An emerging theme for all businesses (big and small) is their degree of carbon readiness. That is, how well placed they will be in the coming “Post-Carbon Economy” where carbon and other environmental costs are priced, either via taxes on energy inputs or raw materials, or via a credit-system of some kind. Carbon is the first cab off the rank, which is understandable given the urgency and global nature of the problem, but in time we can expect all environmental externalities to be priced in much the same way. (Prediction: water will be next).

A PaperFree office not only increases efficiency through reduced overheads and increased RoI (Return on Information), – there are major environmental benefits too. By cutting back on paper usage, or rather by freeing up your idle paper, your business will save wood, water and energy, and cut pollution and solid waste.

Check out the EDF’s Paper Calculator to find out how many trees, how much energy, and how much waste is involved in your paper usage. (It may shock you but you will have to face this sometime – might as well face it now and evolve ahead of your competition!)

We did some quick calculations of our own. These are just some of the specific benefits we discovered.

Using less paper:

• Reduces wastewater associated with new paper production, saving 68,000 litres for every metric ton of typical (50% recycled) copy paper not used for archival
• Reduces energy consumption associated with new paper production, saving 28 million BTUs for every metric ton of typical copy paper not used for archival
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with new paper production, avoiding 2,325 kgs CO2 equivalent gases for every metric ton of typical copy paper not used for archival
• Reduces solid waste associated with new paper production, avoiding 774 kgs of landfill or incinerated sludge for every metric ton of typical copy paper not used for archival

Quite apart from the benefits of reduced new paper production, bear in mind that paper archives are typically climate-controllled to maintain the longevity of the paper. The energy costs of this vary by locale and the methods/technologies used, but suffice to say that these are a significant contributor to CO2 emissions.

Digital storage has its own energy costs, to be sure, but there is a strong trend to the “greening” of data centres. This a subject unto itself, with many exciting developments in the area, so I will make it the topic of a further blogpost !