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As Earth Day-Week came to a close, it made me realize how fortunate I am to be able to lead a Xerox business where we really have the potential to impact the environmental footprint. Obviously, I share a biased position, but from the results I have seen driven for our clients and the response we continue to receive from them, the Xerox Office Services team ranks as the world's experts at creating an optimal office. Inside the optimal office is a tremendous opportunity to impact our environment for generations to come.
Simply put, every large enterprise operates with thousands (often, tens of thousands) of output devices. In many cases, a large business enterprise will generate over one billion impressions annually. Those who have taken control and effectively manage output today have far fewer devices, consume far less power, have reduced their carbon footprint and have significantly reduced their green house gas emissions. Not to mention the fact that they have eliminated literally tons of landfill waste that comes from packaging, repair materials and paper on an annual basis. And, if they have effectively managed their entire supply chain for output, they have also reduced the amount of trees used to produce their paper, the amount of fresh water used in the production of the paper, and the amount of waste water that comes from that process. Surprisingly, they more than likely have saved millions of dollars at the same time, and they know where every impression is being made, who is making them and how they are being used. These are just some of the elements and benefits of today's optimal office. Many of our clients today also take advantage of technological advantages that have come from Xerox innovation, including ink products that are bio-degradable.
When our consultants have the opportunity to work with committed environmental organizations, we can drive a host of environmental benefits our clients can measure. And whether you think about establishing optimal offices on a small or enterprise-wide level---the positive impact to the environment is astounding. After Earth Day 2008, it certainly feels great to know that the work one does on a daily basis is making a difference.
Jim Joyce
Senior Vice President
Xerox Office Services
There are profitable approaches that save money and reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, 60-70% of emissions are energy related i.e. fuel for transportation, heating and power generation.
Most companies are focused in several areas:
1) Improving their infrastructure (buildings, data centers, factories, plants, offices)
2) Improving their supply chains (raw materials, product design, suppliers, transportation)
3) Optimizing finished goods and appliances they use (machinery, auto's, TV's, PC's, Printers).
There is opportunity in the office. Many enterprises have work from home employee programs, carpool programs, and encourage fuel efficient vehicles. In some industries, 30-50% of their employees work from home which reduces office space, requiring less energy for heating, cooling, lighting.
IT continues to adopt green principals and look to technologies within the data center and across the enterprise to reduce cost, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. Forrester states that the number of enterprises adopting green IT practiced jumped from 25% to 38% in 2007. Forrester's article, "Green IT Nudges Tech Adoption," March 10, 2008, provides some great examples and insight. Collaboration software & services, web conferencing, thin client technology, server virtualization, data center outsourcing, and document/print services outsourcing are the leading strategies that reduce carbon footprint. Outsourcing requires service providers to implement cost reduction as well as provide energy efficient solutions. For more details on Outsourcing and Services review the High tech and Communications blog.
Susy Mark
Industry Marketing Manager
High-Tech, Telecom and Media
Xerox Corporation
Earth Day is a great time to re-evaluate our business behaviors and the impact they have on the environment. In the spirit of the day, I’ve compiled a list of reminders to help us all create a more sustainable office.
Focus on paper usage: "According to the U.S. EPA it takes 10 times more energy to produce a sheet of paper than to print on it; thus paper reduction becomes critical in the printing workflow not only for economic but also for environmental reasons."
• Think before you print.
• Print only what you need (classic example is a 10 page e-mail chain when you only need the first page.)
• Set your printer to duplex (double-sided printing)
• Print multiple pages per side (great for powerpoint presentations; print 2 to 4 slides-per-sheet & duplex. This can save up to 75% on paper usage.
Focus for IT managers - Save on Energy Usage:
• Think efficiency - how many users do you have connected to each device? Many printers/multi-functions are capable of 15+ pages-per-minute with very high reliability. Consolidate machines and instantly save energy!
• Think about supplies & waste - look for multi-function devices that offer all the performance you need in one machine (solid ink products, for example, also produce 90% less waste and the solid ink is cartridge free!
Being aware of behaviors is the 1st step in greening up the office.
• Assess your current environment and make choices to improve your footprint.
• Consolidate machines to save energy
• Print what you need - eliminate wasted pages
• Reduce the amount of waste each device creates
• Think about supplies when you purchase the device
• Understand the total impact of your choice
Most importantly remember the fundamentals of sustainability:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- focus on them in this order and do your part!
At Xerox, we call it the "green gene" - click here to see more!
Deb Koehler
Solid Ink Sustainability Manager
Xerox Office Group
Remember the “paperless office?” The “paperless office” became a buzzword after being introduced in an article, “The Office of the Future,” in Business Week in 1975. It coincided with the advent of the personal computer, and the hope was that all documents could be processed electronically and that paper would become irrelevant.
But, has paper disappeared? Not at all. A few industries have gone paperless and some countries are decreasing their paper consumption. Actually, paper consumption is still increasing globally - soaring to extremely high levels (some estimates go as high as 10-50 trillion pages!). Paper continues to predominate in activities that involve knowledge work, reading and collaboration.
So how should your industry go about managing paper now and in the future, to really promote sustainability?
It starts with a careful, controlled and responsible usage of paper - using simple best practices such as thinking twice when you print, using environment-friendly paper, or (in the near future) preferring substitutes such as ePaper or transient paper.
It continues with printing duplex and N-pages up, or responsibly using color and other advanced techniques to make your printed documents as valuable as possible.
You should then go on with a careful optimization of your output infrastructure. Not only will right-sizing enable you to better control your costs and paper usage, but also its carbon footprint - this calculator lets you estimate your print fleet's impact.
You can find the above tips and many more in this white paper or visit the downloads section of Patricia Calkins's web site to learn more about "Smarter Ways to Green."
Francois Ragnet
Managing Principal, Technology Innovation
Check out my website
Check out my Future of Documents Blog
IT has a pivotal role to play in the greening of the planet. That was the message of a conference today on "The Positive Impact of Information and Communications Technologies on the Environment and Climate" at the United Nations.
At least a couple hundred people gathered in one of the UN's imposing meeting rooms to talk about what is being done and what needs to be done to ensure we have a world worth turning over to our children and grandchildren. ComputerWorld editor Tom Hoffmann peppered a panel of environmental gurus from IBM, Xerox, EMC, Dell, HP, and the UN with questions about how to balance green practices with bottom-line profitability. Like most panels at events like this, all the panelists violently agreed with each other. But the comments were refreshingly candid. Customers most likely won't pay more for green products -- but that's no excuse for IT companies to let up on launching sustainable offerings. Companies won't embrace sustainable practices just because it's the right thing to do. The more realistic reason is that there is a proven link between sustainability and business efficiency.
Paper is not going away anytime soon, so let's not waste time talking about the paperless office. Instead, let's focus on waste reduction and recycling since paper accounts for massive amounts of landfill waste. So keep that blue bin tucked under your desk. Even the smallest actions can make a big difference and the IT industry seems to be taking its environmental responsibilities more seriously everyday.
Ed Gala
VP, Corporate Marketing
Xerox Corporation
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