Wearable office space

Designed by Fashion Superstar Hussein Chalayan, who consistently pushes the boundary of fashion in terms of material, construction, and spatial configurations. In this dress, designed for the 2000 winter collection, where he explored the relationship between furniture & fashion, he was able to turn workable surface into a fashion statement, and vice versa. Now if only someone could turn office work into something just as fashionable, or as easy to get in or get out of? Mmm, now that’s food for thoughts!

The Google Plex, need I say more?

Probably one of the more guesstimated, gossiped about, or simply googled workplace since its inception. The Google Plex, located in Mountain View, California, home to some of the most sought after employees in the world, include office amenities and benefits that are truly the stuff of legends. Just to name a few, the Plex come fully stocked with micro-kitchens, giant rubber balls, Legos, and is comprised of 11 cafeterias of diverse selections, various sports facilities, and laundry rooms. Now, the eternal question, does the office make the employee, or employee the office?

The office with THE VIEW

Taipei 101, residing in the heart of Taiwan, Is currently ranked as the world’s tallest building at 1667 feet upon completion in 2005. However, the building’s boast to fame may not be for long as the Burj Dubai in Dubai, UAE, is in the final stages of construction and awaiting occupancy in 2009. Is it just me, or has Dubai being attempting to outrank everyone and everything in breadth, width, and height?

Office on the go
The next time you feel frustrated working with coworkers, doesn’t seem productive at all, senses and minds dulled by the humdrum sounds of the office appliances, take a spin on this phenomenal device and take your office duties outside. I am sure the collaborative efforts required and the rush of fresh oxygen will boost not only camaraderie, but brain cell and muscle cell productivity. Anyone up for a collective ride?

The cheapest office suite lying around- you can own one too

OpenOffice is an all inclusive office suite released in 2000 with the aim of providing people with a high qualified alternative to the Microsoft Office, in an attempt to reduce the monopolistic hold Microsoft has on the word-processing sphere. This is not exactly the first thing one would think of when one mentions the words cool office suite, however for the unlimited white open space allotted for one to exercise their productive imagination, at the relative price of none, I am getting one and so definitely should you!

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Green is Good

And, going green at work is easier than you might think, especially when you consider that every day there are more and more “green” products available.

Inside this catalog, you’ll find nearly 2,500 environmentally friendly items from the Office Products, Technology, Furniture and Jan/San categories…everything from paper to cleaning supplies, and furniture to electronics…all with environmental benefits. In fact, every product presented on these pages meets one of the following criteria:

• Recycled materials, with emphasis on post-consumer content
• Energy-efficient
• Compostable or biodegradable
• Non-toxic
• Reusable

Going green means making everyday choices and performing everyday actions that have a positive impact on the environment as well as the bottom line. So, whether you’re just getting into the green or you’re interested in taking it to a new level, inside you’ll also find helpful tips to put to work.

Spend Smart on Green

The purchase and use of environmentally-friendly products can have a big impact, and not just on the environment. Buying green affects everything from worker safety to the bottom line.

• Products that are reusable, refillable, more durable or repairable create less waste and are more cost-effective in the long run than disposable or single-use products.
• Manufacturing recycled products uses less energy than goods made from virgin materials. Buying recycled products keeps recycling programs going and saves natural resources.
• Using energy-efficient and water-conserving products saves money and resources.
• When making purchasing decisions, it pays to do a little homework. Consider the following:
• Is the product less hazardous?
• Is it reusable or more durable?
• Is it made from recycled materials? Do we really need to buy a virgin product when the recycled version is just as good?
• What happens to the product at the end of its life? Can it be recycled? Will the manufacturer take the product back? Will it need special disposal?
• Does it conserve energy or water?
• Is it made from renewable plant-based raw materials?

Leave a Big Mark—Not a Big Footprint

Living and working green means knowing your carbon footprint and taking steps to balance its impact. Offsetting your company’s carbon footprint is the fastest and most economical way to help protect critical forests worldwide, which is one of the most effective solutions to climate change. One way to offset your carbon footprint is to support renewable energy (energy generated from renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal) by buying renewable energy credits (RECs).

Additionally, utility companies may work with industrial and commercial consumers to implement on-site energy-efficiency measures which can decrease usage or shift a portion of it to off-peak hours and rates.

Be a Star—Buy Energy Star

The next time your office is in the market for computer equipment, printers, fax machines, kitchen appliances or even light bulbs, look for the Energy Star certification. Energy Star products are among the top energy performers on the market. One example of why is that some Energy Star products power down automatically when not in use—conserving up to 75% of electricity compared to standard models. They reduce pollution, lower energy bills, generate less heat and have a longer life span than other equipment. See www.energystar.gov for more information.

Get Energized

Of the $250 billion spent per year on powering computers worldwide, only about 15% of that power is spent computing—the rest is wasted idling. 40% of the energy used for electronics is used while these devices are turned off. Obviously, just because a device is turned off or not in use, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t eating up electricity. In fact, even when a computer is switched off, the surge protector can still draw energy—up to 75%!

• Programming your computer to sleep after 30 minutes of non-use can cut power demand by up to 90%.
• Stepping away for longer than 30 minutes? Turn the computer off and unplug the surge protector. (Booting up again uses the equivalent of only two seconds of run time and won’t hurt the hard drive).
• Monitors are especially big energy drains. Be sure to turn them off after 20 minutes of non-use.
• Printers, scanners and peripherals that are only used occasionally should be unplugged until needed.
• Get the Green Light
• Making green choices when it comes to lighting not only provides energy efficiency and savings, it also adds to the comfort, productivity and ambience of your workplace.
• Replace regular incandescent bulbs and fixtures with Energy Star-qualified compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). CFLs cast a warmer, soft white glow. Although initially more expensive than regular bulbs, they use between 60% and 80% less energy and last much longer (between 6,000 and 15,000 hours compared with about 1,000 hours with incandescents).
• Use task lighting.
• Install dimmers and timers to extend bulb life.
• Don’t underestimate the power of natural daylight, it’s free, it’s pleasant and has been proven to improve worker productivity and customer satisfaction. Also, be sure that walls are painted in a light color to enhance the advantage of that natural light.
• Lighting accounts for up to 50% of a building’s energy consumption. By simply turning off unnecessary lights, you can reduce the amount of energy used for lighting by up to 45%.

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Remanufactured cartridges have been recycled and reprocessed from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridge. For example, Innovera® cartridges are built from the original OEM cores. This saves significant materials by recycling the OEM product and also has strict quality controls so that your Innovera cartridge meets the OEM specifications. Help the environment with quality products! All Innovera products come with a manufacturer’s limited one-year warranty.

Is a Remanufactured Cartridge inferior to a new one?

There should be no difference in print quality or page yield with a properly remanufactured cartridge. To meet OEM performance, cartridges should contain only quality toners that work well with all other replacement parts.

Am I really helping the environment by using Remanufactured Cartridges?

Definitely. Each discarded cartridge adds approximately three pounds of unnecessary waste to our landfills—waste that will take as long as 1,000 years to decompose. It is estimated that 100 million laser and printer cartridges and 400 million inkjet printer cartridges are produced each year. Remanufacturing these 500 million cartridges will save an estimated four million cubic feet of landfill space. The office products remanufacturing industry has already made—and will continue to make—a substantially positive impact on the environment and the economy.

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