Home > Information > FAQs > Green ICT

How Can I Improve My Green ICT Credentials?

The green agenda is now an accepted everyday topic of conversation.  All governments, businesses, organisations and individuals are expected to change their thinking and behaviour to produce a positive impact on the problems of carbon footprint, emissions, sustainability and recycling.  As part of this, ICT departments of companies and organisations (and the infrastructures they run) have a part to play and a contribution to make.

There are many publications, such as the Consensus Research’s Sustainability report, that allude to the importance of improved sustainability as one of the principal drivers in ICT for the next five years.

There are four key areas in the ICT arena that are seen as critical in sustainability improvement and environmental impact reduction:

  • Environmentally efficient ICT
  • Environmentally intelligent ICT
  • Transformational ICT services
  • Green ICT supply

Environmentally efficient ICT

The most recent evolution of equipment is designed and manufactured to be energy efficient.  Compared with a five year old device, a modern switch typically consumes less then half the power of its predecessor so its overall cost of operation is lower.

Modern devices are also designed to run cooler, and hence, more reliably. Cooler running also means less cooling requirement in the comms room and office environment. This reduction in cooling also has a massive environmental impact and can add up to large energy savings from both an environmental and monetary perspective.

Environmentally intelligent ICT

An intelligent ICT implementation, designed using the energy efficiency features prevalent on many modern devices, allows ICT managers to dynamically administer energy consumption.

Many devices now take power directly from the data networking estate through PoE (power over Ethernet). These include IP phones and wireless access points. With the management of these devices under the automated control of the intelligent ICT system it allows the IT manager to define and implement energy saving policies and then allow the ICT infrastructure itself to administer these policies. This includes the ability to turn the power off to selected devices when they are not needed, for example during times when the offices are closed.

Picture a busy office with core office hours of 9 to 5. In most scenarios, the department’s phones, and other devices, are powered on and drawing the normal load around the clock. With dynamic power management, devices can automatically be powered down at the end of the working day and then restarted the next morning (while still allowing for individual exceptions for emergency cover and out of hours working). Add to that a full power down on weekends and an organisation can immediately save 75% in electrical consumption.

Transformational ICT

A major consideration for transformation ICT provision is employee travel.  This is both the travel an employee undertakes between their home and work as well as the travel associated with meeting clients and distributing products and information.  Any reduction in avoidable travel will have a positive impact on the environment and on the cost of operations of the business concerned.

Travel reduction can be achieved for employees, clients  and suppliers by the use of effective ICT solutions such as:

  • Secure Remote/Home Working
  • Video Conferencing
  • Online services for customers and clients
  • Supplier Extranets
  • Information Sharing
  • Shared Services
  • Collaborative Working Tools

To change employee habits and working practises from the traditional and conventional norm, the fundamental business processes must be altered to embrace these new solution types and new technologies.

The ICT infrastructure is paramount to ensuring the transformational services can be delivered effectively.  The features of ICT with significant impact are:

  • Effective integration
  • High performance
  • High availability
  • Solid and pervasive security
  • Intelligent networking

Green ICT supply

When procuring equipment and services, the providers’ environmental policies are a factor that deserves careful attention.  Policy elements concerning design, manufacture, disposal and recycling should be considered.

Along with the fundamental policies, the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive needs to be considered during procurement, and asking vendors to provide effective disposal and recycling solutions will play an increasingly important part in new investment strategies.

In summary

ICT infrastructure is not only important for delivering changes to an organisations business model but also the organisations environmental impact.  Sustainability also continues to be an ever more important element in the procurement behaviour of both private and public organisations.  If the main key areas of intelligent ICT, efficient ICT, transformational ICT and green ICT supply are all optimised then an organisation can position itself as both an environmentally sensitive and cost conscious entity.

For more information or simply for advice - contact enquiry.uk@damovo.com.