PRESENTER: (American): Good
morning everyone. Thank you for coming to our talk today at the
University of California’s tenth annual conference on sustainability. My name
is Angelina Corral and I’m going to speak a little bit about sustainable
business practices and how your company may be able to save money by adopting
these practices.
First of all, I’d
like to address the issue of air pollution prevention. Using energy-efficient
technology is more important now than ever. Unique products like POWER SAVER
significantly reduce harmful emissions from power plants. Why is this so
important? Emissions from large power plants are a major source of the carbon
dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that is found in our atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide plays a large part in global warming, sulfur dioxide contributes
to the presence of acid rain, and nitrogen oxide causes smog. However, if
businesses begin using products that save energy, then the benefits to the
environment will be enormous.
The second
sustainable practice I’d like to discuss is reducing waste. Many businesses can
save a significant sum of money by decreasing the amount of waste they create.
How? Less waste means lower waste removal costs. Some methods for decreasing
waste production include getting rid of unneeded goods, reducing the amount of
materials used, redesigning packing to eliminate extra material, buying
recycled goods, and reusing transport containers.
The next thing I’d like to discuss is the benefits of water
conservation. Now, cutting back on water usage doesn’t sound like a very
efficient way to save money, but it can save you up to 10% on your annual
costs. Heating water takes energy, and energy costs money. Pumping and
purifying money also requires energy, which costs money. So, how do you cut
back? Toilets account for about 40% of the average building’s water use. Older
toilets use about 6 gallons of water per flush. However, new, water-efficient
toilets decrease this to about 1.5 gallons per flush. It’s a huge saving.
Replacing old faucets that use 2.5 gallons per minute with updated faucets that
use 1.2 gallons per minute is another way of saving money. You can also install
a solar water heater and cut your energy bill by as much as 30%.
Another frequently
overlooked method for saving money is using less paper. That’s right, paper. In
2010, paper manufacturers made up 15 percent of US greenhouse emissions. This
does not include the energy spent clearing forests, or shipping lumber to paper
mills, or the energy used to transport paper to your business. The simple
solution is to go “paper-less.” Now, not every business can realistically do
this. However, all businesses can decide to use less paper. For example, try
double-sided printing and copying. Send out electronic documents rather than
hard copies. Buy recycled paper. If you recycle one ton of paper, it saves
enough energy to power the average American home for six months. Furthermore,
recycling a ton of paper can reduce greenhouse emissions by one metric ton.
Using less paper also decreases the need for incineration of waste.
In
conclusion, saving energy takes effort, but the benefits are well worth it. By
using sustainable business practices, your company can save money. It may also
enjoy a better reputation in the eyes of the consumers. This can lead to higher
profits. Research shows that companies that regularly employ sustainable practices experience a 15 – 30%
decrease in annual production costs, and, on average, a 5% increase
in profit. Of course, the benefits for the environment cannot be translated
into monetary values, but saving the environment has benefits for us all.