October 2009 - Green ICT - Efficient, Sustainable, Responsible

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a major user of energy and natural resources. The use and disposal of computers, servers and printers has to happen in a sustainable way.

"The whole notion of being green is associated with making some sort of a sacrifice ...one less shower, driving a smaller car, changing out light bulbs," says Albert Esser, vice president of power and infrastructure solutions at Dell. "For green IT, that is just not true. Anything you can do to be green in IT will help your bottom line, will help your operations and will help your service-level agreements...With green IT, there's no sacrifice involved."

In the last year the Government has reported a saving of £7 million by greening its IT Systems. Simple steps such as extending the life of PCs, double-sided printing and switching computers off at night all have an impact on your own organisation's carbon footprint. By implementing these small changes has helped cut the carbon footprint of central government computers by 12,000 tonnes, which is the same as taking 5,000 cars off the road.

Other initiatives include:
Department of International Development donates their old IT equipment to charities in developing countries.
Crown Prosecution Service saves £2.35 million by replacing 9,500 computers and 2,500 printers every five years instead of every three years.
Home Office saves £2.4 million a year by removing unused IT equipment and improving efficiency.
The Department of Work & Pensions will save 200 million sheets of paper by changing to double sided printing.

A Green ICT strategy sets out the steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. There are many simple steps that can be taken right now to implement best green practice throughout your organisation. By turning off just one computer overnight we can save 235kg of CO2 in a year. The use of ICT equipment to allow remote working and teleconferencing can also play a potentially significant role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions among private and public sector user organisations.

We currently support some of our customers with preventative maintenance programmes to pre-empt issues and to ensure they can maximise their IT efficiency. If you want your technology to be efficient and sustainable, as well as reducing your organisations carbon footprint, then contact ASH today to see how we can help you implement an effective Green ICT Strategy.


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