Business is going green — and finding a financial benefit to doing so! In the next few years, it looks pretty likely that more and more offices will be reducing their carbon footprints. As they do, there are a few things I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of around the water cooler.

On-site power production: As solar panels and other energy options get cheaper, the cost of electricity from the local fossil fuels plants are sky rocketing. It makes perfect financial sense to install any sort of generator that has practically no fuel costs. The only kink in the plan is the high installation costs — it can take years to recoup that sort of investment. But with options like PPAs and more efficient solar panels, on-site power production is looking pretty good.

Telecommuting: Employees, as a rule, like telecommuting because they don’t have to fight through traffic. As a side benefit, telecommuting also reduces carbon emissions. But employers are also starting to warm to the idea: they don’t have to buy desks for telecommuters, pay for electricity for their computers or a host of other expenses. Just a simple reduction in the wood, plastic and other materials in office furniture makes telecommuting environmentally friendly, but added up with energy usage numbers, it’s great for the employers, the employees and the environment.

Fewer office electronics: Copy machines and other office electronics are expensive. I think we’ll be seeing fewer of them, though as certain electronics are capable of taking on more and more tasks. We’ve all seen the all-in-one copy machine / printer / scanner option — but I think we’ll be seeing more offerings from the electronics companies. Along the same lines, I think we’ll see more energy-efficient equipment and an overall reduction in gadgets. After all, if a cell phone can take on the jobs of a pager, a camera, a voice recorder, an internet browser and half a dozen other things, I think most companies will leap at the chance to provide fewer ‘toys’ to their employees.

As companies find more ways to go green, they’re finding financial reasons to implement the same idea. And this move towards cleaner business practices is creating brand new industries (and new jobs) that can provide significant opportunities in a time when the American economy can certainly use the boost. So why aren’t more companies jumping on the cleantech bandwagon?

It’s a change. And not all business owners are innovators — we saw that when some companies started to use computers. It took time for a lot of businesses to implement computers, even though, for some people, the value of the computer is pretty clear. It’s going to take just as much time to make green business practices the norm.

Photo by Jeff Wilcox