In 2018, the United Nations warned the world that we have only 12 years to restrict the catastrophe that will be caused by climate change. This led to businesses discussing how they can become more sustainable – resulting in digital signage becoming a popular solution for sustainability.
Digital signage has multiple capabilities – including advertising, educating, informing, entertaining and alerting viewers. Content can be created in one location and displayed on multiple LED screens. These several benefits make digital signage a valuable solution for businesses to go green.
LED Craft Inc presents five carefully thought out, long-lasting communication solutions to using digital signage to contribute towards the deceleration of global warming.
Reduced paper wastage
Did you know?
According to research from The World Counts, between the years 2001 to 2019, the world lost 386 million hectares of forest! From this wood harvest, almost 40% goes towards making paper – posters, flyers, bulletin boards, and so on. Businesses are highly responsible for wasting this paper – the average office worker is expected to use 10,000 sheets of paper each year; and most of this paper usually ends up in the bin and subsequently in landfills, which then produces damaging greenhouse gases when decomposed. This scenario can be significantly avoided by using technologically driven posters such as indoor and outdoor digital signage to capture attention of the public.
In fact, sustainable digital signage has the ability to communicate messages to a variety of target audiences and attract them with high brightness and multimedia features. Outdoor digital signage can increase sales while indoor digital signage can streamline business communication and thereby increase employee productivity.
Opting for digital signage reduces deforestation, illegal logging and saves a whole lot of water required to make sheets of paper. LED displays are greener, cleaner and also a cheaper alternative to using mass paper – hence saving the planet.
Reduced power usage
In the last few decades, technology has rapidly evolved. From heavy box type TV screens to sleek and efficient LED screens has resulted in a 60% reduction in electricity consumption. Going digital means your business is contributing towards lesser CO2 emissions. LED signage has low energy consumption – 12 hours of working at 80 watts at approximately $0.12 kWh means it is costing you only $3.50 per month! This is much more cost-efficient than paper and also beneficial to your business.
Moreover, digital screens have settings that can control brightness – which means that content is always visible, even in direct sunlight. Also, on darker days or during the night, if the screen is not scheduled for ‘sleep mode’, the brightness will automatically reduce, thereby saving energy and power usage. By having consistently visible content in the right location, sustainable digital signage will attract your target audience and increase conversion rates while at the same time reduce CO2 emissions.
Long-lasting solutions
Paper is a temporary and unsustainable method of communication because every time a message changes, new posters and handouts have to be arranged. As a result, paper makes up 26% of the total waste at landfills. Electronic signage on the other hand offers a long-lasting solution to easily update content via easy-to-use software, resulting in instant changes visible on the screen. Even if the LED display in switched on 24 hours a day, an average screen can work well for over 10 years. As a result, digital signage is highly sustainable, benefitting both the environment and your business.
Then the hardware components of a digital signage investment need to be replaced, they can be recycled and used as new products. Also, if your business has old TV screens, these can be transformed into digital signage by being linked to a new media player. You are thus recycling hardware that was previously unusable, thereby extending its lifespan and also saving money.
Lesser usage of unsustainable materials
Every time a paper signage is printed, its not just paper that is used and wasted – plastic, ink, chemicals and more contribute towards printed communication. Sustainable digital signage will significantly reduce the need for these resources, resulting in lesser toxic fluids ending up in landfills to contaminate soil, water and air.
For example, considering 375 million empty ink cartridges are seen in landfills at the end of every year, which means 11 every second. The polymer that cartridge case plastics are made from take about 450-1000 years to decompose. Also, considering an average household of 4 members emits 1200kg of CO2 each month, a manufacturer producing 200,000 cartridges each month uses the same amount of fuel used in 500 average homes. This fact proves how reducing paper consumption saves the environment in so many different ways. When ink usage is reduced, wastage and carbon emissions are both minimized, contributing towards a more sustainable planet in the future.
Implementation of green-powered energy solutions
Digital signage undoubtedly proves its power-saving and eco-friendly features. However, if there are some who are still wary of it, they could use green-powered energy solutions to light up their digital displays. Solar power energy is rising in popularity in the digital signage industry as solar panels can be installed and connected to the LED displays to allow sunlight to convert to electricity and facilitate your screen to power itself on green energy.
Conclusion
Research shows that over 50% of consumers are more willing to purchase a product or service when they know that the organization is making an effort to reduce its impact on the society and environment. Studies have also shown that consumers will pay 20% more if a product or service is environmentally friendly. Therefore, it is evident that going green with digital signage will meet your business sustainability goals and also make your business stand out from competitors.
