Green IT – a new dawn
Greater environmental awareness coupled with pressures from consumers, legislators, and rising fuel costs, are pushing the Information Technology community towards environmentally friendly management procedures, products and services. As a major consumer of natural resources and electricity, the IT sector is directly and indirectly responsible for producing significant amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic waste. Analyst firm Gartner calculates that the IT and communications sector is responsible for approximately 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions – the same amount as aviation, an industry vilified by environmentalists. The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) is due to publish reporting in May 2008 which will show how IT can contribute to one billion tons of CO2 reductions.
“Many global companies now view green initiatives as necessary to stay competitive today, which is quite a change from the philosophical viewpoints from a decade ago” observes Mareca Hatler, director of research at ON World. Previously, cost was the number one factor cited by most businesses that either prevented them or spurred them into going ‘green’. Rather than change to more environmentally friendly alternatives for the sake of a social conscience. Now equal importance is attached to becoming both more ecologically friendly and the increasing the bottom line. The improved long-term savings that can be experience through changing have made going green a highly attractive option.
Going green costs time, capital and effort, but through finding ways to reduce energy and materials usage, save space and reduce greenhouse gas and polluting emissions, IT businesses are creating new business opportunities. Many companies are discovering ways to cut costs, improve productivity and reduce environmental degradation.
We offer a selection of cutting edge texts on a variety of topics within the Green IT and ISO 14000 Environmental Mangement System arena, which will support you in directing your organization towards becoming more environmentally sensitive, while maintaining an essential focus on increasing profits.
