Go Green Week

If you are not a student, next week’s Go Green Week will probably pass you by unnoticed. Spearheaded by People and Planet, a movement dedicated to calling students to action on poverty and the environment, next week sees its annual push to get students to take action against climate change and to campaign for their educational establishments to become fossil free.

Now, whilst you may not be a student attending a college or university and your days of demonstrating against and pressurizing authority are some way behind you, chances are you are still aware of the pressing need for us all to do our bit to reduce our carbon footprint. One way in which many of us with an office based job can make a difference, is to spend at least some of each working week working from home.

No commute equals no fossil fuel consumption on your conscience, although you will need to heat your home workspace at this time of year if you are to work effectively. And if your home is otherwise left empty during the day, with the heating turned off until the family’s return, it can be a costly business keeping yourself comfortable, both in an environmental and economic sense.

A garden office, just a stone’s throw away from your own back door, is perhaps the most energy efficient way of providing a warm and productive environment in which to work. Choosing an eco-building provider, such as TG Escapes, will serve to further reduce your environmental impact. It will ensure that the building materials used are natural and sustainably sourced or, if synthetic, utilise recycled products wherever practicable. High insulation values will be woven into the fabric of the building and only the most energy efficient appliances (including the heating system) will be installed.

Furthermore, nature’s elements can be harnessed to their maximum potential simply by clever, site-specific design, such as the use of large windows to maximise the penetration of natural light into your work space, which is not only good for energy consumption but is also good for you too. Being bathed in sunlight, even that of the weak winter variety, and having access to a natural view is known to have a positive impact on our physical and mental well-being, which in turn will boost productivity. Not to mention the travelling time that you will save, each day you work from home.

If you’re pitching the idea to your boss, you can point out how much extra work time will be unleashed. However the reality will be that, freed of the stress of an often unpredictable commute and unhindered by the interruptions of a busy office environment, your improved productivity will probably mean you are able to find a bit of time left over for you. Time for a bit of exercise perhaps, or maybe to nip back to the house to get the heating back on and preparations underway for a delicious family meal when everyone else starts coming home. And all safe in the knowledge that you have done your little bit to go green.