As the effects of climate change continue to cause problems in a variety of areas, many organizations are setting up initiatives to decrease their carbon footprint and increase energy efficiency. One of the most common steps taken under these initiatives is to limit the use of paper, but this is easier to achieve in some industries than in others. Schools especially have a difficult time eliminating paper because the amount of homework, handouts, permission slips, memos etc. that are used everyday. But precisely because of the vast amount of paper used in academia, schools are the perfect candidates for a more environmentally friendly solution.
"Producing paper is the 3rd largest use of energy each year."
Reducing the amount of paper used by an organization not only helps the environment by saving trees, it also works to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Less paper also means less ink, which improves environmental conditions even further. According to cloud service provider FirstWay, more than 500 million laser printer cartridges and 1.8 billion ink cartridges are thrown away every year and end up in landfills. On top of that waste, producing paper is the third largest use of energy each year and the fourth largest source of greenhouse gases within the manufacturing industry.
To help the environment, look to the cloud
Clearly the use of large amounts of paper has major consequences, but what's a school to do, stop giving out homework? Luckily, there's a better solution that allows schools and teachers to continue doing all of the things they once did on paper, just without the paper. The cloud is rapidly being adopted by educational institutions across the world as an environmentally friendly solution that not only enables operations to go on as usual, but actually offers benefits not found with traditional solutions as well.
Cloud computing enables teachers and students to access a centralized online portal where homework, lesson plans, permission slips and classroom announcements can be kept. Everyone has access to the class's portal with a special login and students can collaborate with one another online to help with homework or work on group projects. The cloud also allows school districts to dramatically reduce their energy consumption as big, wasteful on-premises hardware is no longer necessary. Less energy means less cost, giving often tight budgets a little more breathing room. Reduction of paper and ink will save even more money.
Special cloud services can help schools be even more eco-conscious.Go even greener with FoIP
Another way to reduce paper use with the cloud is to implement a fax-over-IP solution. Unlike traditional fax machines, FoIP services utilize the Internet to send documents. When a fax is sent using FoIP, service providers like FaxCore convert the information into a PDF file and email it to the specified recipients, totally eliminating the need for additional paper. And because the fax is in an email, it is no longer necessary to print out multiple copies to share with others. All of the converted PDF files are stored on an organization's dedicated server, creating a cloud-based archive of documents that saves on energy costs and storage space.
Any step an organization can take toward being more energy efficient is a beneficial and the cloud makes it easier than ever to go green. Fax-over-IP services take it one step further and provide environmentally friendly communication and document storage solutions that meet strict compliance guidelines and save users energy, time and money.
Enhance enterprise communication, collaboration and compliance efforts with a proven FoIP solution from FaxCore. Contact FaxCore today to learn more about their 'Partly-Cloudy' fax solutions.
