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Archived Special Report
The Greening of ICT
Whether one remembers Y2K projects as a relative waste of money or a success (as ‘nothing’ went wrong on the night), the main outcome of all that work was that it highlighted just how reliant modern organisations had become on their ICT.
In addition, following on from Y2K, the government strategy for delivery of public services reinforced the role of ICT, backed by investment of hundred’s of millions of pounds from central government and even more from local authorities, etc. developing various national projects in an e-government programme, which continued up until around 2006.
While some benefits came out of the strategy & investment, one of the downsides that gradually became apparent was the ‘environmental cost’ of the increased use of ICT. For example, more data required bigger databases, which required ever more powerful equipment that used increasing amounts of power & cooling.
In addition, as the speed of connections increased, new potential uses became economically feasible (ex. video conferencing just about everywhere rather than dedicated locations), the variety of data input devices mushroomed (blackberries, mini portables, etc) and prices of equipment generally ‘crashed’ to new lows, so increasing the demands on the network infrastructure.
Wifi increasingly became the ‘norm’ (combined latterly ‘dongles’ from mobile phone suppliers) facilitating an ‘anywhere & anytime’ provision of internet access rather then in fixed locations such as offices or the home office environment.
These developments combined around 2006 to increasingly ‘force’ government & organisations to look beyond the initial cost of investment in ICT equipment, to the on-going cost of the equipment running equipment.
Leaving say 200 PCs, the odd printer and a few servers on standby back in the ‘cheap’ energy days of 2000 – 06 had a relatively low financial and environmental cost but, by 2006, a typical local authority could be looking at thousands of PCs, hundreds of individual printers and vast numbers of servers, which was a different matter all together.
In addition, increasingly those in charge of running the buildings housing all this equipment & the staff using them were faced with at least five major problems:
* The cost of electricity
* The fact that the supply lines into the buildings often couldn’t supply enough electricity to meet demand
* The air conditioning systems were unable to cope with the heat being generated by the additional equipment
* The running & maintenance costs of equipment with diverse specifications were increasingly becoming a significant factor
* The UK government and EU Commission began to pass legislation / put out instructions under the banner of ‘Global Warming’ that required organisations to reduce their CO2 footprint.
The contributors to this report are:
Canon UK who highlight how just becoming aware of the impact of the way you perform operations is the first step towards reducing your carbon footprint and demonstrate how, the cumulative effect of many small changes can make an enormous difference.
IBM who were brought in by HMRC to provide a holistic approach to identifying carbon management priorities., by using a range of carbon diagnostics tools based on the IBM Component Business Model approach to assess HMRC’s current carbon management performance.
Kyocera provide a case study of their partnership with Birmingham City Council who are currently using Kyocera multi-function devices to help reduce its carbon footprint, paper consumption and the volume of consumables used in the its printing equipment.
Nortel explains how they and their customers are turning a smarter ICT strategy into green-friendly policies that save money too.
Sybase explains how new generation software can dramatically reduce the energy consumption of data storage hardware, helping both the environment and cutting costs.
In addition, Wired-Gov has compiled a ‘round-up’ of the various press releases, policies, strategies, statements, tips, etc. that have been published by our key stakeholders across government and the public sector over the last 3 years in response to challenge of needing to Green ICT.
Transforming print to meet your SOGE targets
1. Helping you meet the Green Challenge
(Please use the above quick links to be directed to individual sections of interest)
There is increasing pressure, from central government, on all organisations to reduce environmental impact and meet their Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets, with public sector organisations (PSOs), which are often by their nature device & document heavy environments, being expected to set an example for other organisations and to develop best practice is even more important.
This may seem a huge challenge, however (as is often the case) the cumulative effect of many small changes can make an enormous difference.
Just becoming aware of the impact of the way you perform operations is the first step towards reducing your carbon footprint, even for PSOs which, because they do not (on the face of it) use energy intensive manufacturing processes, may not seem to consume much energy.
The reality of the situation is that (compared to the middle of the 20th century) consumption of energy, etc. by PSOs has increased geometrically. For example, in 1976 one London Borough had less than 20 dumb terminals in its civic centre, but now has over 2,000 PCs, plus innumerable printers.
However, before calling in expensive consultants to tell you what you probably already know, there are some simple things organisations can do to address the issue. Here are a few easy-to-implement steps to get you printing greener right away.
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Double-side print by default: By setting your printer to duplex automatically you can save up to 40% of your paper consumption
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Reduce the margins on your documents: Using the paper more efficiently means you print less pages
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‘Scan to email’ where possible: Instead of sending hard copies via courier or internal mail – saves time, cost and traffic pollution
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Turn off all printers at night: Saves energy, money and cuts CO2
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Unplug little-used desktop printers: Print to multifunction devices instead (and the occasional walk is good for your health!)
While these easy measures will begin to affect a change it will be necessary to review the bigger picture. Many office print solutions have been accumulated over several years without a coordinated approach, but as technology has moved on, it is probably easier than you think to reduce the environmental impact of your document strategy.
As an experienced supplier to this sector Canon can show you simple ways to:
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Use less power
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Reduce your paper and toner consumption
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Use paperless processes
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Using less power
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Low-power standby: Whereas older devices can easily use 690w in standby, today’s Energy Efficient Devices offer standby consumption as low as 1w. By sourcing energy efficient products you can dramatically cut down your power consumption.
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The European Commission has recently adopted an ecodesign regulation to reduce standby energy consumption of all household and office products. The regulation lays down energy efficiency requirements, which will cut the standby electricity consumption by almost 75% by 2020. (See also E U standby initiative).
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Lower energy devices: On-demand fixing technology in Canon print devices only heats up for as long as necessary saving up to 75% of energy compared to traditional fixing technology.
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Using fewer devices: Consolidating separate devices into a shared multifunctional printer that also scans, copies and faxes means you can reduce your energy consumption. It also saves on valuable office space. Now software can automatically direct print jobs to the most appropriate device on a network and this reduces wear & tear and improves efficiency.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Reducing your paper and toner consumption
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Reducing uncollected output: Unnecessary print can be eliminated by device-release print - users release their print job at the printer with either a swipe card or PIN - which can typically save 30% of paper & toner usage and offers the additional benefit that confidential printouts cannot go missing.
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Double-sided printing: It takes just 4 seconds to set double-sided printing as default saving up to £3,000* per device and up to 40% of paper used. Another paper-saving option is to print A5 Booklets - suitable for reports and presentations.
