News
Efforts To Reduce Our Carbon Footprint
Aug
Every day we’re faced with more challenges due to climate change. It’s reported that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, directly correlating to the heat waves and extreme rainfall in North America, and a drought in Europe is drying up rivers and affecting agriculture. We all play a role in our impact on the environment as individuals and businesses. One of the major contributions to carbon dioxide emissions is our usage of electricity since it comes from burning fossil fuels. Together we can make changes, big or small, to participate in reducing our carbon footprint on the planet because lowering your carbon footprint can help you live a healthier life and save money too.
What is a Carbon Footprint?
A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Carbon dioxide traps heat emitted by Earth’s surface and the sun and releases it into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Greenhouse gases are natural but at the rate that we are burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, high concentrations of greenhouse gases are causing the Earth to warm up at an unnatural rate.
People have carbon footprints as well as products and entire industries. Energy, agriculture, land-use and forestry, industrial operations, and waste are the biggest causes of carbon emissions. On a personal level, your lifestyle, family size, transportation, home energy use, waste production, travel, diet, and shopping habits all contribute to the carbon footprint you leave on the planet.
If you’re curious as to what your carbon footprint might be, you can start by using this carbon footprint calculator. It will ask you questions about your life and activities to give you an idea of your emissions.
Reduce Electricity to Help
Much of the world’s electricity comes from burning fossil fuels. Electricity is a common part of our lives, and we might not think about how much we use on a daily basis. Whether at home, work, or your business, you can consciously converse electricity to mitigate the impact of carbon dioxide on our planet. We understand that it’s practically unavoidable to use electricity, but you can still reduce the amount you use by doing the following:
- Unplug power cords that are not in use.
- Switch to energy-efficient appliances.
- Reduce time spent using electronics.
- Utilize natural light as much as you can.
- Reduce internet usage.
- Consider switching to solar power.
- Insulate your home.
- Use less water.
How Power Assemblies Contributes
As a manufacturer, Power Assemblies is always looking for ways to reduce the use of electricity, energy costs, and account for our impact on the planet. We prioritize sustainability because we know that in doing so, we pass on the benefits and savings to our customers.
There are efforts that we enact here at Power Assemblies that help us mitigate our impact on the environment.
- Invest In Automation
With our investment in automation, we can cut holes into most material types including steel, aluminum, plastic, and even fiberglass. Cutting holes into enclosures is time intensive and requires accuracy which means an incorrect measurement can lead to a wasted enclosure or more time and money spent plugging holes. This investment has allowed us to lower the cost of cutting the holes and ensures that mistakes are not made in the process. In turn, this equipment allows us to speed up lead times and even push the cost savings through to our distributors, saving them money. You can learn more about our precision cutting machine, and how you can get custom cuts done on your enclosures by clicking here.
- Recycling cardboard into packing material
We receive and send out shipments to our distributors constantly, so there is a ton of packing material involved in every single box. Instead of discarding any damaged or disfigured cardboard, we collect it and run it through a machine that turns it into sturdy and reusable packing material. In doing this, we don’t purchase any single-use materials and reduce our impact on the environment.
- Cable repair service
We offer a cable repair service where we restore damaged cables to like new conditions to extend their life and maximize your return on investment. Instead of buying new cables, our cable repair service can repurpose your cables to save you money and reduce the impact on the environment. Learn more about our cable repair program and request a quote by clicking here.
- Providing digital drawings and brochures
Our talented engineers provide CAD drawings, and you can find digital brochures for all our products, reducing the use of paper in the process.
- Light motion sensors, LED lights, and natural light
Keeping the lights on is a huge energy drain, so to reduce any wasted power, our warehouse and office have automatic, motion-sensing lights throughout that detect when spaces are empty after 15 minutes. It also helps that they are all energy-saving LED bulbs. And when possible, we utilize natural light as much as we can.
- Reusable water bottles for employees
At Power Assemblies, our employees are given Yeti tumblers to use instead of single-use plastic water bottles and there are purified water stations to refill from. You can find these Yeti cups along with additional Power Assemblies Merchandise by visiting our new Power Store!
While much of the world is still reliant on fossil fuel combustion for electricity generation, there is still a shift towards renewables in the future. For now, we try to do our best to adapt to reducing our usage of electricity and finding better alternatives to help the planet and ourselves. We make sure to reduce, reuse, and recycle when we can and encourage you to do so as well.
When it comes to necessary electricity, it’s important to have power distribution gear that is safe and efficient to lower the chances of energy being incorrectly used. We build innovative power solutions that perform to higher standards, so give us a call at (866) 825-8525 or email us at [email protected] if you have any questions about our gear.