How to be greener than the average programmer
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Some day I want to go all the way: drop the office and become as green as I possibly can as a programmer. But it won’t happen overnight. And while I’m dreaming my big dreams it might well be that suddenly I notice that it’s too late and the damage has already been made. So I think I need to do my share also now, even if I can’t yet go all the way.
Here are 10 small actions that you can take even if you don’t have the luxury of deciding about your working environment and the rules of the office:
- Use a laptop. Using a laptop machine instead of a regular desktop PC will reduce your electricity usage a lot. A typical desktop PC uses about 65 to 250 watts whereas a laptop uses only 15 to 45 watts. If you can’t get a laptop, an LCD monitor helps a bit compared to a typical CRT monitor.
- Turn off your computer when you leave your desk. This is easy: When your computer is turned off it consumes less energy than when it’s turned on. You can start by turning off your computer when you go home after work. When you have gotten used to that you can move to the next stage and turn your computer off during your lunch break. If you have a laptop, putting it to sleep mode during meetings and coffee breaks should be no big deal either.
- You don’t need your computer in every meeting. When you have a laptop it feels good to bring your computer to meetings with you. It makes you look professional, but it’s not necessary. Actually I think bringing your computer along usually just distracts you from the actual discussion - a notebook and a pen do just fine. This way when you go to a meeting you can turn your computer off, and again save electricity.
- Read documents from your screen. I’m not sure how many programmers actually have this habit of printing documents (and sometimes even code) out so that they are easier to read, but I do. And I think it’s a bad habit from which I need to recover. If I have a document on my screen that I want to read, I can just as well read it from there - no paper is needed.
- Send documents by e-mail. If you deliver your documents to your colleagues on paper they have no chance to decide if they want to save paper and read your text from their computers.
- Turn off the lights. The sun is the best light source we can get, so you should try to use it as much as possible. Ideally during daylight we wouldn’t need any lighting at all. But sometimes it just isn’t possible: for example the office I work in doesn’t have that many windows, it’s more like a big hall and I’m sitting in the middle of it. If your office is like this, use lights as you need them, but turn them off when you leave your desk. And most importantly: don’t leave lights on for the whole night. And turn off the lights when you leave the toilet.
- Don’t stay late. To make the effect of the turning off the lights more powerful you shouldn’t stay too late at the office. The longer you stay the longer you’ll need to be using your lights. If you can benefit from natural lighting it might make sense to also time your working time so that the time you are at the office is the one that is lit by the sun.
- Don’t turn on too many lights. Often when I enter the office early in the morning I just turn on all the lights although there is only a handful of people at work at that time. It would be much wiser to just turn on my own light. This way I wouldn’t be spending electricity in lighting an area in which there is no one enjoying it.
- Bring your own lunch. By cooking your own lunch instead of buying something packed in plastic you create less garbage and save on plastic. Another option which can be great for the office spirit would be to cook something together. If your office is friendly enough, I think you should try it (and let me know how it went).
- Ask your boss if the company could do something more. When you feel that you have done your best within the boundaries set by your employer, you can go ahead and ask if the company could take the next step. After all, asking never hurts and if you’re lucky enough your boss will share your concern and agrees to do his part in going green.
At the end of the day I think what matters most is the attitude. If you feel that there is an urgent need to change our habits I’m sure you’ll find ways to do something even in the most controlled working environment - and in doing so also get your work mates interested and involved. Feel free to use the comments section to share your experience and ideas!
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