Not so fast. Many of our products are perfect for a home office (wouldn’t you just love to sink your pajama-clad tush into this lushness?).
That said, you gotta love this great overview of the joys, wherewithals with a roundup of why working from home makes more and more sense.
Their number one reason: “it’s better for the atmosphere.”
Despite slow growth in jobs and travel, traffic congestion continues to worsen, researchers say, costing Americans $63.1 billion a year. The 2005 Urban Mobility Report measures traffic congestion trends from 1982 to 2003, reflecting the most recent data available. If today’s higher fuel prices are factored in, the cost jumps another $1.7 billion. It's even worse than that because the UMS report doesn't seem to count the many health costs associated with stress, air pollution, etc.
The Treehugger.com overview cites this nifty finding from Sun Microsystems, via Planet Green.com :
Employees saved more than $1,700 per year in gasoline and wear and tear on their vehicles by working at home an average of 2.5 days a week.
Office equipment energy consumption rate at a Sun office was two times that of home office equipment energy consumption, from approximately 64 watts per hour at home to 130 watts per hour at a Sun office.
Commuting was more than 98 percent of each employee's carbon footprint for work, compared to less than 1.7 percent of total carbon emissions to power office equipment.
By eliminating commuting just 2.5 days per week, an employee reduces energy used for work by the equivalent of 5,400 Kilowatt hours/year.
Working from home 2.5 days per week saved the employees in the study an average of 2.5 weeks of commute time (8 hours/day, 5 days/week
The study showed how good telecommuting was for the environment, but didn’t delve into productivity of the at-home workers. Did they work more? Harder? Smarter? Don’t know.
Still, how cool would it be to call the Big Guy and say “Boss, I’m feeling green this morning and so I’m working at home.
How well would that go over, we wonder....
And, lastly, we leave you with this: a little ditty about dirty diesel engines becoming clean , sung by no other than Garrison Keiller, a man who’s voice can make even the worst poem sound weighty and important. There’s a video, too (we especially love the bunnies in their noise ear muffs). Watch and listen. Then just try – try – not to sing along.
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( 3 / 15 ) 
Really. What’s one of the truly “greenest” things you can do as you furnish your office?
Add plants.
Live plants filter an office’s air of pollutants and other toxins. Don’t believe us? None other than the good folks at NASA actually did a few tests and found it to be true:
NASA built what it called a BioHome, “a tightly sealed building constructed entirely of synthetic materials….anyone entering the newly constructed facility would experience burning eyes and respiratory difficulties.”
Then they added houseplants and, voila!
“Once the plants were introduced to the environment, analysis of the air quality indicated that most of the VOCs [volatile organic compounds] had been removed, and the symptoms disappeared.”
Some other nifty findings:
“…people actually recover from illness faster in the presence of plants.”
“…the more that is allowed to circulate through the roots of the plants, the more effective they are at cleaning polluted air.”
“Using high-efficiency carbon filters and a root-level circulation system, the [EcoPlanter] pot allows the plant to remove approximately 200 times more VOCs than a single traditionally-potted plant can remove.”
Finally, thinking of going greener than green with your space? Why not install dried grass on your office walls? We kid you not.
(Photo courtesy Martin Kurtenbach – exept Next und Steps)
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( 3 / 20 ) Bamboo Houses? Walking Abodes?
What will architects think of next?
Savannah, Georgia architect Ming Tang came up with the idea of “folded bamboo and paper” shelters after the 7.9 earthquake that struck China in May. The quake killed tens of thousands, injured hundreds of thousands and left millions of people homeless. Which meant the Chinese government needed to find 1.5 million temporary homes.
Enter Tang, who wanted to development a”temporary shelter for the homeless people, a kinetic structure htat exhibits characteristics of umbrella and folded fans, the potential of arranging themselves into various contexts and dwelling requirements.”
If you’re wondering about covering the “roofs” of the shelters (that bamboo frame doesn’t look as if it would keep the elements our), the shelters are to be covered by using “post and pre-consumer recycled paper.”
The shelters are easy to product, relatively inexpensive and environmentally friendly.
