UK businesses have launched an initiative to help IT
managers and directors reduce the environmental impact of their IT
infrastructure.
The Green Technology Initiative has commercial
backing from Cisco, EDF Energy and Global Crossing, as well as the
support of the Department for Rural Affairs.
According to analyst firm Gartner, the energy from
manufacturing, distribution and use of information and
communications technology emits approximately
2% of total global carbon dioxide, equal to
the emissions from the airline industry.
The Green Technology Initiative aims to become a meeting point
where businesses can find out
how to reduce their IT carbon footprint from
those with expert knowledge and experience.
Dan Sutherland, founder and acting chair of the Green Technology
Initiative, said a lack of standards in measuring energy efficiency
of datacentres and other computing systems was hampering the
efforts of IT departments in reducing their impact on the
environment.
"IT managers don’t know what their overall contribution is to
their firms’ environmental impact, so it’s hard for them to know
what to do to help,” he said.
The Green Technology Initiative would help to share best
practice by publishing approaches to greener computing used by its
members.
Last year, the IT industry launched the Green Grid, which also
has Cisco as a member. Phil Andrews, European datacentre business
development director at Cisco, said Green Grid was helping to use
technology in reducing the environmental impact of IT, whereas the
Green Technology Initiative was designed to help IT managers
improve efficiency with technology available now.
How green IT delivers energy savings
>>
IT global emissions >>
Green Technology Initiative>>
Comment on this article:
computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk