If cutting emission rates could earn you money, then every business would be going green. Although there have been some monetary incentives, public relations and the consumers are the real driving force behind their new stance with the environment. The need to have energy efficient products has almost become necessary for any business. The new competition between businesses to go green has worked in our advantage. As concerned citizens, we can sit back and listen to what each company has to offer us and the environment.

 Take the company Xerox for example. Many of us know the company as a verb. “I am going to Xerox the news article.” That is because they are a successful company that has products in almost every office you walk in. According to their website, they generate $17 billion dollars a year. They are also a fortune 500 business. They sell numerous office appliances such as copiers, printers, fax machines and much more. On their website, they also include a little section about how they are concerned about the environment.

 According to their webpage, one of their core values is environmental sustainability. It seems by priding yourself on that value alone is the right step. Xerox has recently made the effort to cut the emissions as much as possible. Between 2006 and 2007, the company made drastic cuts. Overall, they have managed to cut the greenhouses gas down 2 %. That may not seem a lot but they have $17 million dollars in products. Besides greenhouse gases, the company has moved to reducing and recycling but better managing their materials and waste.

 They have also used innovation to decrease the turn over in products and encourage a lot of them to be reused. On their website, they have a link that allows you to click on “Used Items”. Also, they began changing their products up as well. New designs that feature interchangeable parts, simpler machines and recyclable parts have been the new direction for Xerox.

 This new direction has been good for both the consumers and the company. The consumers can buy machines that were assembled from parts of other models. This lowers production rates and the cost. The lower the production rate the less use of materials and the less waste there is. It is good for the company because it cuts down on various parts that have to be mass produced. This lowers the cost of machinery, energy used to power warehouses and factories and space for storage.

 All of these practical switches have lowered the greenhouse gas emissions for Xerox. Even though they have lowered the rate of their emissions, they have done it at a cost. They also increased their usage of water. Even though this has happened, I find Xerox’s choice in the way to cut emissions to be exemplary and businesses should move to do similar cuts.