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Welcome to the June edition of Connection Monitor. This issue covers:
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Business behaviour towards energy consumption in Australia 2009 - Attitudes, Actions & Trends read more
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Industry's first Green IT Training Program read more
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Connection Blog - Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics read more
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Connection Community - get access to free reports read more
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Business Behaviour Towards Energy Consumption in Australia 2009 - Attitudes, Actions and Trends will be a new market analysis report based on a detailed survey of over 2000 Australian Small to Medium Businesses. It will be the follow on report to Connection Research’s Domestic Energy Consumption in Australia 2009 report and will be available in September 2009.
This latest round of research builds on our knowledge to include Australian Businesses and provides the most extensive information available in Australia of Business behaviour and attitudes on the consumption and conservation of energy.
Connection Research is nearing the end of finalising the prospectus and sourcing interest in sponsoring this next round of research.
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By collaborating the data collected directly from Australian SMEs about what they are doing to reduce energy consumption in the workplace, Connection Research will uncover how they intend to measure and monitor their environment and WHAT CAN BE DONE to assist in reducing their carbon footprint.
We will investigate the strategies in place for the reduction of energy consumption and provide quantitative research to assist with determining the affect of rising energy costs on Australian SMEs.
For further information relating to opportunities to participate in this research model please contact
Cassandra Phillips
Sales Manager
cassandrap@connectionresearch.com.au
+61 2 9467 9833
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EXCOM Education and Connection Research have joined forces to develop and deliver the industry’s range of Green IT training courses in Australian and New Zealand, with immediate expansion into international markets. The ground-breaking courses mark a cooperative effort between former foes in the IT analysis field - EXCOM, one of Australasia’s largest IT training companies, is headed by Jim Watson, Connection Research, Australia’s leading sustainability market researcher is headed by William Ehmcke.
Three courses will be offered initially – a one day introduction to Green IT concepts and best practices, a two-day overview of Green IT planning and implementation, and a one day course on how to select a Carbon Emission Management Software (CEMS) tool.
“The courses will be based on the lessons we have learnt in our Green IT research,” says Graeme Philipson, Research Director of Connection Research. “We recently surveyed over 250 Australian IT departments about their Green IT practices and policies, so we are very aware of the level of maturity – or lack of maturity – of Green IT in Australia, New Zealand and internationally.”
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“Awareness of Green IT, particularly as a business efficiency and cost savings strategy, has been at the core of VMware’s success in the Australian and New Zealand markets,” says Paul Harapin, Vice President and Managing Director of VMware ANZ. “Many organisations consume as much as 50 per cent of their total power consumption just from within their IT infrastructure, and virtualisation is one of the most important things they can do to reduce their carbon impact. We are seeing a real skills shortage in this area, so new training, such as the specialised range of course EXCOM is introducing, is critical to help address this.
EXCOM has trained or influenced over 100,000 professionals since beginning in 1996. “We believe we are uniquely positioned to create and deliver on a whole set of industry first Green and Sustainability standards. Now more than ever our IT clients require preparedness and training for all aspects of this exciting and young industry,” says EXCOM’s Jim Watson.
The courses will be launched with an “Is your IT Carbon Ready?” roadshow in June – a series of two hour breakfast seminars that will explode some Green IT myths, outline the course contents, and provide clients with a Green IT training roadmap.
For more information please contact
Graeme Philipson
Research Director, Connection Research
Email: graemep@connectionresearch.com.au
Direct: +61 2 9467 9822
Download Training brochure here
Read more about our other Green IT services here
Sign up for our new Green IT newsletter, The Green IT Monitor here
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The political wrangling over Australia’s proposed emissions trading system (ETS) has descended into name-calling and blatant intellectual dishonesty. I’m no great fan of the government’s proposed system (a carbon tax would be much simpler and more transparent), but it’s a reasonable starting point.
But the National’s Senate leader, self-styled maverick Barnaby Joyce, was quoted in The Australian newspaper on Monday 1 June as saying the proposed ETS was "a piece of policy that comes direct from the manic monkey cafe of inner-suburbia nirvana-ville straight to you." Great contribution to the debate, Barnaby.
He also said that ETS stood for "employment termination scheme". This is the same man that defended the mining industry’s employment report, ridiculing the idea that green jobs would be created as “fantastic mystery stuff”.
That mining industry report has gone off the boil a bit now, but it has become notorious for being used by the industry’s supporters as claiming that 23,510 mining jobs would be “shed”. No, guys. That very report, which you comissioned, said that 23,510 fewer people would be employed in mining over coming years than would be the case without an ETS.
The report actually said that there would be many more people employed in mining in coming years (just not as many as would be the case without an ETS). A lower growth rate is a very different thing than a decline, no jobs will go – rather, fewer jobs will be created. Get it right/
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The report also totally ignored the prospect of jobs in other sectors making up the shortfall. It’s not a zero sum game. Many other reports, from the Australian Conservation Foundation, the CSIRO and others have predicted significant jobs growth based on new green technologies – hundreds of thousands of them. These are the jobs that Senator Joyce dismisses.
It is a fact of life, amply demonstrated by history, that technological change causes jobs to shift from one sector to another. Agricultural jobs replaced hunting and gathering, manufacturing jobs replaced agricultural jobs, services jobs replaced manufacturing jobs. Now green jobs are replacing brown jobs. There is disruption, but history is all about disruptions.
Whether human-induced climate change is a reality or not is not the issue. I believe it to be the case, and the evidence for it to be overwhelming, but the important thing is that enough people in government also believe that to be the case that our regulatory environment is changing, which means the economics will change, which means the structure of our industries will change. Jobs will be lost here, and will grow there.
Those arguing the opposite are not only on the wrong side of history, they are simply wrong. And when they resort to sarcasm and untruths, they simply indicate the shallowness of their thinking.
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Graeme Philipson, Research Director of Connection Research, writes about environmental and sustainable issues from around the globe.
View other posts on Connection Blog
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The Lizard joins the Team
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Walter Monitor has joined Connection Research as the company mascot. He is of the species varanus salvator (water monitor) – found throughout South-East Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and now at Connection Research.
Walter is very wise, and a source of great knowledge about all things sustainable and environmental. His job at Connection Reseach will be to monitor the green landscape, and to be our inspiration and our mentor.
Varanus salvator is a large species of monitor lizard capable of growing over 3 metres in length. Maximum weight can be over 75 kg, but most are half that size. Their body is muscular with a long powerful laterally compressed tail. Water monitors are one of the most common monitor lizards found in Asia. (Source: Wikipedia).
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If you are in the green space, Walter is watching you.
He knows. He sees. He monitors.
Read more about Walter
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Contact Connection Research
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Level 1, 21 Chandos St.
St Leonards NSW 2065
AUSTRALIA
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Switch +61 2 9467 9800
Fax +61 2 9437 6955
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