The Green Globe program measures performance for the travel and tourism industry. It measures greenhouse gas emissions, waste water management, noise control, air quality protection, energy efficiency, fresh water use, solid waste minimization, land use, and ecosystem and local impact. For more information you can go to: http://www.greenglobe.org.

General Travel Policies         

Here are some policies you can put in place to make a difference while traveling:

• Ask that mass transit be the prime transportation mode;
• Use fuel efficient rentals if absolutely necessary; and
• Book accommodations in hotels that are members of the Green Hotel Association.

Carpooling               

Encourage your employees to carpool. The benefits of carpooling are easy to understand, but what’s difficult is actually doing it. People like to have the luxury of coming and going as they please. Instead of quitting before starting, here’s a little recipe you can tell your employees. First, find someone close to your home and try carpooling to work just once. Don’t commit for a month or even a week, just do it once. Chances are that you’ll find it’s not that bad at all. Now, try to do it once a week. This way you’ll still have the flexibility to come and go four days a week. Chances are that you’ll find that’s not bad either. Once you’re successful at this, try increasing the frequency or the number of people in the carpool. The idea is that in order to be effective, car pooling needs to be adaptable to the realities of the car poolers. When aiming for long-term success, you must find a comfort zone that suits your life and is sustainable.

Premium Parking  

A good incentive you can offer your employees to carpool is to have designated parking spots for carpoolers located closer to the entrance. There’s no real cost involved, but there are advantages for the people that make that effort. As you can probably imagine, this measure works better in bigger companies where parking lots are huge, but don't be fooled. Even in small organizations, this incentive can be successful.

Setting the Example in Transportation at Work

If you’re responsible for buying vehicles for your company, buy energy efficient models. Encourage people to work from home, therefore reducing the company's overall indirect ecological footprint. If you work on the road, practice good driving habits to reduce your gas consumption.

Work From Home and Flex Time

Technologies like instant messaging and video conferencing are now available to make effective telecommuting a reality. Encourage your employees to do so by organizing the work schedule accordingly. Telecommuting will not only save them time and gas, but will save your workplace energy. It can even save you real estate if you have a significant workforce that can work from home. You will need to have a performance-based culture and not the more common attendance-based culture, and not every organization is ready for that. Allow flex time so your employees can stay longer when the traffic outside is terrible, or if they can’t get to work in the morning.

Also, consider the possibility of organizing your office for four, ten-hour days instead of five eight-hour days. This is known as a consolidated work week. This will reduce the energy and time spent on commuting by 20% and give you some lovely three-day weekends. Your organization will also benefit from having employees who are less stressed.

Hybrid Cars              

If the size fits your needs, buy a hybrid car. For most models, the hybrid version offers more power than the gas version while consuming less. It used to be true that the only well-known hybrid was the Toyota Prius, which was and still is highly recognizable. But not everyone likes the particular design, and hybrid models are now available in traditional designs that don’t stand out. Buying a hybrid will save you 20% to 35% on gas. This may not be enough to compensate financially for the higher price tag if you don't rack up a great deal of driving miles. If that’s the case, maybe the bus, train, or carpooling are better solutions for you. Don't buy hybrids because you feel they’re cool. You may also want to combine buying hybrid with other green best practices like keeping your car longer to make it worth while.

There is a simple exercise you can do. Calculate how much mileage your organization’s car or fleet has traveled. Divide this by the average miles per gallons an average hybrid car gets and multiply this by the cost of one gallon of gas at the pump today. Once you have that total, compare it to your actual spending on gas and see how much you would have saved.

You can also use that number to calculate how much time it will take you to offset the potentially higher initial cost for buying a hybrid.

Electric Vehicles    

Electric vehicles aren’t dead. Although the dream of having 100% electric cars like in the sci-fi movies is not there yet, many applications are now possible. Golf carts are probably the most widely used for individual traveling, but now there are electric scooters, buses and bikes.

Gas Emissions         

Consumers focus on gas consumption because of the impact on their pocketbooks, but their real concern should be gas emissions. The less gas a car uses, the less it pollutes. Make fuel efficiency an important element in decision-making when buying a vehicle for your organization. Also, position your location so it’s central to where your product or service is delivered. If you rely on distribution centers as part of your distribution strategy, place your goods closer to where they will be sold or used.

