We’re always told about being green these days. Which is great. But to be perfectly honest, I don’t really think about it. I recycle everything that can be recycled and I’m very frugal with our heating system. But that’s about it. That is until I read an article about how we can all be a bit more green.

It got me thinking. We at The Cuillin Collective are a lot greener than I first thought. Why? Because we do our bit and work at home. The average couple (our age) drives 29,980 miles per year which amounts to 10.3 tonnes of CO2*. Ailsa and I drive 3500 miles every year which amounts to 1.24 tonnes. That’s a 9.06 tonne difference. To put this in perspective, I could fly from London to New York and back again 12 times in under 9 tonnes.

But why don’t we drive that much? Well it isn’t because I don’t like driving, it’s because we don’t have to.

Our commute is about 25 yards on foot. From our kitchen to our office. Before we even start work, we’re green.

What about electricity I hear you ask? Yes, we use computers all day everyday but it turns out that we don’t really use that much electricity. Our computers are extremely efficient and our lighting for the explanation videos are only 80 watts each. We are proudly in line with the national average for usage. Which makes us think, what is the average family doing with their electricity if they’re out all day at work?

Paper Craft Videos

With any business, reducing the amount of paper they use should be top of the list. Yes we do use paper to create our explainer videos, in fact we couldn’t work without paper. But we never print emails and we never print scripts. In all honesty, I don’t know why we even have a printer. We recently had our accounts audited by an accountant and I was asked why I didn’t have printouts of our purchases. We have over 250 transactions via Paypal every year. That’s 250 bits of paper saved. Why would I print them out? Surely they’re safer online? If the tax man needs something, I can send a digital copy. We’re actually doing our bit and not knowing it.

Here is something I do know. If you’re leaving school with no idea what to do, get on oDesk.com and Elance.com and you’ll never have to leave the house again helping your wallet and the environment. Working from home is the future. No matter what way you look at it. It’s going to happen.

What does your business knowingly or unknowingly do to be green?

*Calculated from http://www.cooltheworld.com/carbon_calculator.php