Green economics?
- Article 71 of 77
- Information Age, June 2005
Environmentally conscious IT policies can be good for both the planet and the bottom line.
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Says Counsell, “We found it amazing the amount of savings in terms of money, time, carbon dioxide and even the stress levels of people on the road.” In 2004, Counsell says, the company saved £217,500 through video conferencing, reduced the organisation’s carbon dioxide output by 140 tonnes, saved 9,051 hours of employee time and 63,600 litres of fuel.
The links to overseas partners have also paid dividends. Bi-monthly visits to the Lex IT Centre by ten specialists and managers are now unnecessary, as are trips to the US. With research from the University of York now suggesting that the rise in demand for air travel is one of the most serious environmental threats facing the world, the benefits to Lex’s balance sheet of video conferencing are also benefits to the environment.
Carbon dioxide emissions by form of transport
Air: 270g/mile
Rail: 80g/mile
Car: 220g/mile
Useful resources
www.gooshing.co.uk: a green/ethical shopping guide for various IT products, including PCs, monitors, printers, firewalls, and servers.
www.distortionwave.com/Power.html: online calculator to determine how much power a typical PC requires
www.envirowise.gov.uk: offers UK businesses free, independent, confidential advice and support on practical ways to increase profits, minimise waste and reduce environmental impact.
www.it-environment.org: The UN’s IT and the environment initiative. Contains research and further information about environmentally friendly IT policies.
Facing facts
- A single, loaded rack of blade servers will easily consume 15kW of electricity. This generates over 51,000 BTUs (British Thermal Units) per hour, which is more than a typical household oven demands. It requires a cooling capacity sufficient to air-condition two homes. (Source: Globix)
- £1,000/employee or 1% of turnover: how much money an organisation can save through environmental best practice (Source: DTI)
- £50-80: cost to dispose of a typical PC in a landfill (Source: Gartner)
- 38.4kg: amount of waste produced by running a Ricoh AP600N printer for six months, 24/7. An HP LaserJet 4520 produces 20.2kg, while a Kyocera FS-3830N produces 4kg. (Source: Druckerchannel.de)
- 1,500 pieces of A4: Leaving a photocopier on overnight uses enough energy to print over 1,500 A4 copies (Source: Carbon Trust)
- £150: the cost in electricity over five years of running a single CRT monitor during the day and leaving it in standby mode during the night (Source: PC Pro Magazine)
- 12,000kWh: Any organisation that consumes more than 12,000kWh/annum has to pay VAT on its electricity consumption at 17.5%, rather than the reduced rate of 5%, as well as the “climate change levy” of 0.43p per kWh plus VAT, implemented in 2001.
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