Following on from my blog earlier in the month about the comments at the Fujitsu Executive Discussion Evening, it really should be a cause for concern in the industry that such a narrow view of Green IT, i.e. that it's about saving energy in the IT department, generally prevails.

I was reminded of the fact by some recent comments that Green IT is entering a new phase (unfortunately dubbed Green IT 2.0) because we are starting to see a wave of interest in Carbon Emissions Management Software (CEMS), a new IT solution.

In fact there are a range of opportunities in the market, many already being addressed. But what has defined the market in the short term is the economic climate. An understandable focus on cost cutting and a fast ROI means that short-term solutions, such as reducing the data centre energy bill, have been the focus, but there is a lot more in store.

In a report published more than a year ago I identified a number of areas of green IT, i.e. areas in which IT can help businesses and the community reduce the impact of climate change. These are:

• Carbon counting and management solutions 
• Carbon economy systems, e.g. carbon reporting, compliance and trading 
• New infrastructure/transport projects, e.g. road charging systems, public transport optimisation, etc 
• Enterprise solutions: data centres, facilities management, logistics/transport 
• Renewable energy generation and distribution, e.g. solar/wind-farm control systems 
• Climate change opportunities, such as weather monitoring and reporting, impact assessments, risk management systems, business continuity, real-time information, etc.

With hindsight, the only change I would make is to emphasise smart grids as part of the infrastructure project opportunities.

At around the same time The Global e-Sustainability Initiative released the Smart 2020 report. The main thrust was that emissions from ICT in 2002 accounted for around 2% of the global total, but set to grow at an average annual rate of 5.7% from 2002 to 2020. But the opportunities identified in the report could lead to emissions reductions of five times that amount - 15% of total BAU (business as usual) emissions by 2020. The areas of opportunity were dematerialisation, smart buildings, smart power, smart industry and smart transport. This is where the focus needs to be.

Whilst the IT industry can help by reducing its own energy emissions and coming up with new and innovative solutions, it's as much (probably more) about the will to make the changes to processes and procedures, which will require IT input. Hence the potential impact of legislation.

It would be interesting to report more IT sector activity outside of reducing power from products and data centres, for instance IT solutions and success stories across the range of opportunities I listed above. If you have any, then put me on your mailing list.

- Pete Foster

Erricsson calls for green ICT to be part of the Copenhagen agenda

In a keynote speech to the Broadband World Forum in Paris last week, incoming Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg called for ICT to be on the agenda at the UN Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December.

Vestberg quoted the Smart 2020 report prediction of ICT helping reduce emissions by 15%, but went on "Ericsson believes that with an innovation-driven climate agenda, reductions could be even greater. Modern ICT solutions, ranging from education and information services, health as well as transport, can give access to vital services all over the world, without sacrificing our environment."

Vestberg said: "As representatives of the ICT sector, Ericsson and our industry peers also have the task to bring this message home to our governments and politicians. Change will require the commitment and actions of all levels of society; governments, industry, civil society and individuals. A committed global effort at COP15 (Copenhagen) is essential to secure both environmental sustainability and economic development, and ICT should be at the heart of this."

The focus of the speech was that (well-functioning) broadband is the backbone of a low-carbon 21st century information infrastructure and that investments in this infrastructure can reinforce several different low-carbon solutions such as virtual meetings, smart grids, m-governance, m-health, e-learning, e-paper, etc.

He has a good point. I am surprised by the continued lack of focus on how ICT can help us achieve a lower carbon economy. Despite the Smart 2020 report (and others like it) that detail and quantify the savings that can be made by effective use of ICT, attention remains on the emissions that ICT generates and how to reduce it. If it isn't highlighted at Copenhagen then one avenue to serious emissions reduction is being ignored.

As for broadband, well if BT in the UK can't supply at any respectable speed outside of major cities (I'm 40 minutes from London and speeds often drop to dial-in) then it's going to be an uphill struggle.

- Pete Foster 

Green ICT Survey of Government Departments

Connection Research recently surveyed Australian Government departments and agencies with our standard Green IT questionnaire (slightly modified for government). Nearly 40% responded, including most large government instrumentalities and virtually all of those with large data centres.

The survey was commissioned by Fujitsu Australia, which has also published a publicly available report entitled “Green ICT: The State of the Nation”. The research found that Australian Government agencies generally do better in Green IT than their counterparts in private – their overall Green IT Index is 45.8, compared to 39.5 for the private sector and other levels of government. They do better overall in all aspects of Green IT except procurement and disposal, where they are on average slightly behind.

The most significant finding in the survey was that government Green IT is more likely to be motivated by policy than by cost savings. But many agencies also said that they were waiting for more direction, and in particular for the publication of the Whole-of-Government Sustainability Plan to be published by the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) early in 2010. A discussion paper inviting submissions to this document was recently published by DEWHA.

Government is reasonably advanced in its use of green data centre technologies such server virtualisation and advanced cooling capabilities, and in practices like hot aisle / cold aisle layouts. The main reason the government is ahead of private industry in this area is the generally larger size of government instrumentalities, which means they have larger data centres and more areas where they can bring Green ICT technologies and techniques to bear.

Government does well in the important area of using IT as a low-carbon enabler for the whole organisation. Overall, a good result for the Australian Government, but as some of the report card issued to the agencies as a result of the survey say, “can do better”.

- Graeme Philipson 

Green ICT: are you ready for this?
http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/08/12/green-ict-are-you-ready-for-this/ 

Counting cost savings from green IT
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/counting-cost-savings-from-green-it-20090825-ewqb.html   

CHANNEL ARN PODCAST: Ajilon to boost staff, PC Market on the up
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/316733/channel_arn_podcast_ajilon_boost_staff_pc_market_up?fp=2&fpid=1

Panel Discussion: Virtualisation -- A Reality Check
http://www.cio.com.au/article/316895/panel_discussion_virtualisation_reality_check?fp=4&fpid=51235 

Get Ready for Green IT 2.0 GreenBiz.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmTechnology/idUS347200539920090908