Greening Your Work-From-Home Routine

 

PENCINTA ALAM DECEMBER 2020

GREEN LIVING COLUMN

GREENING YOUR WORK-FROM-HOME ROUTINE

By Wong Ee Lynn wongeelynn@yahoo.com / gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com

 

As the world grows more accustomed to the idea that the Covid19 pandemic is here to stay and that the precautions we have adopted as part of “the new normal” are gradually becoming an essential part of our lives and daily routines, we will need to make arrangements for working and studying from home, either as a permanent arrangement, or as something we may need to do intermittently for certain periods of time whenever there is an outbreak and a Movement Control Order and a school closure order is declared.

 

If you are working from home, you may find that it is not as sustainable and economical a lifestyle change as you initially thought it would be. You may find that your electricity use has gone up, or that you are still driving almost daily to eat out or run errands, or that you are accumulating a lot of unwanted plastic and paper packaging from online shopping and food deliveries.

 

Here are ways you can make your work-from-home and online learning situation more sustainable and less wasteful:

 

1.     CARVE OUT A WORKSTATION OR HOME OFFICE FROM YOUR EXISTING SPACE.

 

Ikea and other popular home furnishing stores are full of shoppers buying cheap desks and chairs so that they can create workstations and home offices for working and studying from home. This increases consumption and waste. In addition, we should not be spending money unnecessarily at a time of global economic uncertainty. Cheap furniture is often not built to last and is constructed out of plastic, laminated fibreboard, or Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF), all materials that are not durable, compostable, or biodegradable, and may contain toxic or harmful compounds such as formaldehyde.

 

Instead of buying new furniture, carve out a workspace in your home by decluttering, tidying up, and organizing your existing space. A dining table, dressing table, or breakfast nook will provide you with the space you need once the clutter has been cleared. “Shop” your home for boxes, binders, writing materials, scrap paper, and other office supplies. Choose a spot that already has lighting and a fan, so you don’t have to buy a table lamp or standing fan.

 

 

2.     HAVE A SHARED WORKSPACE WITH FAMILY MEMBERS OR HOUSEMATES.

 

It is only logical that your home energy consumption will increase if each family member is working in his or her own bedroom or a separate workstation, as all the lights, fans, and air-conditioning units will be switched on. Try to see if you can agree on working in a shared space to cut down on energy consumption. Perhaps the dining table or a large table in the living room can be cleared and designated as the family workstation where everyone does their work. Earphones or headphones can be used by those who need to listen to music or webinars as they work. Alternatively, separate workstations can be carved out in areas such as the family room, living room, or dining room, and the bedrooms can be designated as work-free zones, except when someone needs to attend a zoom meeting in a room with the door closed.

 

3.     LIMIT YOUR WORK AND STUDY HOURS.

 

As there are no restrictions as to what time we need to commence and stop working, we may find that we are working late into the night, or on the weekends. This is not only physically and psychologically unhealthy for us as we are then mentally constantly switched on, it can also be bad for the environment if our devices and appliances are constantly left running.

 

Decide on the major tasks you need to complete before the day is over and block off the time for work. Stop when the tasks are complete, and tidy your space and switch off your devices, screens, and appliances entirely. Setting clear boundaries on work hours and rest hours will be better for your health, as well as reduce your energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

 

4.     VENTILATE, NOT AIR-CONDITION, YOUR SPACE.

 

 

The biggest energy vampire in our homes as we work from home more frequently is almost certainly air-conditioning units.

 

A window air-conditioning unit runs on 1.2 kilowatts. A ceiling fan uses only 30 watts. A fan, therefore, uses less than 1% of the energy it takes to run an air-conditioning unit! Switch to using a fan instead of air-conditioning.

 

If your fan does not feel cool enough, remove clutter out of its way, clean your fan blades regularly, and place your workstation under a ceiling fan or in front of a standing or tabletop fan.

 

Take a cold shower before you start working to keep you alert and feeling refreshed, as well as cool your body down.

 

You can also DIY a “poor man’s air conditioning unit” by putting bottles of ice water in front of your table fan so that it blows cold air in your direction.

 

If the room really is too stuffy and warm without air-conditioning, switch the air-conditioning unit on for around 1 hour until the room cools down. Then switch off the air-conditioning unit and let the fan circulate the cool air in your work area.

 

 

5.     REDUCE TAKEOUTS AND FOOD DELIVERY.

 

Having food delivered to you can save time, especially when you need to focus on work, but it can also have a large carbon footprint and generate waste. Food delivery riders consume fuel to deliver food to you, and the food often comes in excessive plastic and paper packaging. While paper and cardboard food packaging may be compostable and less harmful to wildlife, their production process consumes a lot of land, water, and resources, and requires the cutting down of trees.

 

Practice prepping food in advance for the week, e.g. by cooking larger portions of pasta, rice, soups, and curries, and freezing them (in freezer-friendly reusable containers, not in plastic bags!) so that they can be reheated and consumed throughout the workweek.

 

Freezing food for reheating later also works for when you are buying food from restaurants. Make one trip out to run errands and purchase food every 3-7 days and bring your own containers with you to take out food from your favourite restaurants and food courts. Label your food containers before putting them in the freezer so you remember what you have available and when it was purchased. Leave a note to yourself on your refrigerator door or whiteboard to remind you to eat the food in the freezer or refrigerator.

 

If you have no other choice but to have food delivered to you, choose restaurants that are nearest to you to reduce the amount of fuel used by the delivery riders or drivers. Since you are working from home, be sure to inform the restaurant or delivery platform that you will not be needing disposable utensils. Try to order from restaurants that use compostable food packaging. Plastic takeout containers that are undamaged and have been used only for halal food can be donated to What A Waste Malaysia for their food rescue missions. Wash and dry the containers and match them with their lids, and drop them off at any of What A Waste MY’s designated collection points (Check their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/whatawasteMY/).

 

 

6.     LIMIT DRIVING AND RUNNING ERRANDS TO DESIGNATED DAYS.

 

We should not be driving as much as we used to when we were working in offices, yet here we are, driving out to run errands each day. Combine your errands and get them done on the same day. Instead of driving out to the shops when you need a break from work, do some gardening, engage in housework and home improvement projects that require physical exertion, or take a walk and go plogging when you are bored. Designate at least 1 day a week as a No-Drive or Car-Free Day.

 

 

 

If you found these tips useful and have feedback to share, or if you have ideas of your own on how to make working from home more sustainable, email us at wongeelynn@yahoo.com and gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com!