How to Ensure That Your Commercial Property Is Safe and Eco-Friendly

What’s good for the environment is also often good for business as well: eco-friendly practices reassure consumers that you’re an ethical company, and they reduce waste so that you’re spending less on things like packaging or energy bills. Still, it can be hard to identify what are the most pressing changes you can make in order to help reduce your company’s impact on the environment while preserving profits. 

Today, we’ll take a look at some of the most crucial things you can do to ensure that your storefront, warehouse, or facility has both maximum efficiency and minimum ecological harm. 

Take Time to Preserve Your Current Infrastructure

While the mantra of the eco-friendly movement is to reduce, reuse, and recycle, we often forget about that protecting our current infrastructure is a way to reduce waste. The National Recreation and Park Association notes that preventative maintenance is a key element of sustainability, as it prevents excessive waste and unnecessary replacements that could have been avoided through proper care. Preventative maintenance also saves your company money, especially as commercial equipment can be prohibitively expensive on a small budget. 

To reduce your carbon footprint, create a plan for preparing a commercial facility for winter, a season that can be very brutal on infrastructure. Have your furnaces serviced and checked before winter hits, and do the same for air conditioning systems in the summer. You should replace the weatherproof seals on doors and windows whenever they wear out and have plumbers check over your water systems to make sure that they are as efficient as possible. Even if you do not choose to replace well-functioning systems with more eco-friendly options just yet, you’ll have made a difference by keeping your products out of the landfill for a little longer. 

Choose the Right Systems When It’s Time to Replace

All infrastructure eventually needs to be replaced, even with perfect maintenance, and this is the best time to further reduce your impact on the planet by finding more sustainable replacements for your old equipment. One of the most exciting options is eco-friendly air conditioning, particularly geothermal heat pumps. 

These products use the temperature differential between the ground and the facility to heat or cool the property as necessary. During the summer, they pump heat into the ground and draw up cold air, while during the winter, they will draw up warmth and push the cold into the soil below. This allows for a less energy-intensive climate control process that is just as effective as older options.

Other selections include things like installing solar panels to reduce your dependency on fossil fuel-powered electricity plants, low-flow toilets to prevent excessive water usage, and energy-efficient windows that will reduce heat loss. Those these are often a bit more expensive, they save you money over time thanks to wasting less money on utilities. 

Consider Xeriscaping or Natural Landscaping

Most commercial facilities have the typical Kentucky bluegrass lawn somewhere on the grounds, usually at the entrance. While these standards landscapes are attractive, they also waste thousands of gallons of water per year on irrigation; the environmental impact grows starker when you spray pesticides or fertilizers to keep them looking perfectly green. Worse still, these types of environments, filled with non-native plants, don’t promote biodiversity the same way that native plants do. This means that your patch of green grass is not much different from a concrete parking lot for your local pollinators.

You can both reduce your water usage and create a lush microbiome by using xeriscaping, a planting technique that uses drought-resistant plants and less intensive irrigation methods. Though it is usually associated with the Southwestern United States, you can find qualified landscapers skilled in xeriscaping for your particular area, who will help you find the right native plants for your purposes. 

Another option is to create a more native landscape through local plants and lighter lawn maintenance. For example, you may plant pollinator-friendly options in the medians between parking lots or in front of the building, inviting bees, butterflies, and birds to enjoy a feast. As these plants are typically more suited for the local environment, they also require less maintenance and, therefore, save you money on landscaping.

Conclusion

Much of eco-consciousness is simply about finding a balance between old and new ways. While it would be great if you could overhaul your entire property to match current standards of environmental impact within just a few months, it typically is not feasible for every business. Small changes add up to make a big difference in fighting climate change, and everyone can do their part. 

By protecting your current infrastructure, researching the best systems for your needs, and embracing more earth-conscious landscaping options, you can help improve your bottom line while still keeping our planet healthy for future generations to enjoy.