Tang designed the shelters for a contest sponsored by San Francisco’s Urban Re:Vision.
There’s no word on whether China has asked for a shipment….
We find them beautiful. They also look like daddy long leg spiders, friendly little fellows (they eat insects) that are quite common here in Southern California.
Which brings us to The Walking House, created by N55, Danish artists and activists.
The idea is that, should the homeowner wishes to move, no need to move into a different house. Instead, move the house to a different spot.
The Walking House requires no permanent use of land and thereby challenges ownership of land and suggests that all
land should be accessible for all persons.
Interesting thought. But we have one question. Does The Walking House come with The Walking Fence, so that we may keep our neighbor’s dog from using our – temporary – front lawn as a toilet?
How Green is Your Toner?
Yes, yes, yes! We all know that a good step in creating a greener office environment is to cut back on the amount of the paper we use and throw away.
But your toner also contributes to your carbon footprint, because toner powder is derived from oil. And producing oil and using oil places carbon into our atmosphere, thus contributing to greenhouse gases and the rise of global temperatures.
But Soyprint.net believes it has a solution for the office that wishes to go greener: Soy-based toner.
From the company’s website:
Industry leaders report it takes about 2 liters of oil to make the one pound of toner powder required for each oil-based
cartridge. Currently, U.S. businesses, institutions and governmental bodies consume more than 100 million cartridges per
year. That equates to 100 million pounds or 50,000 tons of material we currently use petroleum to produce. Now every
office has a choice – they can print black or they can print “green."
They have a nifty tagline, too: "Everyone prints black...Now we can print "Green."
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( 3 / 22 ) We've all become accustomed to the beloved tradition of office water cooler stations. You know the drill: you push the spout, the jug goes "glug," and the water comes out. However, this system has two very obvious drawbacks, in terms of the environment as well as your health. First of all, the liquid is contained within a plastic device that can possibly leak BPA into your drinking water. And second of all, the water cooler system necessitates that millions of little paper cups must be used and disposed of in landfills each year.
While we clearly need an alternative to this system, the answer does not lie in personalized bottled water for each employee, as this still contributes to water contamination and waste. (Case in point: Only 23% of the plastic water bottles used in America are recycled each year, which means that 38 billion end up in landfills.) Therefore, we present to you a better option: Klean Kanteens.
These reusable containers are made of 100% stainless steel, contain no BPA, and are conveniently dishwasher friendly. Some people prefer to use Sigg, another popular brand, but we prefer the delightful minimalism of the Klean Kanteen bottles.
As far as the nitty gritty details, a 27 oz. Klean Kanteen bottle is $19.95, and shipping is $11.00, making your total around $31. While you may initially balk at the price, paying $31 is definitely preferable to continuing to buy bottled water or utilizing a water cooler for the rest of your life. So, we propose this solution to the water and health dilemmas, and encourage you to explore your stainless steel water bottle options further.
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( 3 / 25 ) 
You've been cooped up in your office all day long. Even though you've stocked your workspace with the most eco-friendly furniture possible and purchased reusable, recycled supplies, you still feel out of touch with the natural world. You decide to eat your lunch outside today, in order to feel a little better about your eco-standing.
However, as soon as you step outside your office doors, you are met with a chokingly-thick cloud of particle-filled smoke. That's right - the smoky haze traditionally covering coal-rich areas like China and Japan is now making its way over to the U.S., and environmentalists are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to prevent it.
According to Earthjustice attorney Jennifer Chavez, the EPA has not met deadlines set by the Clean Air Act for controlling smoke and air pollution. The haze is now threatening the beauty of large national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the Great Smoky Mountain areas.
The lawsuit was just filed today, so EPA spokesman Nicholas Butterfield was not yet able to comment on its contents. It remains to be seen how the organization will deal with the charges, but part of the plan will be to establish environmental mandates for each state. State governments will be required to submit a plan detailing how they are dealing with the pollution problem, and what they plan to do to stop it.
Hopefully all of this drama will eventually lead to cleaner air for all of us.
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( 2.7 / 19 ) 
Looking for a Green Office Solution?