Kelly is one such company and while its logo may be green, its thoughts and actions are too. Evidence of this can be found in the fact that while Earth Hour simply requires participants to extinguish their lights for a period of 60 minutes, many companies and organisations go beyond this call by switching off lights and computers every evening and on weekends too. And while Earth Hour may only take place once a year, Kelly embraces “going beyond the hour” every single day of the year.

As part of this commitment to planet earth, Kelly regularly disseminates environmentally friendly tips to its staff, some of which include the following:
• Ensuring pots and pans completely cover stove plates, save up to 25% of electricity when cooking.
• Infrared heaters are more electricity efficient than other space heating systems because they can be used both for spot and area heating, as they transfer energy directly by radiation.
• As much as 50% of heat loss in a home can be attributed to poor insulation. If a ceiling is well insulated, heating and cooling costs can be kept to a minimum.
• Showering instead of bathing uses two thirds less energy and reducing the temperature of geysers saves on electricity.
Philips Lighting South Africa’s marketing manager, John Westermeyer also adds these energy-saving tips for office lighting:
• Consider installing occupancy sensors for rooms in your office that are not used continuously such as bathrooms and meeting rooms
• Use lighting with dimming capability that will suit the mood and hence save energy usage
• Use sensors that will harvest natural daylight; this means they will lower the lamps artificial light output (and energy usage) in line with available natural light
• Replace flickering fluorescent tubes that have reached end of life because they are still drawing energy without producing the light
• Switch to LEDs and other energy efficient lighting
“Sustainability is something we at Kelly are most passionate about and this extends to the well being of both our people and the planet. For this reason, creating sustainable business practices, helping reduce our carbon footprint, are high on the Kelly agenda. As a company we are well aware of the difference we can make through the smallest acts and we encourage our clients, associates and colleagues to consider how they too can protect the environment,” says Kelly marketing executive, Kim Meszaros.

In 2012, over 5 250 cities and towns in more than 135 countries participated in Earth Hour. This year, follow Kelly’s green example by looking at how your company can be a positive role model, become a green organisation, highlighting your energy savings.