Living Sustainably - My Green Workplace
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Transcript Living Sustainably - My Green Workplace
SUSTAINABLE
WORKPLACES
Paul van der Werf
OVERVIEW
Making
sense of sustainability?
What are our environmental
impacts?
How can we make our work
activities more sustainable?
Let’s leave today with a few
practical ideas we can incorporate
right away.
SUSTAINABILITY
We
hear lots of jargon like:
Carbon foot print
Green
Environmentally friendly
Sustainable
SUSTAINABILITY
“...meeting
the needs of the present
generation without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet
their needs.”
Brundtland Commission, 1987
How do we turn qualitative concepts into quantitative outcomes?
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ?
Our
impact comes down to one simple
concept and that is consumption
“The act or process of consuming.”
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ?
As
a result of obtaining what we
consume
As a result of the wastes generated
through consumption
IN MORE PRACTICAL TERMS
Building
Manufacturing
Heating/Cooling
Transportation
Chemicals
Living
Others?
DISTILLING SOURCES OF
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Energy
usage
Water usage
Material usage
Waste generation
ENERGY
At home we consume about 2,500 kwh per year
One 100 watt light bulb on for 24 hours uses about
2.5 kwh
One Compact Fluorescent Bulb uses about 0.5 kwh
Energy is required to make electricity. Carbon dioxide
and pollution result.
ENERGY
ENERGY
ENERGY
WATER
Residents consume about 250 litres person every day
Volume of 250
Filling up tank 4 times
per day
Think about what that means throughout the year
WATER
1981
1986
1991
1996
Total intake
million cubic metres
Total, whole
economy
Business
sector
Personal and
government
sectors
36,717
42,083
44,979
44,873
32,957
38,363
41,178
40,951
3,760
3,719
3,802
3,922
In 1996 Canada’s population was 29 million
About 1,500,000 litres/year per resident
Of that a little less than 10% or about 135,000
litres/year was for personal use
370 litres/day
WASTE
Residents throw away about 250 kilograms of waste
per person per year
Weight of 250
In London has decreased since 1990
In Canada continues to increase
Business waste increasing even faster
WASTE
QUANTITY VS QUALITY
Need to think about consumption in terms of:
QUANTITY
QUALITY
What impact does the quality of our consumption have
on the environment
Pesticides versus no pesticides
Green power versus conventional power
Quality is the impact of our consumption beyond the
amount of resources used – manifest as pollution and
other impacts
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OUTCOMES
Poor
resource use-financial
implications
Poor resource use-less able to support
the population
Pollution-health impacts
WHY SUSTAINABILITY AT WORK?
There
are risks involved with continuing
with the status quo:
Exposure to risk of increased
environmental legislation (eg. carbon
taxes)
Exposure to risk of increased cost of
natural resources (e.g. rising cost of
water and electricity)
Damage to brand, or consumer
backlash
REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
AT WORK
What
is our impact on the environment
at work?
What can we do to reduce our impact at
work?
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AT WORK
Impact
can be split into two main areas
From buildings and process
From workers
Impact
into air, water and earth
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Impact Source
Buildings and
Processes
Workers
Impact Types
Building
Construction
Building Operation
and Maintenance
Work processes
Work processes
Sustenance
Transport
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
WHAT WE CAN DO?
Understand
that our environmental
impact is very closely tied to our
consumption
Develop a Sustainability Plan to reduce
environmental impact and help guide
activities
It includes benchmarking, planning,
implementation and review
SUSTAINABILITY PLAN
Develop
a Sustainability Plan to help
guide activities
Requires top down and bottom up
participation
Management – recognize importance
Staff- fully participate in opportunities
Embrace change
CONSUMPTION IS TIED TO MONEY
Everything we consume costs money
Everything we don’t consume costs money
We have largely been taught to ignore this
There is a greater appreciation of this right now
“SMART CONSUMPTION”
We need to engage in what I like to call smart
consumption. This is a thought process where we think
about the environmental impacts of our purchases in three
distinct stages
1 . What is the environmental impact of making this
product;
2. What is the environmental impact of using this
product; and
3. What is the environmental impact after this product
has lost its usefulness.
ENERGY
Energy efficient construction
Business energy audits.
Minimize energy use during business hours and after
hours
Encourage alternative forms of transportation
Where practical encourage other forms of work – such
as telecommuting
Mayor’s Sustainable Energy Council. web page with
some good information for residents (and business)
ENERGY
HTTP://WWW.MSEC.LONDON.CA/
ENERGY
HTTP://WWW.MSEC.LONDON.CA/
Saving Electricity
Conservation programs for business
Programs include Electricity Retrofit Incentive Program and Energy Management Services
The new Feed-In Tariff - a Guaranteed Return on Investment
The new "feed-in tariff" provides a guaranteed return on investment for solar, wind, biogas and other green
electricity projects
Embedded Generation
Information for behind-the-meter cogeneration, wind, solar <500 kW
WATER
Review
processes to make sure water is
being use efficiently
Reduce water usage and water
contamination
Replace water guzzling toilets with an
efficient 6 litre or dual flush toilet –
rebates available
Toxics out of the drain
WASTE
Take advantage of programs to deal with waste
Maximize their use
Quantity
Quality
QUALITY OF CONSUMPTION
Previous
ideas focus on quantity
Quality focuses on composition of
consumption. How polluting are
processes?
e.g. Greening of Cancer Prevention
(Source: Toronto Public Health)
Clean production
Toxics use reduction
Green chemistry
Safe substitution
CONCLUSIONS
Sustainability
relates to managing the
quantity and quality of consumption
Managing consumption can have
beneficial economic, social and of
course environment outcomes
All businesses from small to large can
participate
Many small steps result in large
collective beneficial impacts.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION USED
The Clear Network http://www.clear.london.ca
http://msec.london.ca/
Stats Canada
Environment Canada
THANK-YOU
Paul van der Werf
My green workplace
519-645-7733
[email protected]
www.mygreenworkplace.ca
www.2cg.ca