Is Industry Collaboration the Future of Green IT?

Tags: carbon footprint, CO2 emissions, energy saving, environment, Green IT, IT products, save energy, sustainability, sustainable IT

While major electronics brands compete to develop more eco-friendly PC products, some areas of Green IT are actually shifting towards greater industry collaboration. A couple of recent stories caught my attention. Firstly, at CES I attended an Electronics Takeback roundtable, hosted by the US EPA and featuring senior environmental managers from Panasonic, Best Buy and L.G. When discussing the challenges of implementing a cohesive takeback infrastructure,  industry reps agreed there is a need to work together to create a common eco-system and create efficiencies in how takeback is handled across multiple product categories.

Second, the Green Touch project was announced this week in a cross-industry effort to reduce PC processory energy use 1000-fold. In real terms, this would mean being able to run the world’s communications networks, including the internet, for nearly three years using the same amount of energy it currently uses in one day. The Green Touch project kicks off in February. More details here

From Think Tank to “Do Tank”

Tags: climate conference, climate impact, CO2 emissions, Green IT Conference, IBM, ICT, ICT equipment, OECD, Think Tank

I’m here again blogging from the OECD Green IT Conference. In the first session the first day, Larry Hirst, Chariman Europe, Midle East & Africa from IBM said he was partaking in several ”Think Tanks” regarding Green IT and said it was now time to focus on ”Do Tanks”. We need action much more than discussions.

Today this was followed up by a defined focus on urgency amongst the speakers and throughout the discussions. We do not have much time to change the climate impact trend. Also, it is clear that ICT is a key factor for the world to be able to reduce CO2 emissions. Nick Rowley, former senior adviser for Prime Minister Tony Blair said:”the urgency is heavily related to behavior change – going from bold intentions to changed behavior has one important key: the use of ICT. It is needed to reach measurable and verified goals in climate reduction.

There is a great focus on using ICT to reduce climate change. The Smart2020 report (www.smart2020.org) shows that by 2020 the proper use of ICT can reduce CO2 emissions by 15%. At the same time it has been stressed that the ICT industry itself must ”clean its own house” by making every effort to reduce its own impact on the climate. You cannot do the one and ignore the other.

One of  the conclusions was the role of public procurement in setting high environmental standards when procuring ICT equipment. Goverment must lead by example, not by words.

Many good ideas have been presented, but one important factor I found missing was the lack of focus on indirect environmental factors of ICT equipment. As I discussed with several of the participants, most were not aware of this factor at all, such as ergonomics, general quality, and designed for future use (not just now).

This conference will hopefully bring on an imprtant message to the Climate Conference in Copenhagen in december 2009.

Erich Must Wessel

Blogger for TCO Development

Helsingör, Denmark

Green IT becomes greener with the usability aspect

Tags: climate conscience, climate smart, CO2 emissions, combine usability and environmental aspects, computer display, energy consumption, frustration, Green IT, hazardous substances, ICT products, image quality, standby, sustainable IT, usability

The buzz word within the ICT industry has during the last 18^th month been Green IT and now it seems the trend it moving to include another buzz word; Sustainable IT. This trend is of course very positive.

In the discussions of Green IT so far there has been a lot talk about lower energy consumption. Low energy consumption is an important factor to reduce the CO2 emissions, but focusing only on lower energy consumption for a computer display can mean lower image quality.

It’s simple – a product with high performance and good usability has a longer life span and is less likely to enter the waste stream prematurely. This is another important environmental aspect that we unfortunately not see too much of in the discussion of Green IT or Sustainable IT.

No trade off between usability and environment
My point is that truly sustainable ICT products also must include the aspect of usability. A product that performs well and has low energy consumptions as well as low levels of hazardous substances is the best choice for the environment. Therefore there should not be any trade off between usability and environment aspects for ICT products!

What about products that don’t work if yoy try to be climate smart?
Last week I had a personal experience of usability vs. environmental aspects when I tried to be climate smart by switching off the printer at home. The printer is in standby mode 24 hours a day. Standby means less energy consumption but still it consumes energy, therefore I switched it off. The pleasure of a silent office and a good environmental conscience was on top when the printer was off. However there were no feelings of pleasure the next day when I was going to print a document. I had switched the printer on again, the control panel showed that the document was in the line for getting printed and that the printer was connected – but I did not get the document printed!  This doubly frustrating – firstly for not being able to get my documents printed and sceondly,  that I unnecessarily cause CO2 emissions because the printer doesn’t work if I switch it off properly.

Do you have similar experience of technology that makes it impossible to combine usability and environmental aspects? Let me know.

Make your comment here, or e-mail: birgitta.halvarsson@tco.se