed when trying to build a more sustainable office.
Due to their lower power requirements, less heat production, and longer lifespan as compared to conventional incandescent bulbs, 30W integrated LED fittings can reduce energy consumption in your office by up to 67 percent.
You should maximize natural light wherever feasible in addition to replacing the inefficient light bulbs in your office. The World Green Building Council claims that people who work near windows that receive natural light are 15% more productive. This is explained by the fact that exposure to natural light considerably enhances employee health and wellbeing.
Eliminate Paper
Our growing dependence on digital work practices in the modern era actually makes offices more environmentally friendly. This is due to the fact that printed papers account for up to 90% of all office waste in the U.S., particularly when it comes to corrections, changes, and updates.
Additionally, paper is made from more than 60% of the 17 billion cubic feet of trees that are cut down each year. The world's yearly greenhouse gas emissions are roughly one-fifth attributable to this deforestation alone.
Offices may significantly decrease this wasteful waste by making the effort to adopt digital processes and become paperless. Think about the software, applications, hardware, and cloud storage you can use in your office's regular operations before making the transfer.
Encourage Eco-Friendly Travel
Up to 95% of all carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in cities are caused by motor vehicle exhaust, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Employers may motivate and reward staff for reducing commute emissions by walking, biking, carpooling, or using the train or bus to work.
Walkers, cyclists, and runners will be able to freshen up upon arriving and keep their equipment in a safe and secure spot if showers and useful staff lockers are installed in your office. For bikers, providing a garage or rack for their bikes will encourage workers to switch from four to two wheels.
Switch off all electronics
The unsustainable practices of leaving technology, including lighting, on all night long in offices has become widespread. While for others it's just out of sight and out of mind, for some this both looks beautiful at night and serves to discourage thefts.
Electrical devices including computers, printers, televisions, heating and cooling systems, and lights should be turned off every evening when employees leave the office in order for it to be sustainable. Offices can set timers to automatically switch off this equipment for them to make the procedure easier.
Make use of living walls
Adding extra plants to the office is a fantastic approach to create a sustainable environment. However, there isn't much floor space for numerous workplaces. Offices may make use of their vertical space with live plant walls to still benefit from plants. This enables them to beautify hundreds, if not thousands, of lovely plants in places that would otherwise be vacant.
In addition to looking wonderful in an office, plants provide several advantages for businesses and both their workers and customers. This encompasses greater mental wellness, better physical health, sharper attention, higher levels of productivity, and less noise pollution. Additionally, plants produce more oxygen, counteracting the pollutants emitted into the air, and improve everyone's working environment by making it cleaner and more sustainable.
In terms of their application, living walls may also be a useful addition to a workplace. They create beautiful room dividers and are portable and simple to set up, and they can even serve as a beautiful backdrop for Zoom meetings. Additionally, living walls are simple to maintain and call for little to no staff attention.
The Transition to a Greener Office Can Begin Today
In the modern workplace, sustainability is no more only a nice-to-have feature; rather, it is an essential element of productive workplaces. Organizations must assume responsibility for the sustainability of the earth and its resources. Companies have a lot to gain by running their workplace sustainably, including advantages like a happier and healthier workforce.
About Us
Studio AsA – Commercial Interior Designer in Pune is an Architecture and Interior design studio created by design enthusiasts always curious about new design innovations. An association of young minds looking forward to bringing the transformation beyond dreams and imagination.
Studio AsA embraces the ever-changing complexities of designing, amalgamating architecture as well as interior design’s role to bring about a change in the ideology with a conscious understanding. We firmly believe that architecture operates within a layered context of developmental, environmental, and social structures. Studio AsA seeks to elevate the human condition via the built environment.
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