Green Computing: Part 2

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Click here to read part one of this feature.

What immediate, practical actions can IT departments take to start cutting down on the environmental impact of what they do?

Solutions like more efficient use of power, the possible application of virtualisation to sharpen up resource utilisation rates, and other options are valid probably more mid- to long-term.

We seem to be back to that old chestnut of using technology to cut down on the amount of travel we and our business peers do. Step forward once again video and online conferencing. Is the green agenda the best opportunity for this technology to finally hit the mainstream?

Serious commentators like analyst group Gartner do seem to think so: Mark Raskino, a Fellow with the organisation, last month cited greater use of home working and videoconferencing as specific ways to reduce organisational carbon footprint.

Not surprisingly the videoconferencing suppliers themselves are convinced the CSR (corporate social responsibility) factor will be a big boost for their wares. In December 2006 one such 'enterprise conferencing' specialist, Interwise, stated that "2006 was the year that global climate change became a mainstream concern. In 2007, businesses will be more expected to address their own environmental impact ... Technologies able to further CSR agendas, such as virtual conferencing that can reduce a corporation's impact on carbon emissions, will be see a new form of endorsement in the form of CSR compliance."

Theory and reality

Let's remind ourselves of what that means in practice: People from your company sitting on planes spewing out highly-pollutant spent aviation fuel, or listening to Radio 1 on a heavily-congested M25 while on their way to meetings or to see clients equates to bad things being put into the atmosphere.

For example, one person flying from New York to London for a team meeting uses 2,690 pounds of carbon dioxide; two people travelling from Chicago to San Francisco for a sales presentation means 4,696 pounds; a training session with 12 participants flying from Dallas to San Francisco would burn up 22,377 pounds of CO2, and so forth.

These figures come from one of the main videoconferencing players, Webex. It claims that interest from large organisations in better support for remote working has been growing significantly since 2001, with a claimed roster of 25,000 customers worldwide holding some 50,000 meetings daily virtually instead of face to face. The inference is of course that that's a lot less air miles and nights in hotels being clocked-up as well.

Another firm interested in the remote working space is iPass, which offers technology to support secure remote connectivity, often in the context of remote working. "If a company offered the option to work at home just one day a week that translates to 20 per cent less CO2 due to travel," claims its European managing director Doug Loewe. "Yes, they will go to the office the other days and probably travel to customers in that period too. But greater and greater penetration of wireless and acceptance of online meetings will mean a much greater acceptance of less travel to meet people in person, which has to have a beneficial environmental impact."

Corporate responsibility = environmental credibility

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