Rackspace Hosting and NativeEnergy are partnering to offer customers tools to help reduce the global warming impact of office energy, commuting and business travel.

First, assess your greenhouse gas emissions, or “carbon footprint”. These company averages will give you guidance on your impact. Next, think about ways to reduce emissions and become more efficient within your working environment, commute and travel.

Finally, Offset those emissions you cannot reduce, by supporting new renewable energy and efficiency projects.

What is included in a carbon footprint?

Your carbon footprint is dictated by your energy choices and the boundaries you determine in defining it. You have choices on what to include, but it is important to accurately communicate your actions to avoid making blanket claims. Some companies measure only the direct and indirect (from purchased electricity) emissions from making products or conducting business. Others include suppliers and end users in a more life-cycle approach. Most businesses include office (or manufacturing) energy use, employee travel and commuting. Defining the boundaries around your carbon footprint is important, and NativeEnergy can help you set the boundaries that make sense for you and help you understand and communicate your environmental stewardship. Travel is usually the most significant source of emissions. A round-trip average (coach) flight (4,900 mi – NYC/LA) can add about 2 tons of CO2 to your estimated total carbon footprint.

Inventories rely on as much accurate data as is possible, but, at the end of the day, are good, defensible estimates. Unless, for example, you could find out exactly what model and age plane, how many passengers, their weight, cargo weight, the weather conditions on that day and the pilot’s cruising speed for every flight taken by every employee over the past year, you will need to include estimates. When we need to, we work with commonly accepted estimates from sources like the World Resources Institute GHG Protocol, Energy Information Agency (EIA), US EPA, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The key to reducing your carbon footprint is to reduce your energy use - reduce what you can and offset the rest! Engage your employees in the effort and offer incentives for identifying energy savings opportunities. In addition to reducing emissions, these are bottom line savings for your organization.

How can you be sure your offset purchase matters?

With help from our community of businesses and individuals we’ve helped more than 30 new renewable energy projects get built that were dependent on the help we provided. NativeEnergy’s unique approach to the carbon offsets and renewable energy markets is to help build new renewable energy and efficiency projects with high social value that need assistance in order to be successful. We work with small and often at-risk communities to help them get their projects built so they can generate environmental benefits and economic opportunities for their communities. By buying the expected lifetime output of carbon offsets and renewable energy credits from the projects with a lump sum payment up-front, we are able to bring considerable support to projects while providing our clients with the opportunity to directly help finance the construction of new renewable energy projects that need such help to be built.

Unlike some carbon offset providers, NativeEnergy has a direct relationship with the projects our clients help build. The owners know us, and in many cases we’ve sat with them in their kitchens and on their porches, walked around their property with them, and helped them understand the carbon market. Our approach has been described as like “fair trade”, because we don’t simply offer a set amount to projects and ask them to take it or leave it; we work directly with the project developers to understand what their project NEEDS in order to be successful for them.

What you can do to reduce your footprint.

Efficiency Audit/Energy Conscious Leases

An energy audit can identify a number of energy (and cost!) savings and will usually pay for itself. A typical audit results identifying opportunities to effect a 30% energy savings.

If you rent your space, work with your landlord to negotiate rent savings from efficiency improvements, or encourage him/her to make the changes.

Buildings and Landscaping

Consider designing new building with Green Building Principles and earning LEED certification. LEED has certifications for existing buildings as well. Building design features like utilizing passive solar and daylighting can generate meaningful energy savings and also help provide a more productive working environment. For more information, contact the US Green Building Council http://www.usgbc.org/

If you control landscaping, consider planting trees, shrubs and bushes. Planting trees on the northern side of building can help to reduce heating costs. Trees that provide shade in the summer can also reduce cooling costs. In addition to the energy benefits trees can provide they remove CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow. Over their lives trees can sequester large amounts of carbon in the ground and in their biomass, however when trees die much of this sequestered carbon is re-released into the air.

“Living Roofs” also contribute to cooling and carbon sequestration and can provide a sanctuary for employees. See http://www.greenroofs.org/

Lighting, HVAC and Computers

Replace incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. CFLs can save 7.5% - 20% of lighting electricity.

Install a programmable thermostat and keep at a low setting during non-work hours.

Lighting sensors prevent wasting electricity.

Turn off computers, copiers and other electrical devices during non-work hours and holidays.

Waste

Packaging - Try to purchase things with little packaging. Packaging is just a waste. More packaging results in more weight, requiring more energy to get it to you. And then there is the waste. Landfills can release large amounts of methane, powerful greenhouse gas, so reducing trash also helps to fight global warming.

Recycle (and compost if possible)-Recycling saves resources and CO2 in a few ways. Many materials like aluminum and steel take lots of energy to dig ores out of the ground and refine. Recycling these materials saves huge amounts of energy, keeping huge amounts of CO2 out of the air. Composting keeps waste out of landfills where it can break down into methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. In an office environment, try to use Post Consumer Recycled paper and office furniture from reclaimed materials.

Commuting and Travel

Don’t idle your car. An idling car gets exactly 0 miles per gallon. If you are going to be stopped for more than 30 seconds turn it off. If you are getting out of the car at all, turn it off!

Encourage using public transportation/carpooling by providing incentives such as discounts on monthly bus passes or preferential parking spots for carpools. Reducing mileage by 20 miles per week can keep up to 1000 lbs of CO2 out of the air annually.

Encourage bicycle commuting by providing bike racks and showers.

Institute a telecommuting program, even if it for one day/week.

Flying is one of the most carbon intensive modes of transport. The average cross-country round trip flight emits about 6000lbs of global warming pollution. Short flights are the worst, emitting more CO2 per mile traveled than medium and long-haul flights.

Reduce business travel where you can by using teleconferences and video meetings.

When possible, take a train or bus instead of flying. Just think of all the security and TSA headaches you’ll avoid!