Going green with your small or home business can start as simply as changing a light bulb. Find out why you should give fluorescent lights a chance to be a bit more friendly to the environment.

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Whether you’re working in a home office all alone or in an external office with employees, you may be able to go at least a little bit greener by updating some of your lighting.

If you’re using standalone lamps (as opposed to fluorescent ceiling lighting or something similar), you may be able to swap your bulbs for fluorescents that are not only better for the environment, but also better on your wallet (while they may cost more up front, they can last much longer than incandescent bulbs, saving you money in the long run).

Or, if you want to swap out your entire lamp, you may want to purchase a natural spectrum lamp for your desk. These also use energy-saving bulbs. I tried a few models and didn’t think they gave enough light personally, but I live on the north side of my apartment building, where it’s also shaded quite a bit, so I get almost no natural light to begin with.

My work lamp is my one “bad” lamp energy-wise, but was the only one I found giving me the light options I needed (a halogen with a dimmer, so I can keep it bright when I need to focus, or dim for late night writing). If I ever find a UV spectrum lamp that compares to it for my lighting needs, I’d love to switch though, so if you use one, feel free to leave your recommendations.

Even if your business can’t go green by changing all of your own practices, you can still be more environmentally friendly – find out how.

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Is your business already a green business? Do you want to go green, but there are certain aspects of your business that you simply can’t change? No worries. Most green businesses aren’t 100% green, and even if you can’t make all of the changes you’d like (whether options aren’t available where you are, or if you can’t afford to make some changes for example), you can still get involved in the green scene. How? By getting involved!

Going green doesn’t just mean using sustainable resources, recycling, and cutting various forms of waste. Your business can be more environmentally friendly by getting involved with events and organizations working to improve environmental issues. Here are some examples of things you could do:

• Donate a portion of profits to an eco-friendly organization.
• Get involved in a community sponsorship (such as having your company participate in an adopt-a-highway program or something similar).
• Make a one-time donation to an organization.
• Find ways to encourage employees to be more green (like incentives to carpool).
• Make a company commitment to making a difference – maybe your company can vow to plant a certain number of trees each year, or to do fund raising throughout the year with a specific goal set ahead of time).

Summary: Save time, money, and even the environment by holding virtual meetings with online meeting software or webinar applications.

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Technology can be a wonderful thing for the small business owner, can’t it? It saves us time, allows us to work more productively, and can save us money. It can also help your small business go green.

One type of green business technology used increasingly is virtual meeting or webinar applications. Sure, you could always just pick up a phone or send an email rather than making a physical appointment for a meeting, but sometimes even a conference call just won’t cut it. You may need to do an all-out presentation with more interaction. Online meeting and webinar applications let you do that.

So how do virtual meetings help the environment?

• You’re not driving or flying to get to meetings.
• You can avoid distributing print materials to save paper.
• You don’t end up with waste often associated with face-to-face meetings and conferences (from water to food containers if you order out or have it catered, depending on the type of meeting).

So be a little bit more green the next time a colleague or clients wants to conference with you, and find a way to do it virtually.