Going Green - Creating a Smaller Carbon Footprint
We can conserve and recycle all we want at home. But as soon as we hit the office, we turn into print-every-email, run-our-computers-all-night, turn-every-light-on-possible earth befoulers. One office worker can use a quarter ton of materials in a year--which includes 10,000 pieces of copier paper. Heating, cooling and powering office space are responsible for almost 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and gobble more than 70% of total electricity usage. Commuters spew 1.3 billion tons of CO2 a year. Computers in the office burn $1 billion worth of electricity annually--and that's when they're not producing a lick of work.
The statistics are truly staggering and seemingly endless. And, as much as the "Green" story is about climate change it is also about all of the unnecessarily generated company waste adding up to unnecessarily wasted cash. Companies and employees have to recognize this other half of the story. We are not only wasting energy and precious resources, we're also wasting massive amounts of money. Money that could go toward hiring more employees, contributions to retirement plans, or healthcare benefits is being needlessly wasted across corporate America.
In an effort to do our part for the planet and improve our financial health, Prudential California Realty has launched a "Going Green" initiative. This initiative is a long-term effort to improve our carbon footprint and become a more efficient operation. One of the first steps we recently deployed involves pushing more of the information we provide our customers to online media and converting as much of our internal documentation to digital format. While this is just one of many important steps we will take over time, it is a critical one. By decreasing the amount of paper we use, in and out of the office, we are directly contributing to the reduction of deforestation and saving company dollars that can be put to better use elsewhere.
We are very excited about the direction our company is moving in. We invite you to come back to this page periodically to keep up with our progress and learn more about what we are doing to become a Green Company. We look forward to working with you and the community in making the planet a better place.
