DOHA: Some 96 percent of respondents in a poll in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region consider going green is important to their lifestyle, and half of them said that they were encouraged to use email or online resources instead of printing out documents.
The recently conducted Bayt.com poll on ‘Green Workplaces in the Middle East and North Africa’ revealed that there is a keen desire in the region to adopt a greener lifestyle, both at work and at home.
For 72.5 percent of respondents, going green is something very important to their lifestyle, with a further 23.2 percent considering it ‘moderately’ important. Some 80 percent stated that environmental issues, such as pollution and conservation of natural resources, concern them ‘to a large extent’, demonstrating that despite low awareness of technical concepts such as carbon footprints (with only 27.7 percent of survey respondents saying they are “very aware” of the concept), there is a significant desire among Mena residents to begin living more sustainably.
Renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy, were considered the most up-and-coming technologies by 71.3 percent of the respondents. Alternative fuel vehicles, such as those that run on electricity, will take off in the future, according to 16.3 percent. Four in 10 (42.3 percent) respondents currently use public transportation to travel to their workplace.
“There seems to be growing awareness on the importance of sustainability and green energy,” said Suhail Masri, VP of sales, Bayt.com. “More than 40 percent of respondents use public transportation to go to work. That’s a very positive number. Also, imagine if alternative fuel vehicles were adopted by the 39.3 percent of respondents who drive to work. It could mean significant carbon savings.”
When at work, more than half (52.3 percent) of respondents say that they reuse items rather than throwing them away. Paperless offices are popular, with 49.1 percent stating they are encouraged to use email or online resources all the time rather than printing out documents, and 30.2 percent stateed that they were ‘sometimes’ encouraged to do so, though they still relied heavily on printouts on certain occasions. A fifth (20.6 percent) of the respondents said that they were required to have paper copies of everything. Recycling boxes are provided in 43 percent of Mena offices, and seven in 10 (66.4 percent) respondents recycle paper at work, and 49.8 percent recycle paper at home.
Interestingly, 74.1 percent of respondents stated that they did not conserve energy or water, either at home or in the office. Despite this, eight in 10 (83.7 percent) claimed to use energy-efficient lighting at home, and 71.2 percent of the respondents claimed that their companies used energy-efficient lighting for the office.
More than half (57.8 percent) put their computer into sleep mode when not using it.
Data for the poll was collected online from June 24 to August 12, 2014, from 7,925 respondents from Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
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