Environmentally Concerned How Industries Are Becoming More Accountable

GENERAL BUSINESS INDUSTRIESMillions of people work office jobs, contributing to a lot of energy consumption and paper waste. Odds are you've noticed a major trend in business: going paperless. In the office, this means less printing of documents; as it translates to the outside world, it means moving toward online billing and statements. Office buildings are making their companies greener by improving their building systems as well. Businesses work to cut back on paper, fix inefficient pluming, and hvac systems whether in Winnipeg or Arizona. Another trend is giving more workers the flexibility to work from home. Currently, about 4 million Americans work from home at least once a week, accumulating 840 million saved gallons of gas a year, and 6500+ less pounds of CO2 emissions. DATA AND TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRYWhile computers are an amazing tool, they're far from eco-friendly. Data centers alone account for 1.2% of American electricity consumption, more than double what it was in 2000. That's why the tech industry is currently working to develop power supply standards that cut energy consumption. More data centers are switching to direct current instead of alternating current for the lowered cooling needs, for example. ENERGY INDUSTRYIt's a hard fact that the United States relies mostly on non-renewable sources of energy. According to East Side Ventilation though, have seen a surge in popularity for renewable fuel sources like solar and wind power. From 2011 to 2012 alone, solar electric capacity in the U.S. increased a whopping 76%. Meanwhile, wind power capacity in the U.S. has more than doubled from 2008 to now. FREIGHT INDUSTRYDue to rising fuel costs, many shipping companies are replacing old vehicles with hybrid models or alternative fuels. This is amazing from an environmental standpoint since energy efficient vehicles produce less carbon emission, and transport is a huge industry. One such example comes in the form of the Eugen Maersk container ship, which switched to a new fuel that reduces emissions of toxic sulfur dioxide by a staggering 85%.Almost all industries today are seeking ways to go green. There is still more that can be done of course, but these industries are taking the crucial first steps. Hopefully, more breakthroughs can be made so that we can lower our impact on the environment. Follow Dude, Sustainable! on Twitter or Pinterest, or subscribe to our newsletter.