This excerpt from "101 Ways to Turn Your Business Green" contains several starting points for greening your business. Learn how to run a more eco-friendly company with these 5 easy and cost-effective tips.

The sustainable or green action item with the highest potential for gaining CFO acceptance is conservation. Why? Because conservation is about savings and paybacks, which CFOs can relate to their calculations of cash flows and paybacks. It makes sense to start in your office when it comes to conservation. Think in terms of financial payback when considering and implementing your eco-friendly office.

The prospect of learning about environmental regulation is about as exciting as a root canal. But the pain can be lessened if you change before you are compelled to change. Proactive compliance with the Clean Air Act saves money and boosts your image.

Little things can make a big difference when it comes to protecting the environment. In fact, environmentally friendly practices may even generate some green — the kind that goes right to the bottom line. The secret to corporate prosperity and community support might be in your garbage can. Your trash says as much about your business as any brochure.

For most small-business owners any real estate project will be a one-time or rare event. Consider tapping into experts who do the work every day.

Is your physical space sparking growth — or stunting it? Business owners typically view the workplace as a cost center rather than a tool to leverage growth. Yet your physical surroundings play an important role in productivity, recruiting and retention. Instead of writing off physical space as a cost center, use it as a tool to boost productivity, retention and morale.

Preventing work-related injuries makes good sense for any business. Ergonomics is defined here as the study of work activities that cause musculoskeletal disorders, which is the fastest-growing category of work-related illnesses. Currently, injuries in this category account for $15 to $20 billion of the workers' compensation claims made each year. Good ergonomics makes for happier, healthier, more productive people and that translates into improved profits for your company.

Contracts are made up of two fundamental elements. In real estate, those are lease rates, or price, and lease provisions, or terms. A common mistake people make is focusing solely on the price of a lease, foolishly overlooking the intrinsic value of favorable lease terms. Price and cost are two completely different things.

It doesn't make sense to throw money out the window, but many companies are doing just that. Drafts from windowpanes and loss of heat through exposed glass in winter make inefficient windows just one of the notorious culprits leading to energy loss and needless expense. The need to conserve energy (i.e. money) is just as important as it has always been. The tips in this Quick-Read Solution can help.