NetTrac Communications Inc. - News
Posted: July 20, 2009
The success of our corporations is measured these days by far more than just the bottom line. In this week’s article we will take a look at how companies, especially those involved in hi-tech industries, can do more to preserve our global environment, and protect those that are less fortunate then ourselves.
There are lots of things we can do in our everyday work lives to promote a better environment, cut down our carbon foot print and generally try to make the world a better place to live.
Remember when we all believed that introduction of computers into the workplace would cut down on hours worked and eventually lead to a paperless environment? Now we all know there could be nothing that is further from the truth. The facts prove much different. Firstly, the introduction of computers into our daily work has significantly increased work loads by presenting us with the ability to process so much more information. Technology in essence has made our jobs a living nightmare. We have to be masters of the literal libraries of knowledge that has become the standard by which our customers, fellow workers and employers judge our performance. It is my guess you can go through any office today and pick out the people that deal with this by printing everything they come across on the Internet that is remotely pertinent to their jobs. Indeed, the amount of paper consumption by printers has quadrupled in the past 5 years alone and 30 million acres of forested land are lost annually to paper production throughout the world. Sadly enough, not enough of this paper is ever recycled. Also, in developing countries, a lot of this paper ends up being incinerated. Not any of this is good for our global environment, not to mention the carbon foot print of paper production or let alone burning tons of it. So what can be done?
Well the answer is that there are lots of little things that can be done. None of it painful or tedious.
• Start by being less trigger happy on that printer button. Unless you really need to store a paper copy of a document, email it to your team, or commit it to a document retrieval system.
(Even a well set up and robust Microsoft SharePoint site can be the perfect place to store those documents and manage their use.)
• Use recycled paper all the time. Today there is little or no difference between first use and paper that has been recycled a 100 times.
• Make it a point to review documents online. Store them on your laptop for when you are offline.
• When publishing materials, make sure your printer uses recycled paper and uses techniques that save paper.
And, what about those toner cartridges? Make sure they don’t end up in the landfill site by using companies that recycle them. Most toner cartridge recycling companies are able to reuse these printer components many times without any noticeable degradation of print quality.
Speaking of global carbon footprints, where does your electricity come from? Obviously, there is little you can do when your office is located around the corner from an oil-fired or coal-fired power plant. But you can make sure if you are building a server farm, or hosting your web site or online application that it is housed in an eco-friendly area that has electricity provided by renewable resources and low carbon foot print.
If you have a foreign office in a developing country, make sure you can locate in an area without contributing to local pollution problems. If you can not do this, make sure you take all the steps you can to reduce the impact of your presence such as purchasing the most energy efficient products you can for your office. Energy-Star compliance is known the world over. These products may be a little more expensive, but the air you save may be your own or your children’s.
Today, one of the most important things you can consider is what will happen to your hardware when you are done with it. With today’s computers destined to have a life of two years or less, the amount of hardware reaching ‘end of life’ annually is growing to a staggering number. This year between 20 and 50 million tons of ‘e-waste’ (of which computers make up the lion’s share) will be generated. Most of these computers are sent to foreign countries such as India, Pakistan or China from North America and Europe for recycling. In the case of China, most computers are shipped there under the legal requirement of being re-usable but end up being stripped of components in very un-safe and very environmentally hazardous ways. If you have never heard of this do a simple Google search on “computer recycling” and watch some of the videos. Very appalling stuff to say the least! How responsible is the hi tech firm that tosses out its e-garbage in the dumpster without a second thought as to where it might wind up.
So what can be done? Well again, there are lots of things you can do to make sure you are a responsible technology user and disposer. Firstly, make sure your computer vendor has an acceptable recycling program that won’t end up seeing your computer shipped to China. Dell computers, for example, will safely recycle any computer you send them so long as you have made a purchase to replace that machine. The same goes for printers. Also there are many places that will recondition your old computer and make sure it gets put to good use in a developing country by school children. Another thing to keep in mind is when you make a computer purchase, buy the most up to date and robust hardware you can to ensure you get the longest sustainable life from it. Check to see if you can easily make upgrades to suit your needs rather than making a new purchase.
Finally, be a leader. Teach your staff about the importance of the environment. In a lot of places in the world today, people still have little regard or respect for the environment we live in. Take the time to ensure all of your staff become environmentally conscious. You’ll be surprised at how viable some of the “green solutions” they will put forward are. Making your organization a responsible citizen of the environment may not put dollars on your bottom line, but it will help you pass a better world to our children.
At NetTrac we believe in the One World, One People, One Solution axiom of Global Environmental Change. All of our servers are located in our Waterloo, Ontario data center, where the bulk of the electricity is produced by hydro-electric providers affording a low carbon foot print. Additionally, we purchase only Dell servers ensuring that we can easily and safely recycle any hardware we need to dispose of. Keeping our environment safe for our children is a major consideration. At every point of contact with the environment, we do our best to give full consideration to all options choosing only the most eco-friendly alternatives.
Next time, Being Involved-Your Communities.
Measuring Success-Working Green.
The success of our corporations is measured these days by far more than just the bottom line. In this week’s article we will take a look at how companies, especially those involved in hi-tech industries, can do more to preserve our global environment, and protect those that are less fortunate then ourselves.
