News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 14 September 2009
The Government has
saved at least £7 million over the past year by making its IT
systems greener, Cabinet Office Minister Angela Smith said today.
Changes including extending the life of PCs, making double-sided
printing the default option and making sure computers are turned
off at night have helped cut the carbon footprint of central
Government computers by 12,000 tonnes – the same as taking 5,000
cars off the road.
Speaking at the Greening Government ICT conference in London,
Cabinet Office Minister Angela Smith said:
“Information technology is one of the hidden causes of climate
change – worldwide, computers are responsible for the same amount
of carbon emissions as the airline industry, but few people are
taking action to improve the situation.
“A year ago the British Government became the first in the world
to set tough targets to tackle the huge environmental and
financial costs of computer use and I’m delighted to see the real
progress that has been made. In just 12 months we’ve saved enough
carbon dioxide to fill almost 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
“All departments have risen to the challenge of cutting their IT
carbon footprints and countries from around the world are now
looking to us for advice on how to follow our lead. But it’s not
just about the Government. I hope that private companies and
individuals will also recognise the savings that can be made and
get on board.”
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is responsible for
up to 20 per cent of carbon emissions generated by Government
offices. Each year it generates around 460,000 tonnes a year, the
same amount created by a million households in a month or a jumbo
jet flying around the world more than a thousand times.
Last year the Government was the first in the world to introduce
measures to tackle the huge financial and environmental cost of ICT.
Departments were asked to take 18 key steps including turning off
all machines at night, extending the lifecycle of computers,
reusing as much IT equipment as possible and increasing server efficiency.
In the first year alone some of the success stories include:
* The Department for International Development (DfID) donating
old equipment to charities in developing countries
* The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) saving £2.35million by
replacing 9,500 computers and 2,500 printers every five years
rather than every three
* The Home Office (HO) saving £2.4million a year by removing
unused IT equipment and improving efficiency
* The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will save 200
million sheets of paper a year through cutting down the number of
printers in the department and changing the default setting to
double-sided printing
Last month the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) praised the UK Government for being the only
Government taking serious action to tackle the Green IT issue.
Speaking at a conference in Denmark, OECD secretary general Angel
Gurria described the Green ICT Scorecard, launched by the
Government last year, as “the one very rare exception” to the
general lack of targets and measures in this area.
Will Day, Chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission
(SDC), said:
“While ICT can provide solutions to cut energy use and emissions,
the SDC’s work on sustainable development in Government found that
Government electricity use is still rising, and the proliferation
of computers, laptops, chargers and the air conditioning of server
rooms is likely to be behind much of this.
“So greening the Government’s ICT is an urgent priority, which
can save money as well as minimising energy use and emissions.
After the successes of the first year of this programme, we look
forward to seeing levels of ambitions raised further, and the
Government working with departments and industry to explore and
invest in far-reaching green ICT solutions.”
Chris Chant, Chief Information Officer at the Government Olympic
Executive and the Government’s Green ICT Champion said:
"The UK holds a significant position of International
Leadership and expertise in this specialist sector but its now
time to take this to the next level. We will look for wider areas
where we can work internationally to get best practice and
credible, measurable delivery of CO2 savings.
“Green ICT efficiencies and cost savings go hand in hand and this
will be a key priority area for us moving forward."
Notes to Editors
1) Following the publication of the Greening Government ICT
strategy last year, 110 public bodies have produced Green ICT
action plans establishing measures for improving the energy
consumption and carbon cost of their. The action plans not only
clarify what steps are completed but also set out actions with
delivery dates for the remaining steps during the next 18 months.
2) 80 per cent of the actions have been delivered, are in
progress or planned by more than 60 per cent of the public bodies.
3) Top facts about the environmental impact of IT:
- Worldwide, ICT accounts for 4 per cent of carbon emissions
–that’s the same as the aviation industry
- The Carbon Trust estimates that 20% of carbon emissions from
Government offices come from ICT.
- Between 1999 and 2006 the amount of electricity used in
Whitehall rose by 34 per cent. The single biggest reason for this
was the increased use of IT.
- A server that is switched on but not in use still consumes 70
per cent of the power used when operating at full load.
- By defaulting our printers to duplex we can save 60 kg of CO2
for every 1 million print jobs.
4) Things you can do at home:
- Adjust your home computer
settings – shutting down when not in use and hibernating when idle
rather than having a screen saver
- Set home printers to duplex printing and draft mode printing,
or use Ecofont
- Unplug devices when not in use, for example printers, scanners,
hairdryers, phone chargers still use electricity if they are
connected to the wall socket
5) Copies of the report and Angela Smith’s speech will be
available on the Cabinet Office website http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
on Tuesday September 15. For an embargoed copy ahead of
publication contact Sinead Keller in the Cabinet Office press office.
6) Cabinet Office Minister Angela Smith will deliver the keynote
speech at the Greening Government IT Conference at the QE2 Centre
in London at 2.55pm on Tuesday 15 September. For media enquires
about the conference contact GovNet events on 0161 211 3032.
Cabinet Office Press Office 22 Whitehall LONDON SW1A 2WH
Tel:
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www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Out of hours telephone 07699 113300 and ask for pager number
Contacts:
Cabinet Office Press Office
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Fax: 020
7276 0618
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