T-Mobile green perks

T-Mobile USA has launched Green Perks, a mobile application that offers discounts on environmentally conscious products and services. It can apparently be download free to many current T-Mobile handsets.

The application delivers electronic coupons directly to customers’ phones with discounts on anything from earth-friendly cleaning supplies, bikes and bike supplies, to a bowl of slow-cooked organic oatmeal.

Not really green ICT in itself, but if it helps users go green ...

Carbonetworks launches CRC software

Carbon Emissions Management Software (CEMS) company Carbonetworks has launched a solution specifically aimed at UK companies facing the forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) legislation.

We've already reported on the legislation, particularly it's impact on the IT market (see here) when it comes into force in April 2010. In all, around 20,000 companies in the UK are expected to have to count their carbon emissions to comply with the legislation.

Anyway, Carbonetworks has announced the launch of a new application within its software platform to address the requirement. The company claims that it is a move away from spreadsheet-based calculations, providing 'robust business controls, fully audited reports of carbon and energy usage, and modeling and scenario planning capabilities'.

As Michael Meehan, President and CEO of Carbonetworks, explained in the press release; "We are doing for CRC reporting what we did for customers reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project, automating the process while providing solutions to mitigate risk, reduce costs, and improve performance. We are committed to supporting our customers in meeting local legislative mandates, such as the CRC".

That last statement pretty well sums up the opportunity for CEMS software out there as layers of legislation are introduced in countries around the world. This is the biggest compliance issue yet, so it's no wonder that the CEMS market is rapidly developing into a major battleground.

Reusable RFID tags

Actually the story is not about new RFID tags that can be reused, but rather the realisation that existing tags can be used for multiple trips.

The Reusable Packaging Association sponsored a study based on a year-long and widely-supported industry field test of RFID technology on reusable containers. It concluded that RFID tags designed for single use could be used for multiple trips without any deterioration in performance, if positioned correctly on reusable containers.

“By combining RFID technology with reusable containers, industries gain the ability to better track their product and their containers as they move through the supply chain,” said Bob Klimko, Chairman of the RPA Board and Director of Marketing for ORBIS Corporation. “This will result in a stronger return on investment on the containers, as well as provide opportunities for improved supply chain management through analysis of the data provided.”

Whilst reusable packaging provides benefits to the user and the environment it also poses some challenges, including managing and locating the packaging. The packaging often costs more and needs to be reused to optimise the investment. This use of RFID provides a means to cost-effectively track and trace these reusable assets, providing an accelerated return on investment.

So you need fewer RFID tags and it makes managing reusable packaging more cost-effective. Sounds like a win-win all round, particularly as RFID is already set to grow significantly in the coming years. There might be a problem at the product level, though, since the EU requires tags to be removed at the point of sale for privacy reasons.

EPA cracks down on ship emissions

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working on plans to cut harmful emissions from ocean-going vessels, primarily nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). The organisation is proposing to use the Clean Air Act to set engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships to bring them in line with international standards.

The rule follows a proposal last March by the US and Canada to designate thousands of miles of the two countries’ coasts as an Emission Control Area (ECA). It would mean that there would be stringent standards for large ships operating within 200 nautical miles of the coast. The UN's International Maritime Organisation is due to consider the ECA plan this month.

According to the EPA the US and international strategies would reduce annual emissions of nitrogen oxides from large marine diesel engines by about 1.2 million tons and particulate matter emissions by about 143,000 tons by 2030. When fully implemented, the coordinated effort would reduce NOx emissions by 80% and PM emissions by 85%.

From an IT perspective you have to see it as another factor in the growing green compliance requirement that is going to impact many aspects of business and the IT systems that run the commercial world. As we know, compliance already drives a lot of IT outsourcing as companies look to offload the hassle and as rules multiply internationally there's a lot of scope to help global organisations cope.

Public sector failing on green IT

I've made the point several times in the last year that the UK public sector has been slow to lead the way in going green, particularly since the government has enacted the first national legislation on climate change.

The slowness is somewhat reflected in the attitude to green IT, which has gained some recognition and momentum at the heart of government (the Cabinet Office CIO Council, with the Greening Government ICT report) but this has not seem to have been translated into any universal policy changes or been transmitted out to the wider public sector (I guess because public spending is now an issue in the UK and takes priority).

