IBC encourages an environmental friendly workplace and promotes employee awareness of opportunities to save energy and provide a healthy work environment while contributing to a healthy global environment as well.

While debate exists about recycling and other aspects of environmentalism, our Green Team is motivational for employees who want to make a difference in their work environment. As a team we can save energy and time, keep trash out of landfills, opt for re-useable dishes, share books in a library, and more for our work environment.

Here are a few ideas which are being incorporated by our Green Team members.

Managing office equipment energy use:

• Office equipment and electronics use energy even when idle or on stand-by. To save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at work, always activate the power management features on the computer and the monitor.
• Keep the computer and printer on energy saving settings when we know that we will be away for sometime. Unplug laptop power cords when not in use and turn off equipment and lights at the end of the day.
• The power-saving sleep mode uses 60 to 80 percent less energy than full-power mode, but unplugging or turning off your inactive computer uses 100% less energy than full-power mode. Turning off your computer every night saves energy, extends the computer's life, and cuts down on computer failures.
• Consider using a plug board that can be turned off when we are done using our computers, printers, wireless routers and other electronics.
• Use both sides of the paper and recycle when you're done. Paper requires a surprising amount of energy and wood to produce and much of it ends up in waste piles all too soon. The average office employee can use as much as 10,000 sheets of paper a year, creating a stack of used paper over a meter high. Printing first drafts, faxes, e-mails, and other items on the back side of previously used paper as well as making double-sided copies can significantly reduce office paper use and is even more efficient than simply recycling.
• Don't print if you are not sure. Also recycling 1 tonne of paper saves: -- 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil -- 4,100 kilowatts of energy. Enough to poower a home for 5 months. -- 2.4 cubic meters of landfill space -- 25 kg of air pollution

Using less energy for Commute:

• Switch to public transportation, carpooling, biking, and other innovative ways to save energy and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on our way to and from work. Reduce traffic congestion and minimize the environmental impacts associated with drive-alone commuting.
• Drive a fuel-efficient car. Driving a car that gets 12.5 km/litre instead of 8.5 km/litre can save 900 litres of gas and 2 tonnes of CO 2 in just one year of driving (assuming about 24000 km of driving annually).
• Save money and CO 2 emissions - as well as staying safe - by not speeding. Driving 16 kph slower can decrease gas use by 20%. Just 8 kph less can decrease greenhouse gas emissions in one year by nearly 10 tonnes. Additionally, keeping your tires properly inflated can decrease gas consumption 6%, and keeping your engine tuned can save 15 to 50%!

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle:

• Recycle office paper, newspapers, beverage containers, electronic equipment and batteries. Limit the use of disposable products. Reducing, reusing, and recycling in the office helps conserve energy, reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal.
• Buy supplies made with recycled content. Email advisories about how employees can use less paper. Examples include: set printers to duplex by default; print on both sides of paper for internal or personal use documents. Recycle used printer cartridges.
• Polystyrene/Styrofoam stays around for several hundred years after you've disposed of it. The next time you have coffee, try not to drink from a polystyrene cup. Improvise, use a mug, use a vase, use your imagination if you have to.
• It takes 10 years for a cigarette butt to biodegrade. They're not only litter, but they also cause many animals to die annually from inadvertently eating them. And isn't it time you stopped smoking anyway?
• If each one of ten million office workers used one less staple a day, nearly 100 tonnes of steel would be saved every year. If you've fallen out with anyone at work, imagine the bridge you could build with that.
• Each year more than 50 million trees and 75 billion litres of water are used to create more than 7 million tonnes of junk mail, over 40% of which is thrown away unopened. The next time a company sends you any, call them to remove your address from their list.
• For old electronics, investigate any programs to ensure reuse and recycling or donate used equipment to schools or other organizations.
• Purchase large or refillable containers of creamer, sugar, salt, pepper, and butter instead of individual containers. Evaluate packaging, shipping, and marketing materials to eliminate waste.
• Send extra food from company events and lunches home with employees or deliver the food to a local charity rather than throwing it away.

Saving Electricity:

• Experiment with room temperatures because all employees have to be comfortable, but use air conditioning with discretion.
• Turn off office lights while attending meetings, or at night and over the weekend. Suggest lighting changes and use more energy efficient bulbs. Turn lights off in restrooms, conference rooms, libraries, and so forth when the room is not in use.
• Purchase energy efficient appliances.
• If 10% of the world's mobile phone owners unplugged their phone chargers once the phone is fully charged, it would reduce energy consumption by an amount equivalent to that used by 60,000 European homes. So pull the plug and start saving energy.
• Turning the thermostat up just 1.5 degrees Celsius in summer and down 1.5 degrees in winter can save over 400 kg of CO 2 emissions every year. Use a fan instead of air conditioning to keep cool. And if you're cold, put on a sweater before you turn up the heat.
• Re-charge your batteries. Batteries make us mobile. They run games, machines, and tools. then end up leaking toxic chemicals into the earth. Rechargeable batteries require less toxic chemicals to make and do not end up in waste dumps so quickly. And whatever you use, recycle. Check on local recycling and safe disposal programs for everything from the batteries in your mobile phone to the batteries in your car.