What businesses can do:

• Manage your greenhouse gas emissions (measure, reduce, offset), and even become carbon neutral. Download our free how-to guide, Doing Business in a New Climate, which can help your business reduce its emissions and save money! The guide also features case studies from over 50 leading businesses from around the world that are benefitting from greenhouse gas management.
• Purchase energy-saving models of office appliances and equipment, such as EnergyStar-approved computers, LCD monitors, printers and photocopiers. Not only will this help save energy, but it will save money too.
• Design for lighting intensity of 1.0 watts per square foot or less. Over-lighting wastes energy and produces glare.
• Install lighting controls to turn lights on only when needed and to provide the required amount of light. Based in Langley, B.C., Ledalite's office lighting technology, Ergolight, incorporates sensors and computer-based dimming controls to provide significant savings in energy costs. Business customers using the Ergolight system have experienced major decreases in energy consumption, in some cases up to 80 per cent.
• Encourage staff to commit to taking alternative modes of transportation for their daily commute at least once a month. This can include options such as car-pooling, cycling, taking public transit or walking where possible. Visit Go Green to help your company reduce vehicle trips to the workplace.
• Reduce your staff's environmental impacts from air travel by using video-conferences for meetings.
• Create a recycling program and decrease paper use.
• If you have a fleet of vehicles, try to use the most energy-efficient models possible. For example, Novex, one of the Lower Mainland’s largest couriers, plans on converting its entire fleet of cars, vans and trucks to low-emission vehicles.
• Energy-efficiency upgrades and retrofits to office buildings can have long-term paybacks. For example, instead of spending more than $3 million to build a new leisure centre, the District of Mission, B.C., upgraded its existing leisure centre. It replaced the refrigeration plant and hot water boiler systems and installed energy-efficient lighting systems among other measures. As a result, Mission will enjoy annual energy savings of $74,000.
• Visit Cool Companies or Power Smart for businesses to find out how your company can cut pollution and save money with clean, efficient energy technology.
• Take the Nature Challenge @ Work!

Encourage your local government to move towards energy efficient communities. Encourage your city to expand transit and other alternatives, make city operations more energy efficient and encourage compact development instead of sprawl. Tips on contacting political representatives.