Taking The Guesswork Out Of Storage

Questions To Ask When You Need A Green Self Storage Unit

Whether you need a self-storage unit for a few weeks to hide a big gift for someone in your home or it plays an essential role in your ability to maintain a spotless home, choosing a green facility for your storage needs is a good idea. Although they are not yet seen everywhere, it is still best to know what to look for and a facility that offers some green practices is better than one that uses none. Therefore, you're likely to benefit from asking the following questions of any storage facility with whom you might do business.

#1 How Is The Electricity Used And Monitored?

It is important to note that the electricity used within a facility doesn't have to be sourced from solar or wind energy in order to still be a green building. For instance, lights that are set on a timer or that are motion sensitive use less energy than those that run constantly. In addition, the light bulbs provided and used by the storage facility will ideally be energy-efficient. 

Each of those minor choices helps to save some energy and is therefore at least somewhat environmentally responsible.     

#2 Are The Paper Products Used And Sold By The Storage Facility Eco-friendly?  

It is easy to forget how quickly paper products can be used up and unfortunately, that oversight has resulted in the fact that almost half of all global wood harvest is used to produce paper. In addition, paper comprises 1/4 of the waste products found in landfills and 1/3 of all municipal waste.  

Therefore, it is easy to see the virtues of verifying that the storage facility with whom you will be working uses recycled paper products, is paper-free when possible and sells previously used boxes for packing and moving. By choosing to only provide your business to the more environmentally responsible storage facilities, you can encourage other businesses to be similarly eco-friendly.   

#3 How Is The Facility Cleaned?

It is often shocking to learn that approximately 26 million people in the United States suffer from asthma now and those numbers have increased annually for some time. However, when you also realize that two of the more common triggers for asthma attacks are strong odors and chemical scents, the need for gentler, eco-friendly cleaning agents becomes quite obvious. Therefore, commercial buildings of any type will do well to use scent- and fume-free cleaners.

In addition, volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are an issue for many people and are found in a wide variety of cleaners, paint products, and varnishes. They can result in respiratory tract impairments, headaches and general feelings of malaise for those who breathe in the air that has been contaminated by those products. Fortunately, many products do not contain VOCs and as a result, you should be able to find a storage facility that uses safer products to clean and maintain their buildings.

In conclusion, millions of people have used self-storage units in recent years, for a myriad of reasons. Since there are so many different storage facilities like National Self Storage - Denver to choose from, it is often easier than you think to find an environmentally friendly storage facility by asking the above questions.