Easy Ways to Make Your Office Green—and Save Money

Looking for a way to make your business a little greener? You don't have to spend tons of money to be environmentally friendly. It's the little things that add up. PC World suggests trying the following:

•Move from direct mail to e-mail. Keeping in touch with customers and clients is vital to your business, but you don't have to kill a forest to do it. These days, e-mail is more practical and cost-effective. The trick is how to launch a successful campaign without getting labeled as a spammer, but plenty of Web-based applications designed for small businesses make it easy to build and update opt-in mailing lists and use them to target the right people.

•Try an Internet fax service. Cut the amount of paper you waste with every fax you send and receive, as well as the toner, cartridge and energy costs, with an online service that allows you to fax through your e-mail account or a secure online server. You can choose which pages (if any) require printing and forward the document to anyone else in the office who needs to see it.

•Make your meetings virtual. Yes, it's important to meet with your employees and clients face to face, but unless everyone is in the same building, traveling to and from meetings can eat up lots of time and gas. With a small investment in camera equipment for your laptop, you can conduct a meeting from anywhere, and even share presentations, white board ideas and desktop applications.