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*Based on annual paper consumption of 50 reams/head in an office of 50 with a 40% paper saving at £3/A4 ream
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Using paperless processes
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Send documents digitally: By using multifunctional devices to scan to email, fax, FTP, database, desktop or a document management system you can send many documents digitally - removing the need to print them altogether.
The cost and environmental benefits of this approach include reduced fax costs and associated electricity usage, courier costs and the burden of transportation, plus reduced costs of document storage.
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Develop a document strategy: Using these technologies in the context of a full document strategy will ensure your organisation derives maximum environmental and organisational benefit.
Canon has a proven track record of helping public sector organisations.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Canon’s recent research into green attitudes showed that organisations expecting their staff to take individual responsibility for reducing environmental impact are likely to be disappointed.
Whereas recycling and energy efficiency is common practice at home, just 5% of workers questioned said that they are more environmentally conscious at work and only 48% believe that protecting the environment during office hours is their responsibility.
33% feel that bosses should shoulder the burden and 9% even went as far as saying that it should be the government, not them, which should be held accountable for polluting practices.
39% of employees say their company doesn’t have a green policy designed to reduce their environmental impact and where one does exist, 46% said that it’s just for show and has no real meaning to the business and its staff. Perhaps a more telling indictment of UK workers ‘eco-apathy’ is that one in ten doesn’t even know what a green policy is.
While small changes can have a considerable impact on environmental factors, in the light of these results it is clear that any organisation serious about change must enforce it at a strategic level. For example, it is no use expecting individuals to choose the double-sided setting each time they print - they won’t. It is far more effective to set duplex as a default setting.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Canon has a long-standing relationship with all areas of Government making them an experienced partner to advise and assist any PSO on implementing energy and resource efficient print solutions.
Their customers typically experience savings in three key areas:
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reduced hardware through fleet management
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lower electricity costs from efficient technology
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reduced paper consumption through managed user behaviour
Explore Canon’s track record and read about what their customers have to say about them.
4. Greening Business Practice - Leading by Example
Environmental concerns run throughout Canon’s UK operations, from the design & function of their offices & buildings, to their transport and waste policies, they take green issues to the heart of business practice.
Environmental concerns run throughout Canon’s UK operations, from the design & function of their offices & buildings, to their transport and waste policies, they take green issues to the heart of business practice.
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Award-winning head office: Their award winning head office building incorporates solar roofing, natural air conditioning & heat absorbing concrete and has won 9 environmental awards including the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust 2001 Building of the Year and the highest rating by BREEAM (Building research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method).
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City walking technicians: To reduce pollution in built up areas, their service teams responsible for city territories travel on foot. Where cars are necessary, efficient preventative maintenance keeps call-outs to a minimum and their eMaintenance service ensures most faults can be fixed in a single visit, thus reducing mileage.
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Living showroom concept: Their head office in Woodhatch showcases many of their green technologies and customers are able to see how they support & add value to the legal, sales, human resources, finance & marketing functions of their business.
Also based on site, the Canon Print Centre enables them to use their own print technology to meet the demand for communications and marketing materials.
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Green transport policy: Canon’s car policy is capped to vehicles emitting a CO2 level of below 160g/km. The company’s standard technician’s car is the VW Golf 1.9 SE Tdi Estate, with a CO2 figure of 137 g/km, equipped with satellite navigation which has been shown to reduce the number of miles driven by 18%.
Since 2004 all company car drivers have completed an on-line assessment and, depending on the results, have undertaken further training. Around 300 have had on-road driver training with the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists), an element of which deals with environmentally friendly driving.
Canon’s fleet audit carried out with government organisation EST (Energy Savings Trust) yielded very positive results.
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Minimising waste: Canon gives considerable focus to reducing waste on an ongoing basis, for example, since removing ‘individual’ waste bins from every desk at their head office the rate of recycling has increased significantly so that the number of wheelie-bin changes per week has been reduced from 6 to 4 per week, with a corresponding reduction in consumables (bin bags).
Want to find out more? Simply click here
On an international and global scale Canon is a world-leading innovator and provider of imaging & information technology solutions for the home & office environments and is proud of its green credentials.
All its operations, from R&D, through manufacturing to the sales and after sales processes, are governed by the corporate philosophy ‘Kyosei’, which roughly translated from the Japanese means ‘living and working together for the common good’. In this way respect for the environment is integral throughout Canon’s business operations.
Their No. 2 the global electronics category in an independent survey by Climate Counts* in 2007 and and No.1 position in the electrical/electronics category in The Sunday Times Best Green Companies Award 2008 are evidence that, far from mere warm words, their philosophy is translated into real environmental action.
For example, Canon introduced environmental accounting in 1983 to help ensure its management resources are being invested effectively.
2007 figures show an investment of $182m in environmental protection, including $60.5m for improvements in global warming prevention measures and advances in the efficient use of resources. The accounting system allows the benefits of such investment to be quantified at $78.1m.
While environmental accounting gives the wider picture, measuring the carbon footprint of a single product provides a close up view and allows them to make informed decisions about their manufacturing processes.
This is a relatively new development so, as yet, there is no universally accepted standard method of calculating carbon costs. Canon is at the forefront of research into effective measurement systems and has already published figures for one machine. Going forward any savings made by changing their manufacturing processes can be evaluated and the data independently verified.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
In 2004 Canon was the first company in the industry to release a RoHS compliant product with all products following suit in 2005 but they are also eliminating from their production processes, seven additional chemicals (asbestos, ozone depleting substances, short chain chlorinated paraffins, azo dyes, tributyl tin oxide, polychloronaphalenes and polychlorinated biphenyls) which are currently not covered by the RoHS or REACH legislation and they refer to this as RoHS+7.
In 1990, Canon’s Japanese operational sites alone generated 35,000 tons of landfill waste but since 2005 they have achieved ‘Zero waste to landfill’ from all their manufacturing sites.
They seek to reuse & recycle wherever possible and one example is the Canon Green Calculator, which they manufacture from recycled printer casings.
Developing the technology necessary to recycle is key and since 1990 Canon has been cooperating with resin manufacturers on numerous types of recycled plastic. They use ‘sandwich moulding,’ in which recycled material is sandwiched between layers of virgin plastic and this enables them to use up to 30% recycled plastic.
What’s more, in an effort to boost their usage to over 80%, Canon has been working with moulding machine manufacturers on the development of thin walled multi-layer injection technology.
