A “green home” is a place that is functional while also having a lower carbon footprint. It takes some work, but this is the perfect place to design and craft an environmentally friendly home office.
It may not look like it, but your home office can impact the environment. Luckily, there are six actionable steps that you can do to have a sustainable work-from-home setup.
By Jacky Xu
6 Techniques to Craft an Environmentally Friendly Home Office
1. Use second-hand furniture
A lot of people are choosing to work from home these days. In many cases, this means setting up an office in their house. Logically, this means shopping for furniture for their home office too. But what should you do if you want to have an environmentally friendly and sustainable home office?
To have a sustainable home office, it is essential to choose reusable items. A piece of second-hand furniture is an excellent option because it can be repurposed and more affordable than buying a new one.
People often think of second-hand furniture as a way to save money or give new life to a piece that was not a good fit for them. We tend to forget that using second-hand furniture also allows us to reuse and repurpose old items.
2. Cultivate energy-saving habits
It is not just your workstation in the office that needs to be eco-friendly. The way you work at home can have a more pronounced impact on the environment.
Home offices are increasing in popularity because they help us be more productive and effective. However, it is also essential to use energy efficiently when working at home.
One way to do that is to avoid using light bulbs and electronics because they can be a massive drain on our energy and resources. We should also make sure we turn off the lights and computers when we leave our home office and not even leave them plugged in. These small habits can add up and help us reduce energy costs and our carbon footprint.
3. Introduce plants into your workspace
You may be working in an office most of the time, but it doesn’t mean that you should neglect your health at home. There are various ways to make your home office more environment-friendly and sustainable.
The first thing you can do is to add plants to your office. Plants can create a healthier workspace for you while also improving the air quality in the room.
But what plants should you pick? One plant to consider would be cacti.
Cacti are great because they create an arid feeling, perfect for people who need to focus without distractions. They love low light but moderate water, which means they will thrive near a window with indirect sunlight or near a table lamp with dim lighting. They can add a feeling of freshness to your workspace that might have been missing from it before.
4. Aim to achieve a paperless office
A paperless home office has many advantages, not just for the environment but also for your health.
Firstly, it will save you time and increase your productivity. Paperless offices reduce the amount of time spent on housekeeping tasks because there are no stacks of papers to file or sort through daily. This habit can potentially save you several hours per week.
Additionally, a paperless office will help you save money on office supplies and utilities. For one, it eliminates the need to buy ink cartridges and other consumables that are necessary for printing documents.
Given all these benefits, you should start considering going paperless sooner.
5. Remember and implement the 5Rs
We should all be aware of the 5Rs. Reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, and refuse. These are ways to have a sustainable home office.
- Refuse: Refuse to buy unnecessarily manufactured items if they can be made from recycled materials instead.
- Reduce: Minimize the number of materials you use in your office by choosing recyclable or reusable materials.
- Reuse: Reuse old items you don’t want anymore for something else in your office.
- Recycle: Recycling used items helps them decompose faster and create material for new products.
- Rot: Compost your kitchen scraps at home, or take part in a communitty composting program.
6. Adopt a minimalist mindset
When it comes to a minimalist mindset, less is more. The less stuff that we have in our home office, the better. Most people can’t do this because they need their workspace to be cluttered to feel productive.
When it comes to a sustainable home office, though, you want to cut down on all the unnecessary items lying around.
To have a sustainable and environment-friendly home office, you must adopt a minimalist mindset. This mindset means getting rid of all the clutter and making sure that your workstation is clean often.
Final Thoughts on Creating an Environmentally Friendly Home Office
The sustainability tips listed above can help you set up a functional home office without hurting the environment. That way, you can feel more motivated to work, knowing that you produce less carbon footprint in your work-from-home setup.
Check out this infographic put together by the team at energypricing.com to help you visualize a green home office!
Infographic Provided By Energy Pricing, a top competitor to compare energy ratesAbout the Author
Jacky Xu is the Chief Operating Officer at Maid Sailors. Maid Sailors takes pride in providing unparalleled cleaning services at affordable prices and will help transform your house into a home.