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You don’t have to be a raging Al Gore fan to understand the importance of environmental friendliness. One look at a landfill or deforested plot of land and the need to be environmentally conscious is driven home.

Thankfully, there are some easy modifications that can help the environment and at little cost or hassle.

One of those adjustments is using voice-over-IP (VoIP) for business phone connectivity.

The environmental benefits of VoIP are at least three: Reduced resource needs, reduced travel, and reduced energy consumption.

VoIP helps move more of business toward virtual communications, which cuts down on paper use, IT hardware and physical storage needs. Less paper and equipment is an unalloyed gain for the environment.

Even more beneficial is the environmental benefits of traveling less, something that VoIP also can help businesses reduce.

With VoIP and video conferencing, there’s less need to be in the office or travel for meetings; connecting with employees, partners and customers can happen anywhere.

One study found that if half of all American workers were able to telecommute part of the time, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 53 million metric tons. That equivalent to the whole workforce in New York state never commuting again.

VoIP also can save energy. While there is an initial investment in VoIP systems, once they are running it has been shown that VoIP systems use less energy than the TDM-based systems they replace---VoIP not only saves on paper and cuts down on the need to travel and commute, but it also saves businesses and the enviornment on energy.

The nice thing about green adjustments such as using VoIP is that any business can do it. From Fortune 500 down to one-man sole proprietorships, every business can make the jump to VoIP-based calling.

In the process, these businesses help the environment. That’s a pretty easy way to go green.