Blog Action Day - Climate Change - CAD the Green Way

This years Blog Action Day is about Climate Change. This is my first year participating in Blog Action Day, but I thought it was relevant to this site's content. CAD-a-Blog is about CAD, not going green, but there are many steps that CAD users can take to reduce their impact on the environment. Lacking any hard data or surveys, I would tend to think that two of the major impacts CAD users have on the environment is the use of paper and power. Let's face it, my job is to create construction/permit drawings on a computer all day. If I use less paper and less power, then it can only help.

Use Paper Less

There are several steps CAD users can take to reduce the amount of paper we use. Just say no! We live in the digital age. paper is nice for drawings of course, but the software we use comes with ways to produce our drawings electronically. Instead of printing to paper, print to PDF. if you are using AutoCAD or any other Autodesk product, print to DWF. If you print to DWF then you can use Autodesk's Design Review software (and it's free by the way) to mark up drawings and to share comments. All of this without using paper! If you have to submit your drawings to a client or government agency, submit them electronically. Send them the PDF or DWF files instead of paper. If they won't acept it, start a dialog on how it can help reduce the strain on the environment, but it couls help reduce costs as well. Several govenrment agencies are now allowing electronic submittals. Some even require it.

Use Less Power

This may seem like an obvious help to the environment, but one that might not be as easily remidied. Let's face it, CAD runs on electricity and the power has to be generated somehow. We need to find ways to use less of it, but mainly to stop waisting it.

Turn things off when you go home. It's ok to shut down your computer, desk lamp, radio, etc. If you have a charger for a phone, blue tooth device, GPS unit, etc., unplug the charger until you actually need to charge the unit. Turn your monitor off when you leave your desk.

Just Put in a Bit of Effort

It can be difficult to change our mindsets, our habbits, and the way others do things. It might even seem that our little bit isn't going to save the planet. But if you take a little bit from a lot of people then it adds up. If we don't start reducing waist at all, then we will all run out of resources much quicker.

Thanks for taking the time to read this "PSA". We can all do a little bit, we just have to start.