Their consideration for reducing waste extends beyond their own activities to those of their customers. For example, printer toner bottles have been traditionally difficult and expensive to recycle, but now they are able to offer customers the opportunity to do so as an additional service, providing full document traceability for their waste as well as suitable evidence for external auditors.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Throughout the product planning stage Canon places great emphasis on compliance with environmental regulations and programmes such as the international ENERGY STAR® Program and the Eco Mark.
Their compliance rate remains among the very highest in the industry, with many product groups at 100% compliance. Canon is also a member of the WWF UK forest & trade network, which focuses on establishing processes to source papers from reliable known wood sources.
The International ENERGY STAR® Program issued revised Energy Efficiency Standards Version 1.0 for imaging equipment as of April 1, 2007, and Canon is making sure that its products meet the increasingly strict stipulations of this new standard.
Canon is also hard at work qualifying under eco label programs outside Japan. With an eye on green purchasing laws around the world, they develop & design products that meet each country’s standards. They also actively contribute public comments on the procurement standards of governmental organisations around the globe.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. has been selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy to receive the 2008 ENERGY STAR® Award for Excellence in Product Labeling. This award recognizes Canon’s high percentage of products qualifying for the ENERGY STAR® program and consistency in promoting public awareness of the program.
Canon remains a committed partner in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through continuous innovation of energy-efficient products. To date, Canon U.S.A., Inc. has received 10 ENERGY STAR® awards.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Defra/OGC recently launched the Greenticks initiative, a new tool to assists with grading products according to their environmental credentials. The scheme covers IT equipment, white goods, paper and construction materials, amongst other categories.
There are two types of classifications for products: A Greentick ensures that the mandatory minimum environmental standard has been met and a Greenticks-plus accreditation means that the product meets the more stretching “best practice” standard. All Canon multifunctional printers have received Greentick-plus certification.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Canon achieved consolidated global ISO14001 certification in 2006 at their manufacturing and marketing subsidiaries in 38 countries and regions around the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
…and Beyond
Looking beyond the business domain, Canon Europe became one of WWF’s first Conservation Partners in 1998, one of a select group of world-class multinational companies, which provide major funding to WWF's global conservation work to aid its environmental practices.
Canon shares WWF’s stated objectives to stop, and eventually reverse, the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.
Their support for WWF's mission includes:
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providing funding for WWFs activities through a sponsorship fee
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adhering to high standards of environmental responsibility and good corporate citizenship
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promoting conservation through publicity of the conservation Partnership and setting an example for other corporations to follow
2007 saw the development of a WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracking Programme and the related 'Canon Kids Zone' children’s microsite, which educates young people on the effects of global warming.
Want to find out more? Simply click here
Contact Information:
Alexander Vendittelli
Channel Marketing
Canon Business Solutions
Canon (UK) Ltd.
Woodhatch, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 8BF
Phone: 01737 220 913
Mob: 07973 808 330
Email: alexander_vendittelli@cuk.canon.co.uk
HMRC pioneers holistic approach to identifying carbon management priorities
Keen to be at the forefront of sustainable development within government, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was performing well against many of the environmental targets set by the Sustainable Development Commission for 2010.
Nevertheless, it was eager to ensure that it did not fall behind on the ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions from offices by 12.5%.
HMRC consists of around 85,000 people and 900 buildings. The sheer size of the organisation made it difficult for HMRC to get a reliable overview of carbon consumption and the priority areas for action.
Lauren Haycox, Carbon Diagnostics Project Manager at HMRC said:
“To push the agenda forward, we needed a clear understanding of both our current carbon production and how to get the greatest return on our investments in time and resources.
We looked for help from an organisation that understood how to achieve this. Our primary requirements were expertise and speed and the study was completed in around eight weeks.”
What HMRC needed to do was to:
* gain a clear route-map highlighting actions to reduce carbon emissions
* assess each action’s likely cost and impact
* develop a holistic approach to carbon reduction across HMRC’s people and buildings
Benchmarking against best practice
IBM was able to use a range of carbon diagnostics tools based on the
Through a series of workshops and interviews, the IBM team met with people from across the organisation in operations including Finance, Contact Centres, Strategy, Communications & Marketing, the union, Corporate Responsibility, Estates and IT.
This research helped to identify gaps between current practices for carbon management and leading practice, as well as establishing how different functions interact.
HMRC had already identified IT and Estates as significant carbon contributors, so IBM integrated strategic quantitative studies of these two areas into the general, pan-organisation qualitative study.
Detailed measurement of energy usage and efficiency was carried out in a typical data centre, office environment and properties identified by HMRC.
Powerful synergy
Led by IBM Global Business Services, which also provided property management expertise, the diagnostic drew on knowledge from across IBM.
IBM Global Technology Services provided its unique methodology for measuring the energy use of distributed IT, and IBM Systems Technology Group used its Zodiac study to determine the energy efficiency and performance of the data centre technology.
The Zodiac Environmental Study is designed to produce:
* a thorough analysis of an organisation’s current infrastructure
* detailed suggestions on how to optimise it, and
* a comprehensive summary of the projected business benefits
By delivering a validated projection of the expected return on investment, the Zodiac study can help an organisation create an effective business case to secure the necessary funding.
With regards to the HMRC study, following the diagnostic work and gap analysis, IBM was able to recommend a comprehensive set of priority action areas. These provide a shopping list of options from which HMRC could build a programme to reduce its carbon footprint.
If HMRC were able to implement every recommendation it could reduce its total carbon output by up to 50% and most of the initiatives would also provide a cost saving.
IT and Estates
The Zodiac tool used by IBM identifies the most efficient configuration of servers and indicated that significant savings could be made under the terms of the current data centre supply contracts.
In the longer term, if HMRC were able to develop a suitable investment case, consolidation in the data centres could potentially provide energy and floor space savings of up to 90% by reducing over 400 servers to 14.
In the area of distributed IT, IBM recommended a range of energy-saving initiatives including:
* automatic power-down
* reducing the number of printers
* appointing local energy monitors
* powering down hard disks more rapidly
Again, if HMRC were able to carry out all the recommendations, energy savings of around 20% could be achieved.
Recommendations for HMRC’s estate revolved around creating a strategy that enabled buildings to be managed from both sustainability and cost perspectives.
A data management system was suggested to capture energy readings and allow an “at a glance” view of which buildings are performing above or below benchmark so that informed action can be taken.
HMRC has long-term PFI contracts in place to manage its estate and was pleased to discover that much could be achieved to reduce carbon output by working within existing contracts.