Anyway, Global Action Plan, the UK organisation dedicated to helping companies go green, has released a survey-based report called 'The Path to Greener Government', which also makes the point.

The full report is here, but some of the key points include:

• Overall 60% of respondents were not aware of the Government’s Greening ICT Strategy. In fact 41% of national government respondents were not aware of the strategy even though it specifically covers their area of activity.

• 67% of respondents that are aware of the Greening Government ICT Strategy are concerned or extremely concerned that targets contained within the report will be difficult to achieve.

• According to the survey findings, only 16% of respondents are currently sharing knowledge and learning with other public sector organisations in order to achieve their targets.

In terms of implementing a greener ICT approach, the report reveals that:

• only 20% of responding ICT departments pay for some or all of their organisations’ energy.

• Only 13% of respondents calculate the carbon footprint of their ICT activities.

• Only 22% of respondents have set internal green ICT targets.

• 39% of respondents are not aware of the percentage utilisation of their server estate

It's not all bad, for example take-up of server optimisation, decommissioning idle server equipment and reusing equipment is high (between 59%-69% implementation across all respondents). Nonetheless, there's a awful lot still to do.

Orange videoconferencing service

Orange Business Services has announced a videoconferencing service that operates across all networks (IP VPN, Internet, ISDN) and any type of vendor equipment. Known as Open Videopresence it allows users to organise video conferences between their offices and also with external organisations.

The idea is to make video conferencing as simple as possible for the end user, so online reservation is available via a web portal or Outlook and the videoconferencing terminals of all participants start automatically at the set time of the conference.

Users can opt for a single point-of-contact in charge of the technical setup of meetings and their management, if preferred, and administrators can monitor usage online to keep track of the number of video conferences held.

There's a commitment to the quality of service - Orange tests the service from end-to-end, taking into account the equipment and network access. A multilingual support center is also available for users 24/7.

The Open Videopresence service is based on a package that includes the service and usage, ranging from €259 for moderate usage to €489 for high usage, per month and per equipment and depending on various custom-configurations. The service is available in 104 countries.

There's certainly a need to make videoconferencing simple and effective if it's really going to become a travel alternative and this service seems to be another step in the right direction. It does seem to focus in on the main issues, i.e. being easy for users and ensuring a quality of service. My guess is that this will be just one of many such services that will ultimately compete on price, to the user's benefit.

Company news

- Yahoo has joined the growing band of sceptics around offsets and announced that it will no longer be purchasing carbon offsets to achieve its emissions reductions goals. Back in 2007 it was one of the planks of the company's carbon reduction plans, but now the company says that "We believe creating highly-efficient data centers will have a greater long-term, direct impact on the environment and gives us the best opportunity to play a leadership role in addressing climate change". The comment, from Yahoo's co-founder David Filo was made as the company announced plans to build one of the most energy-efficient data centres in the world. It will be powered predominantly by renewable hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls, with 90% of that energy powering the servers themselves. The Buffalo Lockport, NY, data center design will have an annualized average PUE of 1.1 or better. Impressive stuff.

- Sony Europe has announced today that its 32 sites throughout Europe, falling under Sony’s Global Environmental Management System (GEMS) are powered by electricity from 100% renewable resources. It's part of the actions the company has taken which have resulted in a reduction of CO2 emissions by 55,216 tons in Europe in FY08. The programme has included energy saving programs at all its sites, such as Pencoed in the UK where a 43% energy saving was achieved from FY07 – FY08. The 32 GEMS certified sites using renewable energy have been independently certified by Bureau Veritas Certification (BVC) to confirm that they used 100% renewable electricity in fiscal year 2008. The certification is a nice touch - transparency is everything.

- Symantec has earned its second Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its Springfield, Oregon site. It follows a similar award in July 2008, for its Culver City campus. Symantec has also joined the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders program, an industry-government partnership which provides guidance and recognition to companies developing long-term climate change strategies. Participating companies commit to complete a corporate-wide inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, set long-term reduction goals and report annually to the EPA on company progress.