Printing is Out. Document Management is In.

The days of printing out a memo for every employee in the office are over.  Think of all the obscene amounts of paper that have been used over the years.  It boggles the mind we have any trees left at all.  Thank God for the internet, e-mail, and document management systems.  These inventions are allowing us to manage our documents electronically and save, literally, tons of paper.  Now, if we can only stop companies from sending us junk mail we’ll be good.

Seriously, the new copiers on the market play a major part of delivering a solution for our paper consumption problem.  These new devices are the all-in-one printers, scanners, copiers, fax machines, and document management systems.  Let’s talk about the last and most important feature, document management.  These new copiers integrate with document management systems.  This allows them to store PDFs, documents, and large word data files in virtual space.  The virtual space comes cheap when compared to the priceless value of the environment.  If you consider the issue in those terms, leasing a copier costs a lot less than one real tree.

With New Document Management Systems Comes a New Attitude

Perhaps the biggest benefit of these new copiers is that they are getting people to think differently.  Instead of printing something out to the printer/copier it is made into a virtual document and stored in a portal.  This portal is securely encrypted with a 64 bit encryption that will keep all of the information safe.  That information can then be backed up to ensure there will be a safety net for that data.

New copiers are all equipped with some kind of document management system, or at least a way to connect to that if you choose.  The copier/scanner/printer is tied into a company’s file storage system.  With this, a company can stay more organized, be more efficient, and kinder to the environment!  It’s a win-win for businesses and the earth.

The greatest thing about the new age of technology is a document may be created, seen by thousands of people, used on a daily basis by everyone in the company, and store indefinitely.  All of this can happen without the use of ink and paper.  It’s a beautiful thing.

This advance didn’t come one moment too soon.  The world’s paper use was running ramped.  Now, it’s subsiding.  Hopefully, that trend will continue.  As we continue to do business in a smarter way it will continue to be a help to preserving the environment.

By Patrick Torres is a an environmental current events writer.

There are many obvious tips you can find online to reduce your monthly power and gas bills, but there are also a range of clever tricks that you may not have heard of to reduce your monthly power bills while also doing your part to save the environment. This article will discuss five tricks that will not only slash your monthly power bills, but will also reduce your household’s pressure on the environment.

Tip #1 – Unplug, Unplug and Unplug!

Studies have shown that many household appliances and electronics continue to pull a small current from the power outlet even when turned off. Electronic appliances such as microwaves draw a small current to power LCD displays, pilot lights and clocks which are unnecessary when the appliance is not in use. By getting into the habit of unplugging your electrical devices after turning them off, you can reduce your power bill significantly over the course of the year.

Tip #2 – Insulation

Did you know that insulating your home can not only keep it warmer in the winter but also help keep it cool during hot summer months? Insulation effectively works by preventing the temperature outside your home from causing rapid fluctuations in the temperate inside your home. Insulation also keeps your home warm in cold winter months by preventing hot air from rising and escaping through your home’s ceiling or gaps in the walls, and similarly keeps your home cooler in the summer by keeping cooled air inside your home by forming a barrier between hot air outside and cool air inside your home.

Tip #3 – Timers

Timers are another clever innovation that can reduce your annual power bills considerably when used on high-power electronics and appliances. Timers are installed between your electrical sockets and your power cable for your electronic device or appliance, and allow you to manage during what hours of the day the power should be allowed to pass through. For example, a good use of timers is to install them on heaters to heat the house only when you are home, such as between 6am and 9am when you are getting ready for work, and again between 7pm to 10pm before you hop into bed.

Tip #4 – Homemade Compost

Homemade compost for gardening and fertilising can be made by recycling household items that would otherwise be discarded into the trash. All you need to do is build a small receptacle around four cubic feet in size with several small holes drilled in the size to allow for oxygen flow and decomposition.  Your homemade compost will consist of household waste such as grass clippings and food scraps (eg. broccoli, leaves, apple cores, potato peelings, tomato stems, corn husks and grapefruits skins). Be sure to avoid using meat scraps sat they decompose slowly and will attract animals. Not only will this save you money by not having to purchase compost, it will also reduce the amount of waste your household is pouring into landfills every year.

Tip #5 – Car Wash Tips

To reduce your monthly water usage and to help the environment, purchase a water-saving garden hose nozzle and wash your car on the lawn. Washing your car with a limited-flow water nozzle will reduce the amount of water necessary to rinse your car without limiting water pressure. Washing your car on your lawn will not only water your lawn, it will also prevent chemicals from flowing into drains and eventually ending up ni waterways or the ocean.

It is always also important to shop around to find the cheapest electricity suppliers in your area, this tip could potentially save you hundreds off your annual electricity bill. By following the 5 tips discussed above, you can reduce your monthly power, gas and water bills while also helping to ease the burden on the environment.

Gas Incentive

Why do Americans consume so much gas? Well, there are a lot of culprits we can blame… poor fuel efficiency standards, underdeveloped public transit, low taxes on gas, bad politics, and the list goes on. Probably the last thing that comes to mind are credit cards. But the truth of the matter is that there are numerous gas credit cards on the market that give higher rebates on gas… they are actually rewarding consumers for using more gas. Does that make common sense? Is that something we really need to be incentivizing?!

As much as we hate paying an arm and a leg at the pump, the honest truth is that it seems to be one of the only surefire ways to reduce consumption. Do you remember a couple years ago, back in 2008, when gas prices hit $4 to $5 per gallon? What happened was that people started driving a lot less! It also spurred a slew of gas discount incentives from savvy retailers. Many stores would throw in a free gas card when you spent a certain amount of money on a big ticket item. Auto manufacturers had “guaranteed” gas price incentives on new vehicle purchases. Meanwhile the crafty credit card industry ramped up their own programs, by using gas rewards as an incentive to try and get consumers to spend more on their credit card.

Many feel that giving any kind of rebate or discount on gas is only going to encourage consumption. They argue that we will never be able to end our oil addiction as long as we have cheap gas. However Michael Davis of CreditCardForum.com believes differently, “Back in the summer of 2008 during the price spike, we saw applications for our gas credit cards surged. The Discover More card, Chase Freedom card, and ATT Universal card were the three most popular credit cards on our site, simply because they offered the highest rebate on gas. But if you read the comments on our credit card forum, you would see that the only reason people were applying for them was because they literally could barely afford the gas to simply drive to and from work, so it was a way for them to save a little money. Trust me, people weren’t applying for these credit cards so they could drive more. They were just doing it to get by.”

While Michael does have a couple valid points, the bottom line is that these credit cards with cashback on gas without a doubt did encourage at least some people to drive more, even if it was only a minority of users. Furthermore, he fails to mention the fact that the credit card processing costs that gas stations have to pay can be anywhere from 3 to 5%… so at the end of the day his belief that these credit cards save us money is just plain wrong. And last but not least, they will also encourage some people to run up debt, do balance transfers, etc… all just for a tank of gas! So if they’re not actually saving money (as I’ve demonstrated) that brings us back to the original question… are gas credit cards bad for the environment? Well, I don’t think it would be a total stretch to say that they are!