How Technology Can Increase The Sustainability Of Your Business

Julie Starr • June 21, 2022



Sustainability has become a critical issue for businesses in recent years. Consumers are more interested than ever in knowing that their products are environmentally friendly and sustainable. As a business owner, it is important to find ways to make your company more sustainable. One way to do this is by using technology. The following blog will discuss how technology can help increase the sustainability of your business.

1) Technology Can Help You Save Energy And Resources

One of the most important ways that technology can help increase the sustainability of your business is by helping you save energy and resources. There are several ways to do this, including:

-Install energy-efficient lighting: This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce your business’s energy consumption. Energy-efficient lighting uses less electricity and lasts longer than traditional incandescent bulbs, so you’ll save money on your energy bill and won’t have to replace the bulbs as often.

-Use solar power: Solar power is a renewable resource that can help reduce your business’s carbon footprint. If you don’t have the space or budget for a full solar array, you can start small by installing solar panels on your rooftop or using solar-powered outdoor lighting.

-Invest in energy-efficient appliances: If your business uses a lot of energy-hungry appliances, such as industrial refrigerators or air conditioners, consider investing in more energy-efficient models. These appliances use less electricity and can save you money over time.

-Implement a recycling program: Recycling is a great way to reduce the amount of waste your business produces. You can start a recycling program by setting up bins for paper, plastic, and glass. Encourage your employees to participate by offering incentives, such as prizes for the most recycled materials.

2) Technology Can Help You Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Another way that technology can help increase the sustainability of your business is by helping you reduce your carbon footprint. There are several ways to do this, including:

-Telecommuting: Telecommuting is a great way to reduce your business’s carbon footprint. If your employees can work from home, they won’t have to commute to work, which will save on gas and emissions.

-Video conferencing: Video conferencing is another great way to reduce travel for meetings. Instead of flying or driving long distances for a meeting, you can connect with employees and clients via video conference. This will save on time, money, and emissions.

-E-commerce: If your business sells products, consider selling them online instead of in brick-and-mortar stores. This will reduce the emissions associated with shipping and transportation.

3) Technology Can Help You Go Paperless

One of the easiest ways to make your business more sustainable is to go paperless. There are several ways to do this, including:

-Electronic invoicing: Send invoices electronically instead of through the mail. This will save on paper and postage.

-Digital storage: Store documents electronically instead of printing them out. This will save on paper and storage space.

-E-newsletters: Send newsletters and other updates electronically instead of through the mail. This will save on paper and postage.

-P2P Texting: Use a peer-to-peer texting service to communicate with employees and customers. These Kaplan Strategies will save on paper and printing costs.

4) Technology Can Help You Educate Your Employees And Customers

One of the best ways to increase the sustainability of your business is to educate your employees and customers about sustainable practices. There are a number of ways to do this, including:

-Sustainability training: Offer training to your employees on sustainable practices. This will help them understand the importance of sustainability and how they can help make your business more sustainable.

-Eco-friendly marketing: Use eco-friendly marketing materials, such as recycled paper or reusable bags. This will show your customers that you care about sustainability and are committed to making environmentally friendly choices.

-Green products: Offer green products, such as organic food or recycled office supplies. This will show your customers that you are committed to sustainability and offer products that are good for the environment.

5) Technology Can Help You Save Money

One of the best things about investing in sustainable technology is that it can help you save money. There are a number of ways to do this, including:

-Solar power: Solar power is a great way to save money on your energy bill. Solar panels can be used to generate electricity, which can then be used to power your business.

-Water conservation: Water conservation can help you save money on your water bill. There are several ways to conserve water, such as using low-flow fixtures and drought-resistant plants.

6)Technology Can Better Your Marketing Strategies

As a sustainable business, it is important to market yourself as such. There are a number of ways to do this, including: 

-Using social media: Use social media to promote your sustainable business practices. This will show potential customers that you are committed to sustainability. 

– Using a video production company: A video production company can help you create marketing materials that showcase your sustainable business practices. This will show potential customers that you are committed to sustainability and that you are committed to making environmentally friendly choices.

-Participating in green events: Attend or participate in green events, such as green festivals or trade shows. This will show potential customers that you are interested in sustainability and that you are committed to making environmentally friendly choices.

-Advertising in green media: Advertise your sustainable business in green media, such as Green America or The Huffington Post. This will show potential customers that you care about the environment and that you are committed to making sustainable choices.

In conclusion, there are several ways that technology can help increase the sustainability of your business. By investing in sustainable technology, you can reduce your carbon footprint, save money, and educate your employees and customers about sustainability.

