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Green Your Offices
It takes an inside champion to get an organization started on a greener pathway.  You can practice your leadership skills at the same time you develop new job skills AND green your own workplace environment by initiating a green program.  And you don't have to do it alone.  The San Francisco based Connect the Dots nonprofit is making it easy for you by providing an easy to implement system just for nonprofits!

Green Your Community Services
Connect the Dots disseminates environmental sustainability practices to nonprofit organizations to help organizations meet their social missions in an environmentally responsible manner. They provide the guidance nonprofit organizations need to realize their desire for environmental responsibility. Now nonprofit organizations can undertake the path towards sustainability and truly maximize their care for the communities they serve.
 

The Green Start Program

The Connect the Dots consulting program, the Green Start program, concentrates on high impact, minimal effort conservation practices to "jumpstart" organizations towards sustainability.

Initially, they act as an extension of an organization's staff, planning and taking action on its behalf, including scheduling audits with existing programs, creating action lists and implementing them, setting up and/or facilitating an internal "green team" group, developing a strategy, and setting up and monitoring savings.

Over time, as organizations acclimate to using our tools (e.g. action worksheets, monitoring tools, etc.), they take over their own planning, execution, and tracking of their green program.

For 3 months, Connect The Dots partners with nonprofits to serve as "personal trainers" to address the most beneficial greening processes:

• Waste Management

• Energy & Utilities

• Environmentally-Preferred Purchasing Policy

• Education & Outreach

• Tracking & Reporting

To promote ongoing changes, the Connect The Dots' methodology integrates planning and tracking tools to help nonprofits make informed decisions about environmental sustainability.

CONTACT:
Connect The Dots
1442 Florida Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.830.5858 or 888.666.0031
www.connectthedotsnetwork.org

CGS Training Directory Review the green and sustainable training courses and resources available to our readers. Check back often, new green job/career training courses are added frequently. TRAINING CATALOG

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Green Directory: SolutionsForGreen.com ~ Certification Programs: GreenJobWizard.com

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GreenLine Paper offers a Green Office Certification to companies and other organizations which meet environmentally friendly certification requirements.   GreenLine also offers their monthly Green Office News e-newsletter with environmental news and tips on greener office practices.

Greenline Paper offers the Green Office Certification to companies which meet their environmentally friendly certification requirements.  The company must use energy wisely, recycle, use recycled products, and be environmentally savvy.  There are 24 questions concerning topics like energy, building construction, supplies, recycling and transportation, which determine your green ranking.  The form takes approximately 10 minutes to fill out.  If you meet the requirements, they will send you a certification graphic for your website, which when clicked, will show the date of your certification.  This do-it-yourself certificate program indicates to the world that you are environmentally concerned. Click on the logo below to begin your certification process.

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Green Directory: SolutionsForGreen.com ~ Certification Programs: GreenJobWizard.com

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This tiny little pill sized light bulb from the folks at Luxim, emits ’sun spectrum light’ and at the core of the bulb radiates the same heat level, 6,000 Calvin. That’s 140 lumens per watt - 15 lumens per watt for a regular light bulb and 70 for an LED - and converts most of its energy into actual light, unlike most lights which convert it into heat. How does it accomplish this feat? $40 million in VC funding of course.

LIFI leads a new class of solid-state high-intensity light sources that combine the best features of solid-state electronics and full spectrum plasma emitters.  The results are long-life, energy efficiency and complete color spectrum for lighting applications like general and specialty lighting and projection displays like wide screen HDTVs and projectors.

LUXIM's LIFI^™ technology provides superior performance for high definition projection televisions and home theater projectors using DLP^™, transmissive LCD and LCoS microdisplay technologies.

Specialty lighting includes LIFI applications like medical and analytical instrument lighting.  Endoscopy, microscopy and other equipment are made possible with the highest level of color rendering available from a long life light source.

LIFI brings together the best qualities of solid state electronics and plasma based emitters in a high intensity light source capable of more than 140 lumens per watt.  This efficacy combined with 20,000 lumen output per source make LIFI ideal for applications in entertainment, industrial, architectural, area and street lighting.