Keep Your Car

With all the over-consumption and focus on image, people have become used to changing cars every two to three years. Did you know that good cars made by companies like Toyota, Honda and Subaru can go 10 to 12 years without rust and major mechanical problems when properly maintained? Of course, over time, models will change and your car might look out of date, but what’s the point of owning a car? Style or taking you from point A to B safely?

Scooters

If your employees can travel light (weather permitting) why not use a scooter—preferably an electric scooter? Obviously scooters burn less gas than cars, but they also bun less fuel than motorcycles. For short commutes scooters are a great alternative to bikes. Bigger scooters can carry two people so this may be an option, too. Scooters are not considered green by many people because their engines are not efficient. In fact, they’re less efficient than a car engine. Our point of view is that, although less efficient, the scooter is better suited for individual travel because it’s much smaller than a car. Going to work is usually done solo, so there’s less gas consumed per person with a scooter. Do you really need a four passenger car to commute to work alone?

Engine Oil 

Buy oil that saves energy. Using oil with a lower grade of viscosity than the manufacturer's suggestion can improve gas consumption, especially in cold weather.

Unload Unnecessary Weight            

Ensure your organization's vehicles don’t carry unnecessary materials on a daily basis. Obviously you don't want to get rid of your emergency kit or spare tire, but do you really need that toolbox that’s only been used once? By reducing non-needed cargo weight you will burn less gas.

Avoid Ethanol         

Ethanol is marketed as being green and as the ‘right’ alternative to petroleum. Although at first even scientists held this opinion, the wind has now shifted as we see what the real impact of this alternative fuel is. Biodiesel is made from renewable resources such as corn and then transformed into alcohol. The problem is that now that plants producing ethanol are becoming bigger to produce more for the market, they consume more natural resources which normally would and should be used to feed humans and animals. With all the people in the world suffering from hunger, can you imagine if, overnight, we all turned to ethanol? Moving to ethanol avoids addressing the real problem with cars today, which is that we simply drive too much and do so at the expensive of the environment.

 Cruise Control

Have your employees use cruise control when possible while driving on the highway. It’s been proven that cruise control saves gas. It’s also going to save you dollars by preventing speeding tickets.

 Smooth Driving

Driving at an even speed and not exceeding the speed limit will reduce the emissions produced by your car’s engine. In this fast-paced world, it’s easy to get carried away and give in driving fast and darting in and out of traffic, but resisting the urge will reduce your carbon footprint and the amount you shell out in speeding tickets.

 Speed Control        

Every time you go over 60 miles per hour or approximately 95 kilometres per hour, you car engine becomes less efficient. Even if you’re tempted to go over the speed limit, take a deep breath and stay in control!

 Tire Pressure           

Check car tire pressure regularly. Low pressure results in less efficient tires by increasing resistance and  decreasing fuel efficiency. Be sure to double check tire pressure when temperatures change rapidly.

Oil and Oil Filters  

If your organization has a fleet of vehicles and is equipped to do its own oil changes, great. But don't forget to have your filters and oil recycled. If you have a small fleet, take your used oil and filters to a local auto parts store which will probably offer to recycle these items for you at no charge.

 Brakes and Alignment

While driving straight, hold your steering wheel very loosely—almost not touching it. If it tends to shift to the right or left, have your front-end alignment checked. Bad alignment makes your car burn more gas.

Ventilation in the Car          

When on the highway or going fast, favour your car's ventilation as opposed to its air conditioning system. Use the air conditioning system only when absolutely necessary. Auto air conditioning requires about the same amount of gas as driving with your windows down. This last option is the least desirable since it also makes your engine work harder.

Old Car Disposal    

When you need to get rid of an old vehicle, do it the right way. Check to see if there is an official program for this in your area. Before your car is left to rest in these programs, all fluids and dangerous products (CFCs, mercury, oil, gas, etc.) are removed. Batteries and tires are recycled, metal from the chassis, too. Sometimes these programs also offer financial incentives, like new car rebates, public transportation discounts, and so on.

Roof Racks

If your vehicles are equipped with roof racks, don't leave them on permanently. Use them only when required. These accessories make a vehicle less aerodynamic, making it less efficient from a gas consumption stand point.