Achieving LEED Certification for your Office

Most building managers will be familiar with LEED Certification and many will strive towards it. For those of you have have not heard of this before, it stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. If your office is awarded with this prestigious certification, you can proudly say that your workplace is as environmentally as it can be.

Greener and more energy efficient buildings are not only great for the environment, they also can have significant positive effects on staff members. You can find out more about the Green Building certification effort here. So the question is, how can we make our offices more efficient, healthier and ultimately, be awarded that most coveted LEED certification.

Become Sustainable

Make sure that you have plenty of recycling bins around the workplace, and avoid throwing away items like plastic and paper. Recycling is a great and easy way of making your office a more sustainable environment. If you are in the position where you can become a paper free office, that's amazing! If this is not possible, only print off what is absolutely necessary and recycle where you can.

Green Office

Consider bringing plants into the workplace. Not only will this act as decor and make your office more inviting and welcoming, but it will also help to improve the quality of the air. According to Popular Science, researchers from the American Chemical Society have recently stated that certain varieties of indoor plants are particularly good at cleansing the air of airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as acetone, formaldehyde and benzene, each which can cause serious health issues. If inhaled, the results could led to allergies, dizziness and asthma. VOCS have also been linked to central nervous system damage and cancer. Commonly found in paint, cleaning supplies, printers, furniture and even dry cleaned clothes, it safe to say there's no escaping these harmful chemicals around the workplace.