Our first Green Newsletter

We now have a quarterly Green Newsletter! Check it out here and let us know what you think.

Recycle your electronics

Spring cleaning – a perfect occassion to get rid of old computers, cameras, cell phones and other electronics. Not sure when or where to recycle your electronics?

If you are in CT, visit http://www.crra.org/pages/schedule_electronics.htm for locations and times.

California residents can find recycling centers on the California Integrated Waste Management Board website, http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Electronics/Collection/RecyclerSearch.aspx.

Those living in New York are allowed to dispose of their electronics in regular trash until July 2010 though the state government website does list alternative, environmentally friendly, options: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/electronicsrecycling.shtml.

The National Center for Electronic Recycling, http://www.ncerwv.org/public/ContentPage.aspx?PageId=82, enables you to search for an electronics recycler in your area and also lists manufacturers’ and mailback/buyback programs.

If you would like to learn more about electronics recycling, visit Recyclingcenters.org website at http://www.recyclingcenters.org/electronics_recycling.php for a list of all states’ electronics recycling programs and policies.

Renewable Energy on Long Island and in Connecticut

HealthConnect would like to encourage employees on Long Island and in Connecticut to sign up for Wind Energy for their homes.

At a time when homegrown, pollution free energy has never been more important, LIPA and CP&L along with Community Energy are leading the way to energy independence and a healthy environment. As more customers sign up, more wind energy will be delivered to the power grid. This means cleaner air and water, greater energy independence and a more secure energy future.

The Wind Energy charge will appear on your monthly electricity bill as a separate line item. Submit the monthly charge (electronically of course) and receive 80% reimbursement for the additional Wind Energy charge.

To sign up, log onto http://www.newwindenergy.com/individuals/individuals-summary/.

For Long Island employees:
LIPA Electricity customers can support the development of clean, renewable wind energy. For a typical home that uses 600 kilowatt-hours per month, participating in LIPA’s Green Choice program with Community Energy will add $7 to $15 per month to your electric bill. There are 4 options available:

1. 60% NewWind Energy®/40% Small-hydro for all usage
(Adds 1.3 cents per kilowatt-hour on all usage)

2. 60% NewWind Energy®/40% Small-hydro for 50% of usage
(Adds 1.3 cents per kilowatt-hour on half of your usage)

3. 100% NewWind Energy® for all usage
(Adds 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour on all usage)

4. 100% NewWind Energy® for 50% of usage
(Adds 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour on half of your usage)

LIPA will remain the electricity supplier and provide customer service and emergency responses.

For more information on purchasing Green Energy from LIPA go to <a href=”http://www.lipower.org/residential/green.html” target=”_blank”> http://www.lipower.org/residential/green.html.

For Connecticut employees:
CP&L customers can support the development of clean, renewable wind energy. For a typical home that uses 700 kWh per month, participating in CT Clean Energy with Community Energy will add $4.50 – $9 per month to your electric bill. There are 2 options available:

With a product mix: 33%NewWindEnergy / 33%National Wind / 34% New England Small Hydro

1. 33% NewWind Energy / 33% National Wind / 34% Low-Impact Hydro for 100% of your monthly usage
(Adds 1.3c/kWh on all usage)

100% Usage adds 1.3 cent/kWh to all usage ($9.00 per month for an average home)

2. 33% NewWind Energy / 33% National Wind / 34% Low-Impact Hydro for 50% of your monthly usage
(Adds 0.65c/kWh on all usage)

50% Usage adds .65 cent /kWh to all usage ($4.50 per month for an average home)

For more information on CTCleanEnergyOptions from CL&P go to

http://www.newwindenergy.com/index.php?id=56.

Where to buy ‘green’ for your home

There are a lot of websites dedicated to organic and ‘green’ products, but here are a few to get you started. More will be added as we go. Any suggestions are welcome.

Cleaning Products and Household Items:

Seventh Generation – http://www.seventhgeneration.com/products - baby, laundry, household cleaners, household paper & supplies, feminine care and dishwashing products

GreenWorks – http://www.greenworkscleaners.com/ - natural all-purpose, dishwashing, bathroom, and surface cleaners

Ecover - http://www.ecover.com/us/en/Products/ - environmentally friendly cleaning products. Click on the promotions tab to print coupons.

Mrs. Meyers – http://www.mrsmeyers.com/ - aromatherapeutic household cleaners

GlueItGreen – http://www.glueitgreen.com/products/green-glue.html - “green” glue and waterbased adhesives

Dr. Bronner’s – http://www.drbronner.com/index.html - all organic body care products

Refreshingly clean - http://www.refreshinglyfree.com - fragrance free and non-toxic products for home and body

DogToys.com – http://www.dogtoys.com/dogearthday.html - Eco-friendly items for your dog 

 

Take your pick:

Ecomall - http://www.ecomall.com/ - lists a ton of categories (toys, health, computer, lighting, air purification, etc.) with links to different retailers with ‘green’ and natural products as well as articles, forums and other resources.

