Reduce Carbon Footprints with Digital Signage

It’s no secret that our world is being affected by climate change. Our societies need to harvest resources and create greenhouse gases to exist, but that’s damaging our environment. Trees that provide air for us to breathe are down in logging faster than other materials can replace them.

Technology can lend a helping hand by replacing printed media and signage with digital alternatives to curb the trend. The benefits of using digital signage far outweigh the disadvantages, especially where nature is concerned.

The Numbers

Every year an estimated 18 million acres of forest are at a loss due to deforestation. The scary part of that number is that over 40% of the woodcut down to produce paper products. That comes down to roughly 400 million tons of paper that are in production every year globally.

If this trend is to be reversed, digital signage solutions need to become a priority for major corporations. However, saving the forests doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to fork out extra money. In fact, digital signage solutions can save a company a boatload of money. In the US alone, 3.7 million tons of copy paper is used every year.

By using digital signage solutions, you will be able to save not only on paper costs but also on designer costs. On average, a designer may cost a company $40,474, but by using signage software, businesses can reduce that number dramatically. Modern digital menu board solutions, like our NexSigns, can be updated with no design experience.

The Business Advantage

Apart from financial savings, digital signage is attractive and draws people’s attention. When walking in a mall, people would look at the moving display more than staring at a static image (read last week’s blog post to find out why). It attracts customers, and they are more likely to pay attention to the promotions on screen. It gives a sense of professionalism that ordinary print cannot provide.

When all of your employees are occupied, you have extra hands in the form of digital signage. Customers feel that they are still in good service when they view the screen. If for nothing else, digital displays can serve as a distraction to make their wait feel much shorter (see how recent graduates in the 1950s figured this out).

Digital Is Greener than Paper

Digital menu boards are another innovative solution that boasts a handful of benefits due to their versatility. Gone are the days of reprinting a batch of menus because of a spelling error or mistake in pricing. Digital menu boards can stay up-to-date with the press of a couple of buttons, and no one will be the wiser. One screen does not mean just one image. Multiple images can be on display and in rotation.

Take the following scenario, a fast-food chain of 300 outlets decide to add a new item to a menu. A call goes out to all the franchisees, and all of a sudden, franchisees need to replace and throw away thousands of pages.

Not only is there a massive financial implication, but the carbon footprint of that one menu item change is severe. This is also not an infrequent occurrence. These types of changes happen often and not just to one company. This point alone enough to make a case for digital signage.

Although screens use electricity, the carbon footprint that it produces is far less than print production. With LED technology, this carbon footprint decreases even further, making digital menu boards an eco-friendly alternative to conventional printed menus.

The post-production carbon footprint of electronic menus is another area where they are superior to printed menus. The shelf life of a printed poster is concise. After a couple of weeks, people discard and dump these papers in a landfill. When a multi-location printing campaign reaches its end, the environmental impact is far-reaching.

Of course, the chemicals used to produce printed material are also hazardous to the environment. Greenhouse gas emissions are also fueled by incineration and the methane gas that’s released on landfills.

Printed signage has had its run and the time for change is now. With global warming on the lips of all major companies, it is imperative for them to seek environmentally friendly alternatives.

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