For Light Tec,  being "green" means not wasting our natural resources and being efficient in their use.

That being said and understood, we also think it is stupid and irresponsible to waste anything, particularly including money.  You know, the stuff we lay out to purchase the resources we use in business and personally. 

HVAC
This stands for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning.  Our combination units are serviced twice a year (once for the summer and once for the winter seasons) to ensure that they are functioning properly and the thermostats are correct. 

At night when we leave, the thermostats are set higher in the summer and lower in the winter.  We do not turn them off as it is more efficient to maintain an environment than it is to cool or heat one from a too cold or too hot one.  It also saves electricity during peak times.

Lighting
No, not the photographic lighting; the overhead lights at Light Tec.  Years ago, we switched from incandescent to fluorescent (daylight balanced, of course).  Then, we moved to energy-saver fluorescents. 

When those little curly fluorescents came out, we started to look into using them.  Then, after finding out that they contain mercury, are more expensive, and you need a hazmat suit if you ever break one and can't just throw one away, we are now looking into the LED units.  At least the LEDs now come in daylight balanced units, their energy use is very minimal, and their lifespan is very long with good illumination (you can't work in half or no light).

We turn off the lights when we leave the building.

Paperwork
The world still runs on little pieces of paper - from receipts and invoices to scratch pads and notepaper.  Well, the receipts and invoices are kept for a period of 10 years in storage (corporate records).  Thereafter, each pieces is shredded into little bitty pieces and then given to a recycler, who shreds them again into littler pieces.

The day-to-day notes and papers - well, we just couldn't figure spending money at the office supply store for scratchpads, so we use old envelopes, old advertising paperwork from vendors, and old faxes.

Speaking of old faxes, we also hate junk faxes.  We have registered with every national and state do-not-fax and do-not-call lists we could find.  If these people continue to send junk faxes, we report them to the FCC who has the responsibility for telephone transmissions.  And when we do get these faxes, we restock the fax machine to use the back side of the paper.

Bottles and Cardboard and Cans, Oh My!
Bottles -- The plastic bottles from soda and water are collected each day, put in bags, and given to a recycler.

Cardboard -- Old boxes not good enough for shipping are flattened or cut up and given to a recycler.

Can -- Soda and beer cans are flattened and given to a recycler.