I’m constantly fascinated by the advances in technology that we see in telecommunications these days. Since energy costs are rising, efficient and effective communication technology is a must for businesses and consumers - especially in an environmental sense.

Why bother with face to face meetings when you can have a perfectly good holographic meeting? I mean, it reduces travel costs, means you can have a meeting on demand and you can reduce the amount of energy you waste in flights, car travel and taxiing. Perfect solution!

Petrol Prices and Fossil Fuels

It’s no surprise that petrol prices are climbing steadily from a diminishing supply. If we continue to use thes recources they will run dry - no doubt about that. We need to make the switch from combustion engines over toward renewable energy and environmentally friendly sources of energy. Since telecommunication networks all run on electricity, it’s possible to run them from alternative energy sources.

Renewable Energy Alternatives

If you encourage work from home, you can effectively power your operations from renewable energy sources. I’m assuming your energy company uses a portion of renewable energy sources as a part of its plan. Here are a handful of sources:

Solar Power

Solar Power can be based off solar stills or solar arrays. Whilst these babies cost a mint to setup, deploy and maintain, they produce no emissions whatsoever.

Hydro Power

These plants are quite noisy but as a renewable and clean source of energy, the trade off is quite simple. You local government can get free energy by installing hydro power turbines in their dam.

Fuel Cells

As I’ve covered before, this relatively new technology makes use of the abundant resources such as methanol and hydrogen. They’re ultimately clean and they provide a lot of power from batteries, that can power laptops and other communication devices on the road.

Wind Power

Perhaps the ultimate in renewable energy, wind turbines generate power from the wind. Currently China is trying to implement a fair amount of renewable energy in their power grid.

Carbon Offsets

If you still decide to travel around the country or the world for business, you might even like to take on carbon offsets. You can position yourself as the green choice in the market and create a sense of corporate responsibility.

STA Travel does carbon offsets over at their website, now.

The Verdict on Reducing Travel Energy Waste

So, try and see how your business or the business that you work for can effectively reduce travel costs and maximise the use of new telecommunications advances. I’m sure you will be pleasantly surprised. It’s a cool new way to live, work and conduct business across the world.