Innovation

Our group reached out to Humanscale, an ergonomics manufacturer which owns a large factory in nearby Piscataway, New Jersey. Our contact within the organization was Alexander Tselepis, the factory’s sustainability coordinator. During his interview, Mr. Tselepis told us about Humanscale’s idea to attach light-emitting diode (LED) lights to the backs of their projects in order to encourage efficient energy use. He explained that by giving Humanscale customers the LEDs for free, they would be encouraged to replace energy-wasting light bulbs such as incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). Since LEDs are much more efficient than these alternative light bulbs, their installation helps offset the environmental cost accumulated by the production of product.

According to Tselepis, the installation of one LED light covers the negative costs associated with the production of five Humanscale chairs. The sustainable trade-off between these two products is called a “handprint,” which Mr. Tselepis described as being “the positive impact that you have on the world.” He said that “handprinting” plays a large role in his job at Humanscale, where he is encouraged to both increase the size of Humanscale’s positive carbon handprint and decrease the size of their carbon footprint. It is likely because of this that Mr. Tselepis was heavily involved in the LED initiative, with its purposes being to encourage energy efficiency in the household as well as lessen the negative impact Humanscale has on the world. In order to develop this idea further, Mr. Tselepis and Humanscale’s energy team calculated the amount of energy conserved by LEDs when they replace CFL or incandescent bulbs and remain in use for 10 years (the average time one LED is used in a household). Then, they calculated the cost of manufacturing a product such as a desk or a chair. Using these metrics, they found that giving the LEDs away with their products, and counting on customers to replace their inefficient bulbs at home was a sustainable production option. Mr. Tselepis was aware of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and emphasized throughout the interview the importance of sustainable production and providing clean, efficient energy. The LED initiative helps sustain the production costs associated with Humanscale products by encouraging consumers to use energy more efficiently by incentivizing them with free light bulbs.

One of their main products is called the “Smart Chair”. During the process of making Smart Chairs, Mr. Tselepis mentioned the idea of handprinting, meaning that the production of these products “gives back to the world more than it takes.” This means that the cost of producing one Smart Chair, when paired with a free LED light bulb for consumer installation, is negated when that LED is used to replace a CFL bulb in a consumer’s home. Mr. Tselepis gives us a few examples of energy resources. First of all, he mentioned that they are using solar energy during the production of their products, which means that they are not using non-renewable sources of energy. Additionally, the water used to produce the chair comes from recycled rainwater. Humanscale also aims to eliminate the usage of chemicals and toxic components during production.

Another light bulb product, In the Humanscale’s website, they mention that Humanscale task lights use only LEDs, which are more cost and energy efficient than comparable incandescent bulbs. LEDs use as little as 10% of the energy and last up to 60 times longer than incandescents. This not only creates an environmental friendly sustainability circumstance for the society but also gains a lot of support from environmental friendly customers. It also helps increase the size of Humanscale’s positive environmental handprint, especially in comparison to other production-focused companies. These sustainable business practices help solidify Humanscale as a practitioner of production efficiency as well as a promoter of long-term sustainability.

Humanscale is always trying to make more sustainable, environmentally friendly decisions. This idea will be implemented in all future plans. In the short run society can really feel that the pollution of the factory is decreasing. In the long run, Mr. Tselepis mentions that “not only does the company want to keep the idea of sustainability, we also want our customers involved in it too.”

All the renewable resources they are using are starting to generate benefits for the environment. For the company itself, the main facility which is located in New Jersey, has already achieved the use of renewable resources for all their products. After that, Humanscale is trying to expand the reach of renewable products to two other facilities as well. In the short term environmentally friendly product innovation will increase the company's good reputation. In the long term, the company and the environment will benefit from their use of renewable resources.

Sustainability at Humanscale is a team effort. Usually, Mr. Tselepis will come up with an idea and implements this idea, but he is assisted by Humanscale’s production team. They share ideas with each other, and once the idea is thought of, they will do some research about the details. After Mr. Tselepis came up with the LED light idea, his coworkers seemed to like it, and he was able to put his idea into production.

Inspiration

During his interview, Mr. Tselepis told us about Humanscale’s idea to attach light-emitting diode (LED) lights to the backs of their projects in order to encourage efficient energy use. He explained that by giving Humanscale customers the LEDs for free, they would be encouraged to replace energy-wasting light bulbs such as incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). Since LEDs are much more efficient than these alternative light bulbs, their installation helps offset the environmental cost accumulated by the production of products. According to Tselepis, the installation of one LED light covers the negative costs associated with the production of five Humanscale chairs. The sustainable trade-off between these two products is called a “handprint”, which Mr. Tselepis described as being “the positive impact that you have on the world.” He said that “handprinting” plays a large role in his job at Humanscale, where he is encouraged to both increase the size of Humanscale’s positive carbon handprint and decrease the size of their carbon footprint. It is likely because of this that Mr. Tselepis was heavily involved in the LED initiative, with its purposes being to encourage energy efficiency in the household as well as lessen the negative impact Humanscale has on the world.

Overall impact

The impact that Humanscale has made is clearly demonstrated when reviewing the data collected based on the results their innovations produced. Since 2011, the company cut down on their greenhouse gas emissions by an astounding 64.6%. This is a clear representation of the effectiveness of Humanscale’s initiative to reduce the carbon footprint companies like them leave behind due to their manufacturing process. Not only that, but Humanscale has also made a conscious effort to preserve parts of the wilderness in the environment. For the past ten years, they have been partnered with the World Wildlife Fund. The two have been working together since then, working toward a common goal of conserving nature. So far they have successfully safeguarded 1.5 million acres worth of eastern Cambodian wilderness.

Business benefit

For the company itself, the main facility which is located in New Jersey already achieved the use of renewable resources for all of the products. In addition, Humanscale is trying to expand the reach of the renewable products to two more facilities. In the short run, the innovation for the product which is environmentally friendly will let the company gain a good reputation, moreover, in the long run, it will definitely benefit from using renewable resources as the energy support because it costs less and is more efficient.

Social and environmental benefit

Humanscale is always trying to make more sustainable environmentally friendly decisions. This idea will be implemented in all future plans. For the society, in the short run, people can feel that the pollution of the factory is decreasing. In the long run, Mr. Tselepis mentions that: “not only does the company wants to keep the idea of sustainability, we also want our customers involved in it too.” Using renewable resources is creating benefits for the environment and for the sustainable development of the company.

Interview

Alexander Tselepis, Sustainability Coordinator