Green IT And More (Part I) – Gearing Up to Go Green

Getting Motivated to Change

When the benefits of changing to greener products or systems are expressed in terms of money, risk or brand, organisations start to sit up and take notice.

Fortunately, as we explain in this book, you can align these legitimate business concerns with the broader issue of leaving a planet worth living on for our descendants.

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Pollutants

Carbon dioxide and its equivalents, such as methane and nitrous oxide (referred to, collectively, as CO2e) are the main focus of concern for governments and other organisations.

These harmful emissions provide a convenient yardstick by which progress can be measured with respect to climate change. But some activities connected to IT harm the planet and the people on it in other ways as well.

Certain manufacturing processes pollute the air, the soil and the water and deplete non-renewable resources. Such actions bring short-term benefits but they’re unsustainable over a longer timescale.

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The IT community – as well as the rest of the world – is becoming increasingly aware of the need for sustainable development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. That quote comes from the first major report on the subject, “Our Common Future”, which was published by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 (often referred to as the Brundtland Report).

The role of IT

IT-related CO2e emissions alone have been estimated at two percent of the world’s total. Not only can everyone work together to reduce this figure, but IT itself can support the greening of other processes as well (the remaining 98 per cent!). We will explore how IT can help to clean up your organisation in Part III.

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Lifecycles

Don’t follow the herd and restrict your thoughts to CO2 emissions. Think in terms of ‘before, during and after’ a product’s lifetime when considering the impact on the environment.

Whether it’s energy, equipment or ancillary supplies, each comes with:

– An intrinsic environmental impact

– An operational impact

– An end-of-life impact

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The good news is that manufacturers are improving their processes at each of these life stages, from minimising harm ‘before’ use by employing cleaner and leaner sourcing and manufacturing techniques, by designing products that consume less energy and materials ‘during’ use and helping with reuse and recycling ‘after’ use. Manufacturers are also beginning to produce environmental information that you can use when making your buying choices.

This article is part of a series of articles produced by Freeform Dynamics analyst David Tebbutt, together with Martin Atherton and Tony Lock.