A potential saving of up to 50% of the Estates carbon footprint was identified if the entire set of recommendations can be put in place.
Getting on the agenda
Every person within HMRC has a role to play in carbon reduction.
IBM recommended that someone be appointed at Board level to set carbon reduction targets and cascade these through the organisation using Key Performance Indicators.
This would involve capturing carbon data at a functional level – at the moment it is only done at a high level – but it would enable functions to become directly accountable for their own carbon footprint.
Judy Greevy, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity at HMRC confirmed:
“The work we did with IBM has been very important in getting the carbon issue on the agenda within HMRC.
It helps people understand what needs to be done and is a powerful way of highlighting the key areas of activity required across the department.”
During the diagnostic study, IBM found a great deal of employee goodwill towards environmental initiatives and this could be harnessed to drive a low carbon culture.
Greevy explained:
“It was valuable to learn how interested people are in carbon reduction. In the bigger organisational picture it will help us engage and motivate.
It’s also essential to be able to give people concrete actions they can take to make a difference. Many of the recommendations that came out of the work IBM did confirmed what we already knew.
However, IBM has helped us distil generalities down and move to validated recommendations with measurable impacts and achievable targets.”
Breaking new ground
HMRC is taking the findings of the IBM carbon diagnostics study to its most senior operational committee. Meanwhile it has already been able to move forward on some of the recommendations.
Haycox concluded:
“It’s the first time a carbon diagnostics study of this type has been carried out in government and it’s been a very valuable exercise.”
The Business benefits of the study have been:
* A clear set of recommendations to help exceed required targets
* A comprehensive picture of HMRC’s current carbon emissions
* Identification of those actions which will have most impact
* Total potential carbon reduction of up to 50%
* Reduction in costs over time• Knowledge transferred to HMRC staff
* Study completed in eight weeks, allowing HMRC to progress recommendations
More Information
Click here to find out more about IBM’s comprehensive approach to help public sector clients respond to climate change.
Related links
To view a demo from IBM’s Strategic Carbon Management offering, click here
Birmingham City Council Achieving Sustainability and Reducing Landfill
Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in the UK and the largest council in Europe. The sustainability strategy for the city as a whole involves the council in scrutinising all of its own activities, but also working in partnership with others to work towards sustainability.
Birmingham City Council went through a very stringent process to select the suppliers which also included Sharp, Toshiba and Ricoh.
Councillor Tilsey explained: “Kyocera showed that they had a much higher commitment to sustainability and we were therefore happy to work with them.”
Altodigital has been providing essential maintenance & support for the MFDs that have been installed in the council.
They proposed a Kyocera solution mainly because the environmental issue was key to the Council. Darryl Polden of Altodigital said: “When we looked through the criteria Birmingham City Council provided us with, Kyocera stood out. Birmingham City Council has more than 6,000 devices in the field. Kyocera was selected as an approved supplier because of the strong relationship we had with Kyocera and the devices’ low running costs were the key selling point.”
The council was concerned about its printing strategy because the majority of laser printers do generate do a lot of waste; the cartridges they use are made up of over 60 parts, comprising of numerous different types of material and nearly always end up in landfill.
In comparison, Kyocera’s toner cassettes use ECOSYS Technology and are made up of only 5 components, all made of recyclable plastic and are easier & cheaper to dispose of, which makes a significant impact on Birmingham’s sustainability targets.
Councillor Tilsey continued: “We have a target to reduce our CO2 emissions by 60% by 2026 (much earlier than the Central Government target of 2050). Both Birmingham City Council and Kyocera share the same ambitions and long term targets of reducing their carbon footprint and recognising the sustainability agenda, therefore our partnership is mutually compatible for all organisations.”
In addition to the environmental requirements, the cost, reliability of the machines and the service, support & back up were also key factors in the Council’s decision to partner with Altodigital and Kyocera.
Councillor Tilsey confirmed: “It’s saving us a lot of money, we have a target of £5 million by 2011and we have already saved £3.1 million so it’s cost effective already.”
The council has looked at the total cost of ownership (TCO) of different devices in great depth and put a block on any new printer purchases.
It has decreed that all council offices, schools and council-run organisations should use MFDs instead. It is the council’s aim that single function printers will only be allowed where the business requirement is essential and the rest will be MFD devices.
Since installing the Kyocera printers, the Council has found them to be reliable: “The printers have performed just as required,” says Councillor Tilsey. “Whenever we have had to contact Kyocera or Altodigital’s technical support team we have found that the problem is solved efficiently. We are now able to devote more budget to other areas due to the savings that we make on our printing fleet, which enables us to adopt new ways of more flexible working and ensure that we provide the best service for the community.
We chose Kyocera because of price and superior back-up service and support which is provided by Altodigital. In terms of MFDs, Kyocera’s green credentials all ticked the right boxes.”
Summary of Case Study
* Council chose Kyocera because of price and superior back-up service & support
* Since installing the Kyocera MFDs, we have not only saved in procurement, but also in running costs.
* Before the MFDs were introduced, the council offices were crowded with many different devices
* Laser cartridges they use (before Kyocera) are made up of over 60 parts most of which end up in landfill
* BCC have a target of £5m by 2011and have already saved £3.1m
* Council has found them to be reliable
Engagement with the Environment Survey
A recent online survey by Kyocera revealed Public sector is least likely to trying to achieve carbon neutral status whilst the IT/technology sector is the most likely.
Furthermore the Kyocera ‘Engagement with the Environment’ Survey found that:
* 39% of respondents feel the desire to be environmentally responsible comes from the company board or management, 37% feel it comes from external factors whilst 22% believe it comes from employees.
* 50% believe senior management are responsible for ensuring the company complies with environmental policy/measure whilst 34% believe its an environmental group or committee. However, the majority (50%+) of respondents feel that the best way to reduce wasted resources is through personal endeavour
* Budget constraints (54%) are the biggest barrier to companies becoming more „green‟ whilst lack of attention paid to engaging employees (40%) is the second biggest barrier. However, 60% of respondents believe that current concerns around the economic downturn will encourage more people to act in an environmentally conscious way as the cost of fuel and resources increases (65% IT Managers)
Click here to receive the full results from Kyocera’s Engagement with the Environment’ survey
Further information
Green Card Conference 2008 is Kyocera Mita’s environmental programme, helping their customers to develop eco-efficient document strategies. This is reflected in the Kyocera Corporation business development strategy which supports efforts to create information and communications technologies that take into account environmental preservation and the quality of life. (Full details and copies of presentations)
Contact information:
Rob Attryde
Kyocera Online Marketing Manager Tel: 01189 311500
Turning Environmental Ideals into Practical Solutions
Introduction
For an industry that produces 2% of the world's greenhouse gases, many ICT providers are only now waking up to the need to go 'green'.
