IT workers need to learn new skills in order to adapt their organisations to the needs of green computing, partly due to the requirements of upcoming legislation, according to the British Computer Society (BCS).
Legislation such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) will oblige organisations to report their energy consumption, creating a new demand for workers trained to understand and manage energy usage, the BCS argued.
“There is no doubt that legislation is going to create demand for an IT professional with new skills, and generate new roles,” said Michiel van der Voort, the BCS’ director for international and professional development services, in a statement. “For example, we’re already seeing the emergence of new business roles, such as Sustainability Managers.”
The new certificate will aid candidates in understanding the importance of data centre energy and cost, predicting and carrying out management steps and comparing and distinguishing between energy and cost management options.
It is aimed at data centre managers, operators, consultants and technicians, as well as business unit managers, IT purchasers, architects, solution consultants and CSR professionals, the BCS said.
The society also updated its intermediate certificate in the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres.
In May 2009 the BCS launched what it called the first and only recognised qualification for green IT. The Foundation Certificate in Green IT provides guidance on issues such as corporate social responsibility, environmental legislation and carbon emission reduction.
According to BCS Qualifications director Pete Bayley, although companies might be facing constraints on training budgets at the moment, the three-day course is a worthwhile investment despite its £1,400 price tag. “Organisations need to know how to comply with ever tightening legislation, how they can create significant cost-efficiencies, and how to balance the internal and external economic drivers they face,” he said at the time. “We’re confident that individuals who complete this qualification will be able to develop a strategy that will bring significant benefit to their business.”
In December 2010 the society introduced an energy-efficiency accreditation scheme called the Certified Energy Efficiency Data Centre Award (CEEDA), based on the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres.
The Award was designed to give data centre operators an independent accreditation and verifiable evidence that their data centre is following energy efficiency best practice.
The government is facing more calls from UK businesses to scrap the CRC, which the industry now views as just another tax, a March survey found.
Electricity provider npower surveyed 70 people responsible for energy management in their organisations. That survey follows hot on the heels of the business group CBI, which has demanded that rebates should be restored to the CRC, or the scheme scrapped altogether.
The npower survey of UK businesses found that not only do companies wish the CRC to be ditched, but also more than a quarter (29 percent) do not think the CRC will help the UK meet its carbon reduction targets, which was one of its main aims.
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The BCS is right to point out that more organisations must adapt to meet the requirements of upcoming legislation. Yet many businesses and organisations are unaware that there is a lot that can be done through better IT practices which will not only have a huge effect on emissions and help organisations meet targets but could also cut costs by reducing energy waste and improving IT efficiency.
Green IT strategies drive significant reductions in IT-related energy usage, through core IT activity such as energy efficiency best practice in the data centre. Professionals skilled in green IT best-practice can, in turn, help to facilitate a more general positive shift too, by driving more efficient working practices company-wide such as reducing travel and commuting through home working and teleconferencing.
Rather than forcing companies simply to spend money to help comply with legislation, a good Green IT plan will help organisations to understand and comply with climate change regulations and, at the same time, give a clear, manageable and realistic roadmap for change that shows how improvements will bring a real and demonstrable return on investment.
Good points. There are many parts of sustainability which actually deliver cost savings in a reasonable time scale.
There are also, of course, some parts of green IT strategy which actually require investment that can mean the pay-off is longer than normal business practice might require.
Peter Judge
Editor, eWEEK Europe UK