LUXIM
Sunnyvale, California
www.luxim.com

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Green Directory: SolutionsForGreen.com ~ Certification Programs: GreenJobWizard.com

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Not all solar installations have to be on the rooftop...or even permanent in one place.  Take this new desk design:

The SOLo Lounge Table might change the working habits of teckies. Built into the surface of this roll-around table are solar panels that charge up its internal battery and power your devices. It can connect to a variety of devices and there’s a drawer for storing and charging your gadgets. The SOLo alse features Bluetooth connectivity for system monitoring in addition to the included System Monitor display/device. More info here.

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Green Directory: SolutionsForGreen.com ~ Certification Programs: GreenJobWizard.com

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US Federal Government Issues EPEAT Purchasing Requirement

The US Federal Government has integrated an EPEAT requirement into the Federal Acquisition Regulations – the 'rulebook' of the federal purchasing sector. The Federal Acquisition Regulations require federal agencies to purchase at least 95% EPEAT-registered products in all relevant electronic product categories.

San Francisco ICT EPEAT Policies for 2008

San Francisco city studied the environmental impact of information and communication technology (ICT). Based on the experience of commercial buildings, approximately 20-25% of building energy is attributable to ICT. Because of this impact, ICT has significant potential to enable innovative solutions to the environmental challenges of energy use and can be an effective tool to advance sustainable economic development.

• Beginning in April 2008, city departments shall only purchase personal and notebook computers and monitors that meet at least the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Silver standard, with a preference for the Gold standard.
• The Committee on Information Technology (COIT) shall ensure technology projects are reviewed for environmental impact and support the City’s environmental goals.
• By June 2008, the Department of Technology and Information Services (DTIS) shall implement a paper reduction pilot program with the goal to reduce general office paper consumption by 20%. At the conclusion of this pilot program, the City’s Chief Information Officer will recommend a paper reduction policy to COIT for immediate implementation.
• By September 2008, DTIS shall report on the results of a pilot program to implement centralized power management systems for personal computers. This will strengthen Executive Order 05-104 (September 23, 2005) which mandated the installation of power management functions.
• Finally, the City’s Chief Information Officer will develop a baseline measurement of energy consumption and environmental impact of the City’s overall ICT operations to be able to measure and fully implement supporting steps that will enable us to continue to find new strategies to address the environmental challenges of energy use and waste creation.

EPEAT Computer Products Environmental Organization

EPEAT is a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its products.

The EPEAT Registry on this web site includes products that have been declared by their manufacturers to be in conformance with the environmental performance standard for electronic products - IEEE 1680- 2006. The standard is summarized here, and may be purchased from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. EPEAT operates a verification program to assure the credibility of the Registry.

Some of the participating manufacturers include:

Apple, CTL Corp, Dell, Enano, Fujitsu, GETAC, HP, Hyundai IT America, Lenovo, LG Electronic USA, MDG Comptuers Canada, MPC Computers, NCS Technologies, NEC Display Solutions, Northern Micro, One Laptop Per child, Panasonic, Philips Electronics, Prosys Tech, Samsung Elec. America, Sony Electronics, Toshiba, Transource, ViewSonic, Zonbu.

www.epeat.net/

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Green Directory: SolutionsForGreen.com ~ Certification Programs: GreenJobWizard.com

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Spaces for productivity require special equipment, special lighting, and special furnishings. You spend most of your waking hours at your work (and play), and it's healthful to spend your work time in healthful rooms.

Green office strategies can help clean your air, improve your light, and make your equipment more cost effective with Energy Star ratings that are measured to improve energy savings.

We're building a "magalog" to help you think through the best design for your home office and workspaces, and find the right equipment, supplies and furnishings to make yur home office productive and stimulating. You could even call it "mood lifting!

Energy, Paper and Water Efficient Solutions for Offices

Offices are energy hogs! With lighting, air conditioning, heating, ventilation, computer equipment, fans, radios, and more computers and peripherals, offices need a green and sustainable makeover! Extreme style!

This blog will help you think through your tasks, your lighting, your paper usage and all those things that clutter your mind. We're determined to help you find cost effective solutions to make your days productive and healthful!

Office Product Categories

• Home Lighting
• Office Lighting
• Communication Options
• Computer and Electronic Equipment
• Better Paper Strategies
• Low-impact Materials for Office Furnishings

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Green Directory: SolutionsForGreen.com ~ Certification Programs: GreenJobWizard.com

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