Nortel, however, has been there for years - and is already seeing its efforts pay off around the world. Eric Lauzon, Chief Information Officer, Nortel Asia, explains how Nortel and its customers are turning a smarter ICT strategy into green-friendly policies that save money too.
When Nortel employees in the Canada want to have a meeting with their counterparts in the UK, they don't head for the airport.
A group video conferencing session lets them get straight down to business, be back at their desks right after and home with their families that evening giving employees a much better lifestyle. The meeting runs as smoothly as if the participants were in the same room - and not 3,500 miles apart.
It's a fundamental change in workplace collaboration, but it is also helping Nortel turn its environmental ideals into reality - and find new roles for its technology.
Greener technology pays off
Teleworking, once seen as a way of improving employee satisfaction with more flexible working practices, has also become a key part of green initiatives.
Ten percent of Nortel employees telework and 85% are equipped to work remotely, which directly reduces harmful emissions caused by driving or commuting. IP soft phone applications, running on employee laptops, let employees stay in touch while they travel - without requiring power for a separate phone.
Voice isn't the only thing employees can take with them when they telework; thanks to Nortel's unified communications solutions, employees can just as easily use multimedia conferencing, instant messaging, presence, and other collaboration tools to stay in touch with colleagues and customers around the company and around the world.
When desktop communications aren't enough, Nortel's Services-Powered Telepresence Solutions boost video conferencing with life-sized high-definition video and immersive surround sound.
The solution combines services & equipment to create a fully immersive, real-to-life experience that eliminates the need for business travel costs and associated emissions. This reduction delivers direct environmental benefits.
The David Suzuki Foundation estimates that air travel accounts for 4 to 9% of the total climate change impact of human activity, so any reduction in travel means real benefits for the environment.
Nortel estimates that its internal use of telepresence solutions reduced annual CO2 emissions by more than 4,000 tons in 2007 alone, and the technology is paying off outside the company as well.
For example, at the first-ever FORTUNE Brainstorm: GREEN conference in California in April 2008, platinum sponsor Nortel's Services-Powered Telepresence Solution enabled real-time global dialogue between California and participants in France, Germany, India and North Carolina.
Long before industry estimates started suggesting that the ICT industry generates upwards of 2% of the world's CO 2 emissions, Nortel had already integrated environmental consciousness into its products and operational policies.
For over a decade, Nortel's R&D engineers have followed Nortel's ‘Design for Environment’ guidelines to ensure Nortel products are as energy efficient as possible.
Nortel's IP Phones, for example, consume 2/3rds the power of a traditional PABX handset, while in wireless networks Nortel's patented power amplifier technology reduces the number of cell sites (and power consumed) by 50% compared with conventional power amplifier technology (See end of article for other energy saving products from Nortel)
Recent independent testing by the Tolly Group found that Nortel Power over Ethernet (PoE) switches were among the 'greenest' - using 56% less power than their closest competitors and 41% less power than other tested devices.
Even better, a test comparison of data center equipment run by Info-Tech Research Group found that Nortel equipment delivers these results at up to half the total cost of ownership of competing solutions.
Reductions in energy consumption may reduce carbon footprints, but greener equipment also helps companies save money by reducing electricity consumption for running & cooling equipment.
Just how much? Nortel's Energy Efficiency Calculator, launched in early 2008, shows that an average-sized data center can cut costs by up to US$100,000 per year simply by installing more energy-efficient switching equipment.
Getting Greener through Virtualization
With energy costs continuing to escalate, along with ever increasing reliance on IP-based networks to power a myriad of new applications, data centers are coming under unprecedented operational scrutiny.
IT managers, faced with the challenge of squeezing more performance out of existing data center budgets, need to limit the capital expense of additional equipment, simplify network operations and ensure maximum efficiencies that contribute to 'green' energy reduction efforts.
A 2007 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated data centers consume 1.5% of the country's total electricity.
That total doubled from 2001 to 2006 and is expected to almost double again by 2011, racking up about US$7.4 billion annually in energy costs.
The urgency of these cost, performance and environmental concerns is driving a technology approach called ‘virtualization’ into prominence.
By breaking down barriers across servers or networking equipment, unused capacity can be identified, and then pooled together through virtualization to harness the excess resources of many separate elements to perform as one.
Nortel recently announced a virtualized solution for networks to help maximize existing resources and launch new services quickly.
Nortel's end-to-end network virtualization solution includes the Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 8600 5.0 coupled with the Virtual Services Switch (VSS) 5000, a new platform that consolidates network elements and provides flexible network services on-the-fly, with proven integration with server virtualization solutions.
Greening a global ICT giant
Besides being a global leader in communications technology, Nortel is also a major consumer of ICT.
At the Ziff Davis Enterprise Data Center Summit 2008 in March, Nortel presented a case study on best practices in energy efficiency based on results of the virtualization program it began in 2003.
With 220 office locations in 60 countries, Nortel's data centers across the globe handle 34 million emails and 34 million VoIP minutes as well as 20 million minutes of audio-conferences annually.
While its program is still ongoing, Nortel has already avoided spending US$572,000 on additional servers that would have been needed without virtualization, as well as avoiding their estimated US$85,000 annual energy costs.
About 1,800 data center servers of the original 3,886 have been taken out of Nortel's infrastructure and system utilization of the virtual servers now deployed averages 60%, with peaks to 80%, well beyond the previous norm of 18 to 20%.
And that's not the end of the story. Besides significant energy savings, virtualization also helps to improve recovery capabilities for business continuity, strengthens security and speeds up the launch of new services to a few days, meaning you no longer need to wait for weeks or months for new hardware to be delivered, installed & configured in order to launch a new IT service.
The Nortel IT team often meets with peers from other companies to explain the strategy and logistics of how the Nortel cost savings were achieved.
And they've introduced a web site called "Nortel on Nortel" to share their experience with a broader audience.
The team also collaborates closely with internal engineering groups, sharing its understanding of technical issues to help improve virtualization features for Nortel's products.
In conclusion
Green IT is about the sustainable, sensible approach to managing your IT Infrastructure which meets the needs of your users, your business model and the environment.
Slashing energy costs, reducing your communications bill and boosting employee productivity with solutions that run more efficiently, save on travel, use the power of IP and enable better collaboration all make great business sense.
