Sustainability Practices
The Pawa Law Group, P.C. is committed to promoting environmental sustainability through sustainable business practices. We constantly strive to increase our energy efficiency, reduce our energy usage, and minimize resource consumption.
Prior to considering any of the below energy saving tips, please read an important disclaimer by clicking here.
Disclaimer: Please consult with trained experts and professionals before using any energy saving product or idea. You should not alter an automobile without expert guidance from a trained mechanic. Altering an automobile to run on grease may violate the Clean Air Act and/or other law and could present hazards to the car driver, passengers, and/or third parties and may void your warranty. To change an electrical switch, you should use a certified electrician; doing it yourself could cause electrocution, severe injury or death. Altering your home heating system in any fashion could also cause you severe injury or death and should be done by a trained and certified professional; after installation such a system could also present risks of fire, explosion or other hazards. Installing a hot water heater should be done by a trained and certified plumber or other professional. Downloading software onto your computer could damage your computer and the computers of others; do not download any software onto your computer without the advice and assistance of a trained IT professional. Matt Pawa and the Law Offices of Matthew F. Pawa, P.C. does not intend for anyone to use any of the ideas, products, software or services on this page (or pages linked to this page and found by links from this page) without the independent advice and assistance of trained and certified professionals.
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Reducing Energy Usage
To reduce increase our energy efficiency and reduce energy usage, we:
- Use energy-efficient fixtures and bulbs
- Require employees to turn off computers, printers, and copiers at night
- Require employees to turn off lights at night and when not in use; some lights are on automatic switches that turn off lights when the room is inactive
- Set printers and copiers to print double-sided
- Encourage employees to transmit documents electronically and print only when necessary to reduce paper consumption
- Minimize use of heat and air conditioning by turning them down or off at night, opening windows and not requiring employees to wear suits
- See also our energy reductions in transportation, purchasing and physical space below.
Transportation
Our office is located in Newton, near where our employees live and just steps from the Newton Centre MBTA station. This is perhaps our biggest contribution to the environment. Our employees often walk, bicycle, or take public transportation to work. Those who drive are driving much less than they would to a downtown office. The law firm has leased a 2008 Prius to drive to meetings in the New England region; to see a photo of our Prius, click here. When Matt Pawa drives to meetings, he often takes his grease car, which is powered by used vegetable oil.
Purchasing
We strive to purchase sustainable and recyclable products, including:
- Computers that have the highest energy efficiency ratings; you can learn more about buying the most energy efficient computers and improving computer efficiency on these helpful web sites:
- Flat screen monitors (we recently replaced all our old CRT monitors, which use more energy than flat screens)
- Double-sided printers
- Recycled paper products (including our holiday cards)
- Recyclable toner cartridges
Recycling
The Pawa Law Group, P.C. recycles paper, plastic, glass and aluminum even though the City of Newton does not have curbside recycling for businesses. We also transport old computers and other electronics to the city's transfer station for recycling and reuse.
Remodeling Our Physical Space
Because The Pawa Law Group, P.C. leases its office space, its ability to modify its physical space to is limited by what the landlord will allow. Nevertheless, we negotiated with our landlord to cut two new windows through the exterior brick wall in order to allow more natural light into the office and to increase natural ventilation. We are investigating the possibility of installing solar panels on the roof.