Green technology – tech that has a minimal, if any, impact on the environment – has become increasingly commonplace. That hasn’t solely been seen with cars and in the home, but it’s become quite popular in the business world, with there being multiple green technologies small businesses can use.
These offer a range of benefits beyond simply reducing your company’s environmental footprint. While it’ll take time and effort to implement, these advantages are more than worth it. With green technology’s market share expected to reach $26.10 billion within the next few years, it’s a trend that won’t go away.
You shouldn’t simply add any green technology for the sake of it, however. Instead, it’s worth focusing on particular areas to make sure it has as large an impact as possible.
Benefits Of Green Technology For Small Business
Before getting into the green technologies your small business should use, it’s worth looking at what the potential benefits will be. The environmental advantages will be obvious, but there are more than a few benefits than you’d be aware of, including:
- Lowering your energy bills, as many green technologies – such as LED lighting – use less power when in use.
- Reducing water bills by regulating how much water is used in taps, etc., and for how long.
- Lowering your overall office expenses, as you’ll typically use less paper and other supplies.
- Improving office productivity, as it’s easier and faster to get things done digitally when compared to their manual, non-green counterparts.
- Attracting more customers, with potential customers being increasingly focused on environmental-friendliness. The greener your company, the better your branding.
With the benefits that green technology offers, there’s no reason not to take advantage of it. A few green technologies for small businesses stand out, as they’ll offer more of an impact than others. While you’ll need to adapt your approach to your specific company, it’ll be more than worth the effort.
Green Technologies Small Businesses Should Use: 5 Top Options
- Hybrid/Electric Vehicles
If vehicles are an essential part of your company, it’s worth looking into hybrid or electric vehicles, both of which have a lower environmental impact than standard vehicles. Choosing these for your car fleet will cut your company’s carbon footprint much more than you’d think.
Investing in these can be expensive, so it mightn’t be an appropriate option for everyone. In that case, using renewable natural gas (RNG) instead of standard diesel can be a better-recommended option.
Though that means making a few changes to your fleet, it’ll be more than worth it. Over time, it’ll not only make your company more environmentally friendly, but it should reduce your overall operating expenses.
- Green Data Centers
Data centers consume billions of kilowatt hours every year, which means using up a lot of fossil fuels. Thankfully, green data centers are becoming increasingly more common, with these being powered by sustainable sources, such as air and solar.
Choosing these data centers instead of more traditional ones is recommended, as the reduced environmental footprint you’ll have is notable. You can also take the same approach with any web hosting and similar areas you have, with all of these having green counterparts.
The more of these you take advantage of, the greener your business.
- Green Shipping Materials
Your product’s packaging can be one of the drivers of your company’s carbon footprint, especially when you add in shipping. These not only increase your costs, but can do much more damage to the environment than you think. If you use a lot of plastic, that’s especially true.
Going green with this can be recommended. Doing this doesn’t necessarily mean being technologically advanced as you’d think, as you can do so by simply swapping out a few materials. Instead of bubble wrap with any fragile products, for example, consider shredded paper from your company’s shredder.
Aiming for recycled materials can often be recommended.
- 3D Printing
3D printing revolutionizes how products can be made. Before, there could be a lot of waste associated with manufacturing a product, but you can get rid of almost all of these with a 3D printer. The main reason for this is how precise the printers are.
Since these develop products and create them to precise specifications, there’s almost no material loss during the production. With fewer resources being needed for your products, you’ll naturally have a lower environmental impact.
That could also mean lowering your overall production costs. It’s a win-win for you and the environment, and customers wouldn’t even notice the difference.
- IoT Energy-Monitoring Devices
The amount of energy your company uses can be directly related to the impact it has on the environment. Ideally, you’ll use as little as possible, but making sure you do can seem impossible. With energy-monitoring devices powered by the Internet of Things (IoT), you can monitor the energy consumption of everything connected to it.
Many of these can also be used to turn various pieces of equipment on and off when not needed, with this also applying to appliances, heating systems, and more. As a result, you can optimize your company’s energy usage and reduce your carbon footprint.
While that means hooking your systems up to the IoT, it’ll be more than worth it. You shouldn’t have any more energy waste when running your business. These devices can also be pre-programmed to make sure your company runs smoothly.
Green Technologies Small Businesses Should Use: Wrapping Up
Green technologies for small businesses offer multiple benefits, with there being no reason not to take advantage of it. While it could involve a bit of an adjustment to implement these, it’ll be more than worth it, especially considering the growing market share the technology has.
Each of the above technologies will be more than useful for your company. You’ll not only create a more productive company, but you’ll reduce your costs and bring in more customers.
Going green with your business offers a host of benefits with no drawbacks, aside from the initial investment in doing so. What’s stopping you?