Tech to Help You Work Smarter and Greener

Working is typically a lot of, well, hard work. With all the responsibilities everyone has on their plates every day, it's easy to understand why we live in such a stressed-out society. But necessity is the mother of invention, and there's been a ton of innovation in technology that can help you work more efficiently while also lessening your carbon footprint. From iPhone apps to web sites to gadgets, several new products and services can help worker bees save time, money and the planet. Read on for our top picks for eco-friendly tech that can help you work smarter and greener.

Plan Your Day Without Paper
Traditionally, staying organized meant writing everything down on planners, company memos, spreadsheets, post-its and whatever other scraps of paper folks could get their hands on. Ditch the paper products (which are easily misplaced and cause a ton of tree death) and embrace digital organization. Google has a few handy applications to help folks stay organized. Google Calendar serves as a personal online planner-it will even send you alerts when you have an upcoming phone call or meeting. And Google Docs lets you create spreadsheets and memos to share with other users. Plus, Google Reader allows folks to stay on top of the news without lugging in stacks of daily newspapers.

Ditch Paper Business Cards
Paper business cards, which are easily lost and become outdated quickly, will soon be a thing of the past. Stay ahead of the curve by embracing the GreenCard app and LinkedIn. GreenCard lets users create digital business cards and share that information with all the contacts in their iPhones. Plus, the little app does something a traditional paper card can't: If you get a new job or update your information, GreenCard will automatically send an update to contacts. LinkedIn is another great, paper-free way to stay connected. The free, social-networking site lets users outline their work experience and contact information and share that info with professional contacts. Using these web-based services is a way more efficient way of staying in touch, plus it helps save paper!

Manage Budgets the Green Way
Forget paper credit card and bank statements and old school ledgers: There's a new, way cooler way to manage your finances. Mint.com offers free, easy-to-use money management software. After a quick download, users can sync their credit card, checking and saving accounts to the program. Mint will track exactly how and where you're spending your money, see how investments are performing and even help you set up a budget. Based on all the info, the program suggests ways you can save money or invest smarter. Try getting your old ledger to do all that!

Toss the Fax Machine
Fax machines require a lot of paper (plus who can stand that annoying noise they make?). A new web site just may make this particular piece of office equipment obsolete. FillAnyPDF.com lets you upload PDF forms to the web, and then you or whomever you send documents to can sign them digitally. Folks can also upload JPG and GIF files.

Paper-Free Delivery
No office is complete without the stacks upon stacks of takeout menus needed for those late nights. Not only do all those paper menus result in a lot of tree death, they create clutter and can easily get misplaced. Instead, try using the FoodMenus app. The handy app is a location-based, searchable database of more than 100,000 U.S. restaurants. Just punch in your zip code and access menus from takeout restaurants in your area. As if delivery could get any easier!

Whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or just set up shop in a home office, these tech-y goods are sure to help you work smarter and greener.

What products or services do you use to stay organized and reduce your carbon footprint? 


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 By Sarah Parsons of Inhabitat, an online magazine devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and design towards a smarter and more sustainable future. Written by a young tech-savvy team designers and design journalists, Inhabitat delivers fresh content daily, showcasing emerging work from the cutting-edge of the global design community.