How Can Offices Become More Environmentally Friendly

With the effects of climate change worsening and the chances of our impact on the environment becoming irreversible, it’s important that we all do our part to help save the planet. 

Offices have many simple ways in which they can reduce their negative impacts on the planet. Making your office environmentally friendly isn’t just about how you run your office and what’s in it, but it’s about how your employees are making an impact as well.

Below are some examples of how you can make your office more environmentally friendly.

Make sustainability part of your CSR and brand values 

Corporate Social Sustainability (CSR) works with employees, families, local communities and society to improve human-life quality, the environment and the economy in the long term.

Making your brand sustainable at the top, encourages the rest of the company to do the same. Introducing sustainability as a part of your CSR and brand values is a great way to make your office environmentally friendly.

Create monthly green challenges  

Creating monthly green challenges for everyone in your office to take part in, helps to instil the message of being greener, while making it fun. Offering rewards for those who win the challenge, provides more of an incentive, while making your office more environmentally friendly.

Challenges could include:

• Reducing the use of plastic utensils 

• Cycling to work instead of driving

• Have a meat-free lunch once a week

• Reducing paper usage

Turn of electronics and heating once everyone has left the office

Turning off electronics and heating can help save you money on your heating and electricity bills, while improving your office's environmental  impact.

Instructing a rule or policy where employees need to turn their computers off when they leave the office, will help you have a more positive environmental impact.

Make use of natural light

Letting in natural light is a great way to reduce your energy bills and the impact they have on the environment. £14, 950,000 is wasted every year in the UK by leaving the lights on when you’re not in the room. This results in 37,440,000 kg of carbon dioxide being emitted per day. This stresses the importance of how something as little as turning your lights off when you leave a room can make a huge impact on our planet.

One great way your company can help reduce the amount they turn their lights on is by getting your office to participate in Earth hour every year, where you turn all lights off for at least one hour of the day.

Make sure you participate in next year's earth hour on the 25th of March between 8.30 and 9.30pm.

Embrace renewable energy

Introducing renewable energy plans into your office, reduces your negative environmental impacts significantly. A great way to do this is by installing an Air Source Heat Pump. 

Air Source Heat pumps are 400% more efficient compared to traditional gas boilers, allowing your office to waste less heat and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  

How do Air Source heat Pumps Work?

Air Source Heat Pumps take the air from outside and use it to warm up rooms in your building. You can decide whether to heat up one or multiple rooms at a time, allowing you to save money on your heating bills. 

Despite Air Source Heat pumps being an expensive investment initially, they can help you save money in the long term, allowing you to put more money into areas of the office that need it most. This could even allow you to invest more money into sustainable equipment and plans that will help your office become more environmentally friendly.

Are Air Source Heat Pumps compatible with buildings of all sizes?

There’s no need to worry about whether your building is too big or too small to have an air source heat pump fitted. We work with brands such as Samsung, Panasonic, Haier and Swegon.

With their innovative heating solutions, long gone are the days where heat pumps were only compatible with small buildings. brands now manufacture heat pump solutions of all sizes that are compatible with offices, high rise buildings, schools and much more. 

Furthermore, understanding the requirements and specifications of the projects right from the beginning will enable you to get the right solutions for your building.

At Enula, we work with property developers from the start of the project to ensure the best sustainable indoor environments are achieved, helping to pave a green future.

What government schemes are available?

If you choose to embrace renewable energy sources such as air source heat pumps, you can claim 130% capital allowances for expenditure incurred between April 1st 2021 and the end of March 2023. You can also benefit from the ‘super deduction’, where for every £1 you spend on sustainable plants and machinery your tax is cut by 25p.

First Year Allowance Scheme (FYA)

Until the end of March 2023 business owners can qualify for the 50% FYA scheme that covers long-life assets.

The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA)

The Annual Investment Allowance provides 100% relief for plant and machinery investments up to £1 million until March 2023. 
Get in touch with Enula today to see how your office can become more environmentally friendly.