There are lots of things we can do in our everyday work lives to promote a better environment, cut down our carbon foot print and generally try to make the world a better place to live.
Remember when we all believed that introduction of computers into the workplace would cut down on hours worked and eventually lead to a paperless environment? Now we all know there could be nothing that is further from the truth. The facts prove much different. Firstly, the introduction of computers into our daily work has significantly increased work loads by presenting us with the ability to process so much more information. Technology in essence has made our jobs a living nightmare. We have to be masters of the literal libraries of knowledge that has become the standard by which our customers, fellow workers and employers judge our performance. It is my guess you can go through any office today and pick out the people that deal with this by printing everything they come across on the Internet that is remotely pertinent to their jobs. Indeed, the amount of paper consumption by printers has quadrupled in the past 5 years alone and 30 million acres of forested land are lost annually to paper production throughout the world. Sadly enough, not enough of this paper is ever recycled. Also, in developing countries, a lot of this paper ends up being incinerated. Not any of this is good for our global environment, not to mention the carbon foot print of paper production or let alone burning tons of it. So what can be done?
Well the answer is that there are lots of little things that can be done. None of it painful or tedious.
• Start by being less trigger happy on that printer button. Unless you really need to store a paper copy of a document, email it to your team, or commit it to a document retrieval system.
(Even a well set up and robust Microsoft SharePoint site can be the perfect place to store those documents and manage their use.)
• Use recycled paper all the time. Today there is little or no difference between first use and paper that has been recycled a 100 times.
• Make it a point to review documents online. Store them on your laptop for when you are offline.
• When publishing materials, make sure your printer uses recycled paper and uses techniques that save paper.
And, what about those toner cartridges? Make sure they don’t end up in the landfill site by using companies that recycle them. Most toner cartridge recycling companies are able to reuse these printer components many times without any noticeable degradation of print quality.
Speaking of global carbon footprints, where does your electricity come from? Obviously, there is little you can do when your office is located around the corner from an oil-fired or coal-fired power plant. But you can make sure if you are building a server farm, or hosting your web site or online application that it is housed in an eco-friendly area that has electricity provided by renewable resources and low carbon foot print.
If you have a foreign office in a developing country, make sure you can locate in an area without contributing to local pollution problems. If you can not do this, make sure you take all the steps you can to reduce the impact of your presence such as purchasing the most energy efficient products you can for your office. Energy-Star compliance is known the world over. These products may be a little more expensive, but the air you save may be your own or your children’s.
Today, one of the most important things you can consider is what will happen to your hardware when you are done with it. With today’s computers destined to have a life of two years or less, the amount of hardware reaching ‘end of life’ annually is growing to a staggering number. This year between 20 and 50 million tons of ‘e-waste’ (of which computers make up the lion’s share) will be generated. Most of these computers are sent to foreign countries such as India, Pakistan or China from North America and Europe for recycling. In the case of China, most computers are shipped there under the legal requirement of being re-usable but end up being stripped of components in very un-safe and very environmentally hazardous ways. If you have never heard of this do a simple Google search on “computer recycling” and watch some of the videos. Very appalling stuff to say the least! How responsible is the hi tech firm that tosses out its e-garbage in the dumpster without a second thought as to where it might wind up.
So what can be done? Well again, there are lots of things you can do to make sure you are a responsible technology user and disposer. Firstly, make sure your computer vendor has an acceptable recycling program that won’t end up seeing your computer shipped to China. Dell computers, for example, will safely recycle any computer you send them so long as you have made a purchase to replace that machine. The same goes for printers. Also there are many places that will recondition your old computer and make sure it gets put to good use in a developing country by school children. Another thing to keep in mind is when you make a computer purchase, buy the most up to date and robust hardware you can to ensure you get the longest sustainable life from it. Check to see if you can easily make upgrades to suit your needs rather than making a new purchase.
Finally, be a leader. Teach your staff about the importance of the environment. In a lot of places in the world today, people still have little regard or respect for the environment we live in. Take the time to ensure all of your staff become environmentally conscious. You’ll be surprised at how viable some of the “green solutions” they will put forward are. Making your organization a responsible citizen of the environment may not put dollars on your bottom line, but it will help you pass a better world to our children.
At NetTrac we believe in the One World, One People, One Solution axiom of Global Environmental Change. All of our servers are located in our Waterloo, Ontario data center, where the bulk of the electricity is produced by hydro-electric providers affording a low carbon foot print. Additionally, we purchase only Dell servers ensuring that we can easily and safely recycle any hardware we need to dispose of. Keeping our environment safe for our children is a major consideration. At every point of contact with the environment, we do our best to give full consideration to all options choosing only the most eco-friendly alternatives.
Next time, Being Involved-Your Communities.
September 09, 2009
NetTrac Provides Innovative Solution For Engineered Lifting Systems and Equipment Inc.
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September 03, 2009
NetTrac Announces Continuous Data Protection: Affordable Plans for Unbeatable Protection
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August 20, 2009
Measuring Success-Our Communities.
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July 20, 2009
Measuring Success-Working Green.
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