How Student-Led ‘Energy Audits’ Are Cutting School Costs (and Lighting the Way Forward)

By Julie Starr • July 14, 2025
What happens when students stop waiting for adults to fix things and start conducting their own energy audits? Money gets saved. The lights get switched off. Data gets analyzed. And a quiet revolution in sustainability begins—inside schools that once overlooked their own inefficiencies. Across the globe, student-led energy audits are proving that change doesn't always need to come from a policy shift or a major capital budget. Sometimes, it begins with a clipboard, a spreadsheet, and a group of curious minds asking: Why are the hallway lights on at noon when sunlight floods the building? The Energy Detectives These audits aren’t science fair projects. They’re rigorous investigations, often done in collaboration with facilities staff, local environmental nonprofits, or even engineering mentors. Students go from classroom to classroom measuring electricity usage, checking for phantom loads , and identifying where heat is escaping in winter or air conditioning is leaking in summer. One high school in Ontario saved over $12,000 a year after its Grade 11 physics students ran an energy audit and suggested simple changes—LED upgrades, motion sensors in bathrooms, and smarter heating schedules. They didn’t just propose ideas. They pitched them with spreadsheets, thermal images, and payback timelines. It worked. Learning That Pays Off—Literally Unlike textbook learning, these audits blend real-world math, environmental science, economics, and persuasive communication. Students aren’t just learning about sustainability. They’re doing it. And the savings add up. From dimming overlit hallways to reprogramming HVAC systems that run all weekend for empty buildings, students are surfacing blind spots that administrators often overlook. In some districts, their findings are influencing energy policy. Elsewhere, the audits have inspired school boards to hire sustainability coordinators—often alumni of the student programs themselves. There’s something poetic about a school funding new books or laptops from money saved by students who found out the vending machines didn’t need to be plugged in 24/7. Why This Matters More Than Ever With education budgets tightening and utility costs rising, every dollar saved is a dollar that can go back into classrooms. And here’s where it gets interesting from a family finance perspective, too. If you’re a parent setting aside money for post-secondary savings, every bit of school efficiency helps. Fewer energy costs might mean more programming, better STEM facilities, or even bursaries. That raises a broader point: when families save for their children’s future, they often look into RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). And many wonder—is a RESP deduction available on my taxes? While contributions themselves aren’t deductible, the gains grow tax-free, and students often pay little to no tax when they withdraw the funds during school. A Movement Worth Replicating These audits aren’t just an exercise in environmentalism. They’re leadership labs. Students learn how to spot inefficiencies, speak up in board meetings, and make a business case for change. They don’t just flip switches—they shift mindsets. And they carry these habits into adulthood. The result? A generation growing up not only with climate anxiety, but also with tools to tackle it.

Smart Sensors, Smarter Supply Chains: Enhancing Traceability in Food & Beverage

By Julie Starr • June 20, 2025
In today’s competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape, traceability is no longer a compliance checkbox—it’s a differentiator. The ability to track every step of a product’s journey, from origin to shelf, is vital for regulatory accuracy and to ensure brand integrity, supply chain agility, and consumer trust. Add smart sensors to the mix: the quiet, tireless observers revolutionizing supply chain intelligence. Traceability Has a Data Problem Despite digitization across many F&B operations, most traceability systems still rely on fragmented or manual data inputs. Batch numbers, barcodes, and handwritten logs often stand between a supplier and clarity when things go wrong. This approach struggles with latency and scale. When contamination or delays occur, root cause analysis is slow, costly, and damaging. Smart sensors shift this paradigm by embedding real-time, contextual intelligence into every stage of the supply chain . Whether monitoring humidity in transit or recording fill-level precision in bottling plants, they remove the guesswork by turning physical conditions into structured, time-stamped data. From Passive Monitoring to Active Optimization Sensors used to be reactive tools, alerting operators to anomalies. But smart sensors now play a proactive role in process control. They measure, and they interpret. For example, temperature sensors embedded in cold chain logistics can dynamically adjust cooling systems or flag threshold breaches before spoilage occurs. These advancements reduce waste and loss at a systemic level. In a production facility, smart sensors integrated with PLCs can enforce recipe compliance, verify clean-in-place processes, and detect micro-stoppages in real-time. This enables operations to pivot faster and isolate inefficiencies before they cascade downstream. Trust is Built on Transparency Consumers are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. They’re looking beyond labels, expecting visibility into how ingredients are sourced, processed, and handled. Smart sensors make this level of transparency achievable —without burdening manufacturers with excessive manual oversight. By capturing metadata throughout production and distribution, these sensors create a digital footprint that’s tamper-resistant and instantly accessible. When this data is integrated with a central platform, brands can respond confidently to audits, recalls, and quality assurance challenges with a level of precision that would be impossible through legacy systems. Intelligence Without Infrastructure Overhaul One common misconception is that adding smart sensors requires a top-down reinvention of supply chain infrastructure. In reality, companies can deploy edge sensors in a modular, scalable way. Many modern solutions offer plug-and-play functionality, allowing for fast integration with existing machinery and MES systems. This is where suppliers like alps-machine.com are reshaping expectations. Rather than pushing proprietary ecosystems, they design sensor-ready equipment with interoperability in mind. This future-proofs investment and keeps businesses nimble in the face of regulatory or market shifts. Designing for Data Longevity Sensors are only as powerful as the context they capture. A smart implementation ensures the data collected can be standardized, stored securely, and accessed meaningfully across departments. This means moving beyond local dashboards toward centralized, queryable datasets that inform everything from supplier contracts to marketing claims. As AI and predictive analytics become more accessible, these data-rich environments will unlock new capabilities—such as predicting demand spikes based on real-time freshness indicators or adjusting production schedules dynamically based on in-transit sensor feedback. Final Thoughts: Smarter Isn’t Optional Traceability isn’t solved by more paperwork—it’s solved by embedded intelligence. Smart sensors don’t just help businesses know what happened; they help prevent the wrong things from happening at all. For companies in the food and beverage sector, adopting smart sensors is less about chasing innovation and more about enabling resilience, speed, and confidence in every decision.