Additional Energy Efficient Product information from Nortel:
Nortel's Base Transceiver Station 3030 CDMA base station offers the industry's lowest power consumption, while the new RM2 GSM radio module in the Nortel Base Transceiver Station reduces power consumption by 20%.
Nortel's high-end, carrier-class products offer similar environmental improvements:
* The latest release of the Nortel Communications Server 1000 (CS 1000) cut power consumption by up to 80%
* A comparison of Nortel's Layer 3 Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 8600 with the data sheets of a competing solution shows the ERS 8600 uses less than half as much power
* Nortel's Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500 and Common Photonic Layer (CPL) platforms cut power consumption over fiber-optic networks by up to 74%
Contact information:
Richard Pinnington
Marketing Manager
UK&I, Nortel
Tel: 01628 432496
Mobile:07918 164169
richarp1@nortel.com
Contact information:
Richard Pinnington
Marketing Manager
UK&I, Nortel
Tel: 01628 432496
Mobile:07918 164169
richarp1@nortel.com
Breaking the cycle of consumption with efficient Software
Graham Perkins, Principal Consultant at Sybase UK, explains how new generation software can dramatically reduce the energy consumption of data storage hardware, helping both the environment and cutting costs.
Business analysts, suppliers of IT, most employees within IT departments right up to the CIO will all tell you how valuable data is to the success of a organisation.
In the current economic climate your ability to systematically improve operational efficiency and increase client satisfaction & understanding by making faster, better informed decisions is fundamental to efficient service delivery and essential for maintaining / improving levels of service
However, the burden of ever-increasing data grows over time and it is a smart organisation indeed that is able to continually meet these growing demands, without substantial increases in resources.
This strain has been somewhat magnified during the past few years due to the introduction of legaslitive and compliance initiatives requiring yet further storage requirements (ex. ISPs to hold emails, etc. for one year) – not to mention the massive innovations that we have all witnessed around various new techniques in how organisations collect information & communicate, such as the internet, instant messaging, VoIP and via mobile devices.
Every new IT system generates further data that has to be recorded and requires further & larger systems to analyse that data in order to derive the promised business value.
This in turn creates a vicious circle as organisations struggle to keep apace with the required needs and continue to buy bigger systems in an effort to somehow cope. However the ability to quickly transform organisational data into economic value is what now determines the winners from the losers in the worldwide marketplace.
It is a never ending, upwards spiralling pattern which locks in small and large business alike.
Faster than the capacity of technology can increase, the appetite is fuelled – easily outpacing Moore’s law.
For the giant IT suppliers this is heaven-sent, for only with aggressive replacement of old IT systems can they meet their ever aggressive targets and Wall Street expectations.
The ‘more for more’ argument is easy to sell. All your suppliers are aligned to it – the hardware manufacturers, the software vendors and the consultancies or systems integration houses are all on the same upwards track. It makes easy sense, and doesn’t rock the boat. It will carry on forever. Or will it? Indeed, can it?
In Canary Wharf, for instance, it certainly cannot. The power supply network is already at its limit because of the enormous data appetite of London’s newest financial district, and as a result no new system can be deployed without decommissioning one first.
This issue exposes the ultimate problem for continued expansion of IT systems. The amount of electricity used to power the swelling ranks of servers, and, even more alarmingly, the power needed to cool them – which is at least as much again.
When figures are quoted that the average data centre uses as much power as a medium-sized European city, and the largest require the local fire brigade to hose the buildings down on the hottest days of the summer, someone must call time on this practice.
So this creates a further problem – and one that is quickly gathering pace to become one of the top priorities on the management board’s agenda – corporate social responsibility, and in particular the environmental affects that organisations are having on the environment.
Indeed, Lord Hunt, Minister for Sustainable Development and Energy Innovation, recently welcomed the launch of the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres. Data centres are responsible for almost 3% of electricity use in the UK and this is expected to double by 2020.
The EU Code of Conduct was developed in close collaboration with the industry, including the British Computer Society (BCS).
Signatories to the Code will be expected to:
* implement the Code of Conduct's energy efficiency best practice
* meet minimum procurement standards
* annually report energy consumption
Over the next six years a successful implementation of the Code could allow UK businesses to save almost £700m in electricity costs.
In today’s world it is important that organisations somehow balance meeting data and compliance demands, whilst also reducing their impact on the environment, which is proving to be a difficult task.
One solution is to concentrate on the software rather than the hardware. By revisiting the software used to organise the data rather than merely installing new hardware for storage, it is possible to organise your data differently. This in turn uses less storage and less processing power, yet still delivers higher performance and better business flexibility.
That might sound hard to believe or easy to doubt, but it’s true. The analogy with old and new building practices is instructive.
High-rise buildings that used to rely on a tower-block model of a central supporting pillar had limitations – the base of the pillar had to get wider and wider to support a taller building until no more floor space was added by adding a new floor. Compare this to today, where the tallest buildings are now architected with ‘exoskeletons’ to provide strength through structure, rather than just brute force.
Most large data analysis systems are still being constructed with the equivalent of the old-fashioned tower-block – an RDBMS. It is conventional wisdom that says you only have this one choice for supporting data warehousing and reporting systems.
However the traditional transactional database explodes data storage and processing power demands so that smaller & smaller increments in performance and effectiveness are gained at greater & greater expense, not to mention air-conditioning and power supply demands.
The RDBMS was the great mainstay of online transaction processing, enabling many users to edit & maintain individual customer or transaction records, but when it comes to deriving business value from the analysis of many millions of these records with rapidly changing questions, it just can’t do it efficiently, and the cost-performance curve hits a brick wall.
Much of the data warehousing technology industry has grown up around the need to circumnavigate the limitations of using a technology for a purpose it was never designed for.
The result is an inefficient & cumbersome central store and a proliferation of data marts in an attempt to deliver some performance to the analysts.
The costs, in terms of hardware & energy footprint, magnify in the process, and the final system is rigid & inflexible – functionality is under control of the technical team and access must be tightly controlled to prevent overload.
So where is the promised business value from this? Where is the agile enterprise which can understand its current business and hypothesize changes to its model?
As the rate of change of business (and the rate of growth and failure of businesses) increases annually, an organisation requires flexible and adaptable IT systems to support it. If the answer is expansion of hardware – continually chasing its tail – then that is no answer at all, for any business, let alone one aware of its energy footprint.
One solution is Sybase IQ, a database engine purposely designed for business intelligence.