Eco-friendly products at Target - http://www.target.com/b/187-4311027-1995245?node=357202011&ref=tgt_adv_XSIA3393&AFID=yahoostr&CPNG=targeteco&LNM=environmentally_friendly_products&LID=

Eco-friendly products at Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Green/b?ie=UTF8&node=394379011 - select from several categories

Now do even more good…

American Forests - http://www.americanforests.org/global_releaf/ - donate so trees are planted where they are needed most.

Get money for your old electronics

Now being environmentally friendly just got a walet friendly too. Did you know that you can get money for your old electronics?

EcoNew - http://www.econewonline.com/ - lets you trade-in and recycle your old used electronics, such as PDA’s, laptops, digital cameras, game sysems, TVs and more. You will find out the trade-in value of your product as you fill out their online form. Free shipping is included.

Poll: Do you know your carbon footprint?

Take this poll to find out how you compare to others.

To calculate your carbon footprint, log onto http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx.

Starting Dollar Barometer

We are starting our Dollar Barometer, which will display our energy savings and track the progress we are making. Stay tuned!

Karen Buck on Gallagher’s Green Series panel

One of our own, Karen Buck, HR and Business Manager, has been invited to sit on a Green Series panel organized by one of our clients, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

The panel will take place on October 29 and will discuss energy efficiency ideas that businesses can put in place so they generate significant savings as well as tips for implementing solar energy to control energy costs and gain strong ROI.

This is our green initiative policy

 

HealthConnect will implement a “green benefits” program whereby the company and its employees will work together to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions required to operate the company (referred to as the company’s carbon footprint) to zero.

The reduction will be accomplished through a three pronged approach:

1. Reduce the amount of gasoline and electricity consumed by the company and its employees;
2. Reduce the amount of waste generated by the company and its employees; and
3. Purchase of carbon offsets whereby the company and its employees fund greenhouse gas reduction projects in an amount necessary to offset the remaining CO2 emissions of the company.

The purpose of the program is to provide our employees the benefit of working for an environmentally responsible company.

The financial benefits of the program are as follows:
1. Measurable financial savings (referred to as “hard dollar” savings) generated by the company from required use by employees of fuel efficient vehicles while travelling on company business and the implementation of a paperless office program;
2. Non measurable (“soft dollar”) financial benefits of higher employee morale and improved company image from clients of working with a socially responsible company.

The financial cost of the program is from the following items:
1. Financial incentives offered by the company to promote environmentally beneficial behavior changes by its employees in their personal lives (all of which are optional by employees on whether to participate);
2. Financial contributions by the company and its employees toward greenhouse gas emission reduction projects, with the vast majority of the financial contributions coming from the company.

The program will start with measuring the company’s carbon footprint, as operating currently and going forward on an annual basis.

Currently, our carbon footprint is as follows:

1. Gasoline consumption:
– Travel to/from work: Employees collectively drive 209,575 miles annually.
– Travel at work: Employees collectively drive 119,143 miles for work
– Airplane travel: 132,499 miles annually by all employees collectively on company business.

At average gas mileage of 20 mpg, this results in 165 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

2. Electricity consumption:
-158,367 kilowatt hours for all offices collectively per year.
– 91 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

3. Other:
Paper, waste and other items are difficult to calculate precisely but from research it looks like we can estimate 25% of our total gas and electricity CO2, so about 64 tons of CO2 emissions.

Total CO2 emissions/year: 320 tons.

We can reduce the number of CO2 emissions as follows:

1. Gasoline consumption:
- Company is going to purchase 4 Toyota Prius cars, one for Fresno (primarily for use by Ed and Teresa), two for Bohemia (primarily for use by Brian and JP), and one for Jim. This will reduce our CO2 emissions by 24 tons/year. This will also save the company $7,000 dollars per year, which will help to fund other initiatives.

- For those employees who purchase a high mileage (40 + mpg) vehicle the company will either reimburse the employee $50/month for gas or a one time payment of $1,500 (provided the employee has been employed at HCS for 6 months prior to the award. [1]).

- Our average employee drives 21 miles per day to/from work or roughly 450 miles/month. At 40 miles per gallon and $4.50/gallon cost for gas, the total cost for gas for driving to/from work with a high mileage vehicle is about $50/month, so, the company will on average pay for an employee’s gas expenses for driving to/from work if they opt for this program. In addition, if an employee on average drives a total of 12,000 miles/year and has an average fuel efficiency of 20 miles per gallon currently, moving to a high mileage vehicle will reduce CO2 emissions on average by 2.9 tons/year for each employee that opts for this program. Employees can choose one of the two options.

