RealTimeClub:Green ICT
From ZYen
- Basil Cousins recently spoke at an event at the British Computer Society entitled "Best Practice in Green IT". Basil explained that a lot of the talk about carbon reduction through green technology involves renewable energy (solar, wind, tidal, geothermal) and other low-carbon energy sources (led by nuclear). The much-less-talked-about element but equally critical element of carbon reduction is energy efficiency. Indeed, this may turn out to be a much bigger opportunity for small, innovative businesses because of the lower costs of innovation, the huge potential for "out of the box" solutions, and the much less dominant role of existing big players (e.g. energy companies). IT will play a huge role in delivering energy efficiency solutions, both by replacing current high-carbon activities (e.g. jet travel) and by providing the underlying technology for a wide variety of other solutions.
- However, reducing energy consumption and intensity is merely one aspect of the overall "ecological footprint" that IT creates. For holisitc solutions we need to take the whole supply-chain and life-cycle of each and every product into account. The London Accord has some interesting thinking about this topic, as follows -
Green IT by Société Générale, March 2009
Green ICT - Pink Elephants or Real Returns? by WestLB, June 2008
Green IT - Fact or Fashion? SRI Briefings, Issue 17, 2008