Compared to using an RDBMS, IQ can:
* reduce storage footprint by up to 90%
* increase load & reporting performance by 10 to 100 times
Unlike traditional databases, IQ is specifically architected for analytics and not transactions with a column based structure & indexing for data warehousing and reporting.
Another solution is Teradata, a powerful solution for analytic work but one that uses a lot of hardware – a bit like stacking multiple engines in line to make a car go fast, compared to which the IQ solution is akin to installing a single jet engine.
Another data management provider, Netezza, uses some of the same design principles behind IQ, but is somewhat limited by its use of proprietary hardware.
Most organisations realise that in today’s world adhering to CSR requirements can also improve your business in many ways, from improving your service response times, enabling faster throughput of clients, improving employee morale and even bolstering the workforce in general.
However, in an increasingly financially retrained environment, organisations are also under pressure to become more efficient - so implementing the correct solution (such as the latest software architecture that can offer that elusive ‘more for less’) must truly demonstrate a step change in flexibility, performance and a reduction of costs.
Whatever the solution, power-consumption and cost efficiencies have come right to the forefront of data management as it has the organisation, and simply adding more hardware is not going to solve the problem or help the environment.
But, as with any disruptive technology, there is a rub.
The software has been produced which can deliver these promises, but to whose cost? Your hardware supplier and managed service partner whose business models are based on ever increasing numbers of servers will surely not be in vanguard of this impending revolution.
Disruptive technologies always produce losers as well as winners.
A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that we are coming to a point where climate change could potentially become irreversible.
Perhaps with the recent rise of energy efficiency awareness across the world, the laggards of IT’s data warehouse industry will realise that they can no longer hold on to their outmoded business models and there is an impending need for them to address the necessary changes - before it is not simply a single loser, but us all.
Graham Perkins
Graham Perkins has over 30 years experience in the IT world and has specialised in the provisioning of Data Warehouse and business intelligence solutions for the last eight years across a wide range of industry sectors. Graham is focused on the innovative column based analytic engine, Sybase IQ, helping customers gain substantial benefits in reduced storage and improved performance."
Register Now! - Free Report from Bloor Reearch
Bloor Research have recently been commissioned to publish a report on 'The Green Value of High Performance Data Warehousing'. To reserve you free copy of the report simply click here
Register Now! - Free Report from Bloor Reearch
Bloor Research have recently been commissioned to publish a report on 'The Green Value of High Performance Data Warehousing'. To reserve you free copy of the report simply click here
Sybase Contact information:
Tel: 01628 597 100
Email: ukinfo@sybase.com
Further information
The final European Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency, version 1 ~ The Best Practice Guidelines, version 1 ~ The Reporting form – version 1 ~ The Green Grid ~ EU – End Use Energy Efficiency ~ British Computer Society (BCS) ~ Market Transformation Programme (MTP) ~ The Green IT Department
Putting the Greening of ICT in Context
While the articles from our sponsoring contributors look at ways to minimise the impact of ICT use on the environment, Wired-Gov has compiled a ‘round-up’ of the various press releases, policies, strategies, statements, tips, etc. that have been published by our key stakeholders across government and the public sector over the last 3 years in response to challenge of needing to Green ICT.
While there is (understandably) a certain element of duplication, we hope that they (and other links provided) will form a useful source of information:
Cabinet Office and Chief Information Officer Council (CIOC)
Cabinet Office and Chief Information Officer Council (CIOC)
Cabinet Office: Information on who will lead (April 2006)
Jim Murphy, Cabinet Office Minister, announced the appointment of John Suffolk as the Government Chief Information Officer (CIO). John leads the work of the CIO Council in delivering the Government's strategy for the transformation of public services, enabled by technology. He reports to Ian Watmore, the Head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit and former Government CIO.
John Suffolk’s role is to:
* provide leadership to the IT Profession across the wider public sector
* enable public service transformation through the strategic deployment of technology
* drive the development of shared services and
* act as the 'face' of UK Government IT both home & abroad
John Suffolk’s role is to:
* provide leadership to the IT Profession across the wider public sector
* enable public service transformation through the strategic deployment of technology
* drive the development of shared services and
* act as the 'face' of UK Government IT both home & abroad
The CIO Council brings together CIOs from across all parts of the public sector to address common issues.
Press release ~ CIO website ~ Transformational Government ~ Shared Services ~ Prime Minister's Delivery Unit ~ CIO Members
Greening Government ICT (July 2008)
Under a plan announced by Cabinet Office Minister, Tom Watson, the Government said that it aimed to make energy consumption of ICT carbon neutral within four years. At the time, information & communication technology (ICT) was responsible for up to 20% of carbon emissions generated by Government offices - around 460,000 tonnes a year.
Departments were be asked to take 18 key steps, including:
* Automatically switching off desktop computers outside working hours
* Reusing as much computer equipment as possible
* Auditing our data centres and server use to make sure they are running at maximum efficiency
Press release ~ Tom Watson launch speech on Greening Government ICT ~ Greening Government ICT - Efficient, Sustainable, Responsible ~ Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) ~ Sustainable Development in Government Report '07 ~ Computer industry trade body Intellect
Greening Government ICT - CIOC
Following the publication of Greening Government ICT: Efficient, Sustainable, Responsible, the government had two aims, to make:
* energy consumption of our ICT systems carbon neutral by 2012, and
* them carbon neutral across their lifetime (including manufacture and disposal) by 2020
The strategy asked for immediate action, with simple steps implemented straight away.
CIO Green ICT Roadmap Template 2009 ~ The Sustainable IT Transformation Roadmap ~ ISEB Foundation Certificate in Green IT ~ Areas for Potential Carbon Reduction ~ Green ICT SOGE Map ~ Sustainable Procurement Charter
Department of Energy and Climate Change
New independent research by Innovas - 'Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services: an industry analysis' - shows:
* The UK is already the 6th largest low carbon and environmental goods & services (LCEGS) economy
* In 2007/8 it was worth £107bn to the UK economy, and could grow by another £45bn over the next decade
* There are already over 880,000 jobs in the LCEGS sector when the supply chain is included
* If employment grows at projected rates, an additional 400,000 jobs could be created in the next decade
* 31% of overall activity is in manufacturing
* The global market for the LCEGS sector is estimated to be worth £3 trillion
A new pamphlet - 'Low Carbon Industrial Strategy: a Vision' - highlights a range of companies in the UK already taking advantage of low carbon opportunity and sets out the scope & ambition of the Government's plans. Businesses and others with an interest are asked for their input through a new interactive website to inform a final Strategy to be published before the summer.