- Company will pay $1.00/mile for any employee that bikes or walks to work (maximum $50 per month).

- Company will reimburse employees up to $50 a month for using public transportation (receipts or documentation required if possible). For the Bohemia office, the train station is too far away from the office for employees who take it (to walk to the office). Wendy Jones will coordinate some type of pickup program using employees who drive to the office to pick up the train riders. Employees who carpool to work (or who pick up train riders) will be reimbursed $0.25 per mile for $50 maximum reimbursement per month.

2. Electricity consumption:
- Company will research and promote fuel efficiency initiatives with landlords, possibly getting Fresno landlord to install solar http://akeena.net/cm/Contact_Akeena_Solar/California.html)

- Company will pay 50% of the cost (up to $500/employee/year) for employees that purchase high efficiency lights, new windows, solar energy, tankless water heaters and/or new furnace for their home. The CO2 reduction impact will be determined on a case by case basis and reported on each year.

- The IT Department will implement the following within reasonable timeframes:
a) Enforce power management across all workstations (displays off, hard drives off, system standby). However, there may be rare instances where a developer (for example) may want a long-running process to continue uninterrupted. Do not enforce policy but voluntary instead? See: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.pr_power_mgt_enterprises.
b) Recommend that people power down overnight & weekends.
c) “Virtualize” underutilized corporate systems. Consolidate resources used infrequently or with low CPU requirements on a single server with virtual machines. We already use this technique for all Demo servers but could probably eliminate a handful of additional physical servers in this fashion.
d) When ordering systems, configure with energy efficient CPUs, etc. where possible.

3. Waste:
- The company is implementing a paperless office system for the Fresno Office. The impact on reductions of CO2 are yet to be determined. Other offices will be joining the Fresno Office once a document software program has been purchased.

- Company will pay 80% of the cost for employees that subscribe to 41pounds.org; this organization eliminates most of the junk mail you receive (on average 41 pounds per year); this reduces consumption of trees and water, eliminates landfill waste and reduces CO2 emissions by 92 pounds per year per person.

- The Fresno Office (highest consumption of paper products in the Company) will work to reduce paper consumption by:
a) moving to paperless office by scanning client contracts and docs;
b) pushing for our clients to receive invoices by email, rather than traditional paper invoice;
c) encouraging clients to pay bills electronically through ACH or credit card; and
d) signing up for vendor invoices by electronic means.
e) Instituting a Formal Recycling Program in all Offices by:
i) for the offices that contain sinks, HCS will significantly reduce the purchasing of paper products like paper plates, silverware, etc. Employees will be encouraged to use washable utensils (mugs, silverware, etc).
ii) recycling all paper, aluminum, toners and plastic produced by the offices.

4. Purchase of CO2 Offsets:
- Our total CO2 emissions are 320 tons per year currently. After the purchase of the company vehicles and assuming all employees subscribe to 41 pounds.org, this will drop our CO2 emissions by 26 tons/year to 294 tons/year. To reduce the company’s carbon footprint to zero, this means we would need to purchase carbon offsets for 294 tons/year. The Environmental Defense Fund has researched companies that offer carbon offset programs and they are listed at www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=270.

- Purchasing 294 tons of carbon offsets costs $2,940 ($10/ton of carbon/year), or $70/employee per year.

- The company will reimburse employees 80% of the cost for all purchases of carbon offsets from any of these three organizations up to $70 per year.

- The company will send out company wide communications for all employees that participate in the carbon offset purchase or opt for any of the optional programs above (walking to work, purchasing a high mileage vehicle, buying energy efficient lights, etc.) and the associated reduction of CO2 emissions.

Promoting our green benefits program to others:
- We will do this to our clients to see if they and their clients will adopt similar programs, and HealthConnect will match 10% of all client funding of green benefits programs, up to 1.0% of their total HealthConnect billing.
- We will also promote what we have done through media, web and other outlets to see if we can get others to adopt similar programs.
- We will develop a green blog at www.healthconnectsystems.com/green where clients and others can ask questions, provide ideas, discuss results, etc.

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[1]
If an employee has only been employed for 3 months at the time they purchase a hybrid, HCS will pay out the $1,500 upon the employee’s 6 month anniversary.

HealthConnect is going green!

Welcome to HealthConnect’s green blog!

HealthConnect has just started a new company-wide initiative to reduce CO2 emissions and conserve our Earth’s resources. We are extending this program to our clients to encourage everyone to adopt a similar program.

We would like this blog to serve as a discussion forum for all involved in our initiative, so feel free to ask questions, describe success stories or challenges or provide ideas to make the program even better.

Don’t forget to also check out helpful links to a variety of websites supporting and promoting green initiatives.