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

50% pain and 50% opportunity…

Tags: climate smart, Green IT, OECD

I am currently participating on the 2-day OECD conference on how ICT can improve the environmental performance and mitigate climate change in all sectors of the economy. Around 230 high-level experts and government representatives have gathered to develop some solutions.  Some of the highlights as I see it has been the emphasis on the need for investment in education and R&D regarding Green IT – both to reduce the environmental impact of ICT and using ICT reduce other kinds of environmental impact. “The global economic crisis is 50 % pain and 50 % opportunity”, said Esko Aho, former prime minister of Finland who lead the country through a similar local crisis.

Another interesting point made by Marcus Courtney from Union Network International was that a significant part of the problem is that 75 % of all ICT equipment manufacturing is outsourced to low cost countries where there is less control with environmental factors and labor rights. We need producers who can guarantee and document that they meet both environmental and labor right standards.

When it comes to the use eCollaboration tools for travel reduction, Jeanette M. Wing from the US National Science Foundation, was not impressed how this technology has evolved. As a professional researcher she expected this technology to be much better by now. Talking with her afterwards she made a point out of that several criteria must be evaluated when choosing such systems. In my own view there seems to be certain criteria that will be mostly helpful for users to find good eCollaboration systems. These critieria include  sound and picture quality as well as synchronization and increased user friendliness of such products.

The discussion continues  tomorrow  and I’ll be back to share more  impressions with you then, so stay tuned.

Erich Must Wessel

Blogger for TCO Development

Helsingör, Denmark