As software innovators, we center our work around trying to make things more efficient in a busy world. In a health-centered technology company, where we spend every minute of every day trying to make things easier for our practices and their patients, it’s easy to forget that we are contributing to even greater good with every keystroke we make. This Earth Day we are making a point to remember how cloud-based technologies such as eBlu are making a difference in our own way. This is also a great reminder to our amazing employees and clients that together, we are helping our Earth heal.
Here are five ways technology helps protect the environment in Honor of Earth Day 2022.
1. Digital Solutions Help Combat Deforestation – Not entirely sure what deforestation is? Livescience.com defines deforestation as “Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides the forest.” 2.5 billion people worldwide depend on forests and forest products for food, water, or work, not to mention the animals, plants, and insects that live in the disappearing trees. Here’s where software starts to shine – with more and more aspects of business life becoming digital, many organizations are leaning towards using a lot less paper than before. We’ve heard time and time again from our practices how much software like eBlu eliminates the need for paper filing systems, paper faxes, etc. That’s a big win for Mother Earth.
2. Technology Accelerates the Circular Economy – OK, for sure, you are scratching your head asking, “What is the circular economy”? I won’t go too far into explaining it, but I’ll give you the basic overview in a nutshell. The circular economy is a production and consumption model involving refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. So how does technology help in this model? Cloud computing can directly contribute to this model by reducing the number of servers, physical computer resources and other technical infrastructures. Simple, right?
3. Lower carbon emissions -A February 2021 study by IDC, for example, found that cloud computing could prevent nearly 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions between 2021 and 2024. If you are using any cloud-based software, you’re slowly making a difference. Think about that.
4. Reduce urban energy consumption – Our office has a robust remote work model that allows our employees the benefit of a hybrid work-from-home schedule. Fewer employees driving into the city daily means fewer cars and fewer emissions. We also utilize super cool cloud-based software solutions to keep our teams connected and constantly collaborating during the day. Fewer people gathered in the office at one time also means less energy consumption needed for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, and major appliances.
5. Reduced future energy consumption for businesses – Cloud computing is environmentally friendly – Developing small, simple, and focused bits of software creates an opportunity to implement that software on computers ranging from desktops to smartphones. Except for a small server platform on some occasions, the need for massive computers with equally massive energy requirements will be drastically reduced or eliminated. This will be true for large and small organizations.
So, there you have it. We hope this post give you a little bit of a different take on how the software you choose to run your daily business and personal lives can have a direct impact on the world we live in. This is especially important for companies and employees like those here at eBlu Solutions or those in specialty medical practices who are so focused on the health of their patients. The health of our practices’ patients depend on solutions like eBlu to help them receive life-changing treatments. As we continue to innovate and provide additional technology to help these patients, let’s also take a moment today, on Earth Day, to remember that our health depends greatly on our planet’s health. We can be proud that we are doing our part to help heal her.