Press release ~ Interactive website
Defra
Encouraging individuals to tackle climate change and take up greener lifestyles (December 2006)
Measures to help individuals tackle climate change and adopt greener lifestyles were unveiled by the Government including the launch of an on-line ‘guide to greener living’ on Directgov, which is designed to help people who want to find out what they can do in their everyday lives to tackle climate change and other environmental issues.
The guide includes actions that can be taken covering the home, shopping, travel, food & drink, waste & recycling, energy & water saving, gardening, as well as being green in the workplace, school and community.
Press release ~ Online guide to greener living ~ Carbon Neutral Company ~ Sustainable Development Commission ~ EU ManagEnergy
Saving the world by design (October 2008)
A new standard, called PAS 2050 and launched by BSI British Standards, the Carbon Trust and Defra will help businesses fight global warming. The standard is a consistent way of counting the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in goods & services throughout their entire life cycle - from sourcing raw materials, through to manufacture, distribution, use and disposal.
The aim of the new standard is to help businesses move beyond managing the emissions their own processes create and to look at the opportunities for reducing emissions in the design, making & supplying of products. This will then hopefully help businesses make goods or services which are less carbon intensive and ultimately develop new products with lower carbon footprints.
Press release ~ Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050 ~ Carbon Trust Carbon Reduction Label ~ Defra – Carbon Footprint ~ Methods report to support the PAS for the calculations for the calculation of the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services ~ Saving Carbon, Improving Health: A Carbon Reduction Strategy for the NHS in England ~ Improving the efficiency of central government's office property ~ Carbon Trust Standard ~ Carbon Trust’s Research and Technology Accelerators ~ Environment and greener living : Directgov ~ International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) ~ The Right Climate for Change - Using the Carbon Footprint to reduce CO2 emissions - a guide for local authorities ~ Towards a low footprint Scotland
Real help now: saving money - It's your business (February 2009)
The government has launched a new campaign to promote the cost-free steps businesses can take to help reduce their environmental impact and save them money.
The recently launched Real Help for Businesses Now campaign features a new list of top ten tips compiled by Defra and the Department for Energy and Climate Change and designed to help small firms take immediate steps to cut their environmental footprint.
Press release ~ Top ten tips
Socitm
ICT has poor Green Credentials (Nov. 2007)
Contrary to popular belief, ICT has poor ‘green’ credentials, accounting for some 2% of global CO2 emissions – the same amount as that of the airline industry.
However, ICT also has significant potential to reduce its own environmental impact from equipment manufacture, use of electricity and so on, as well as helping organisations become greener though adoption of practices like flexible working and increased efficiencies in business processes.
These issues are set out in Green ICT?: current research into the environmental impact of ICT, a report from Socitm Insight which also provides a practical guide for IT managers who want to move towards greener practices within their own department as well as using ICT to reduce the organisation’s overall environmental impact.
The report provides:
* an introduction to how ICT impacts upon the environment (in all stages of the equipment lifecycle)
* information about how to measure environmental impact, and ideas for its mitigation
* case studies of organisations that have used ICT to reduce the environmental impact of the organisation.
Press release ~ Green ICT?: current research into the environmental impact of ICT
Other recommended links from or related to Socitm
Green IT, pragmatism & strategy - Richard Steel, Society of IT Management (SOCITM) President, CIO London Borough of Newham ~ Green Veneer or Green Revolution? Greening the local authority ICT estate ~ Green ICT – taking the strategic approach ~ ICT procurement ~ The Green Agenda, Chris Head Henley Management College and SOCITM Researcher ~ IBM - What are enterprises doing about Green IT? ~ Sustainability in IT ~ The Virtues and Vices of Virtualisation
OGC
Green Power for Offices at no Premium (June 2007)
The UK public sector has access to green electricity at no premium, thanks to an innovative deal signed by the OGC. The deal, worth around £1bn over four years, guarantees central & local government customers one terrawatt hour of electricity from renewable sources - equivalent to 33% of current volumes - until at least 2011.
Sustainability targets called for central government departments to be sourcing at least 10% of their electricity from renewable sources by March 2008.
Unlike previous arrangements, under this deal buying green energy is no more expensive than buying "brown" (non-renewable) energy and paying the associated climate change levy.
Press release ~ Saving Money on Energy ~ Pan Government Energy Project ~ Power Factor Correction and Capacity Matching
Other links
Centre of Expertise for Sustainable Procurement ~ Sustainable Procurement and Operations on the Government Estate ~ Buy green and make a difference
Miscellaneous Sources
Government Departments Are Failing On Green Issues (June 2007)
Research published by the independent research organisation Labour Research Department (LRD) claimed that government departments and agencies are failing to put into place measures to combat climate change such as energy efficiency and recycling schemes.
Representatives and activists from government's largest civil service trade union, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) formed the largest number of respondents (25%) to the survey on unions and the environment carried out by LRD earlier this year.
The research found that in workplaces where PCS organises:
* 43% of those responding to the survey said that the employer had done nothing to cut down on waste or minimise their use of resources, and
* over a quarter (26%) of employers had done nothing to promote energy efficiency
LRD Press release ~ Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) ~ Sustainable Development in Government 2006 ~ (EDM 1125) ~ First Steps to a Greener Workplace: A TUC guide
The Virtuous Circle (June 2008)
The ICT & Environment workstream report entitled 'Driving the Virtuous Circle - how ICT can enable the carbon effective organisation' makes a number of recommendations for leaders of private and public sector organisations about the greening of ICT and the role of ICT as an enabler of carbon reduction.
Its purpose is to encourage industry and government leaders to act to build ‘carbon effectiveness’ into the strategies and business model of their organisations. The report is available for download below.
Virtuous Circle Report
Other links
Carbon Trust – Office Equipment ~ CLAW - Office Accommodation Energy Awareness ~ FOE Scotland – Greening the Office Audit ~ ICTrees ~ Smarter bytes, slimmer footprints ~ Dematerial world ~ SustainIT ~ EC - How Green is your Public Procurement ? ~ Intelligent Energy Europe ~ EU Green Public Procurement Training Toolkit ~ EU requirements for Workstations ~ Desktop Computers ~ Computer Monitors ~ Laptop Computers ~ Inkjet MFDs ~ Laser MFDs ~ Inkjet Printers ~ Laser Printers ~ Scanners ~ External Power Supplies ~ Air Conditioning Units
