One of our most important cornerstones at Kiwigrid is sustainability. One of the reasons our employees want to work for us is indeed our sustainable aspect - both in our HEMS business model and in our actions.
Wherever it is possible and makes sense for us, we want to make a contribution to environmentally friendly work. This does not always have to be done on a large scale, but can easily be integrated into our everyday lives. As we have very flexible working hours and also make mobile working possible on a very regular basis, we have thought about how we can make our working from home more sustainable. We also asked our colleagues what they do on a small scale:
Electricity and water
Using the power-saving mode on electrical devices is a matter of course in Kiwi working life. Switching off lights and unused devices also promotes our sustainability footprint.
Many of our employees also use PV systems at home. Our hardware and software is often used there to charge the car on sunny days or to do the laundry when the system is producing electricity. Cooking during sunny hours and pre-cooking for several days when the PV system is generating a lot of energy offers the potential to save grid electricity and use environmentally friendly electricity from the solar system instead.
We also think about water consumption. We can reuse water from boiled eggs. We can also make sure we don't leave the tap running unnecessarily when washing dishes. By the way, five minutes in the shower consumes an average of 60 liters of water - perhaps you should take a shorter shower next time.
Reuse is the key
We use reusable bottles and bowls. Many of us bring our own lunchboxes to the store we trust. Some restaurants and cafés work with Recup - you can easily check this with the Vytal app, for example: www.vytal.org/b2c. Our food supplier Lehmüse also delivers in sustainable, reusable Recup trays.
Reuse is the key, we think: That's why Kleinanzeigen & similar platforms are our favorites. There are so many goods that we can reuse or upcycle and which are still in a very good condition. Maybe you can do without packaging in the supermarket in one place or another - it's often worth looking left and right on the shelves for alternative goods.
Share knowledge!
Knowledge transfer is also part of sustainability. It's not just in the office that we can quickly share knowledge across desks. This is also possible when working remotely; for example, we can do this during a lunch meeting with a colleague while we talk about the latest news. This promotes collegial collaboration and enriches our professional knowledge in the process.
Of course, there are also digital formats for knowledge transfer, such as various Kiwigrid RocketChat groups on topics such as the energy market, a large glossary on our Kiwigrid-internal information and administration platform “Teamweb” and the regular Open Space Fridays at Kiwigrid. The Open Space is an open communication platform for all Kiwigrid employees that offers the opportunity to share knowledge across topics, gather input on problems and discuss ideas.
One final tip: We really like the book “Sustainable living for beginners” by Christoph Schulz.