Enviance launches an EPA reporting solution

Environmental ERP software provider Enviance has announced the launch of its 60-day Greenhouse Gas (GHG) FastTrack program designed to help companies comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) air emissions reporting requirements.

The new regulation went into effect on January 1st and at the time of its announcement the program was expected to cover around 10,000 facilities and account for around 85% of US emissions.  For many facilities it will be the first time that have needed to keep track of, and report on, their greenhouse gases.  The first reporting deadline is March 31, 2011, for the 2010 fiscal year - companies found in non-compliance will be subject to significant penalties.

Enviance describes the benefits:

• A turn-key (online) GHG solution

• Fully implemented in 60 days or less, supported by Enviance consultants

• Online training

• The basis of a full EHS and Enterprise Sustainability solution

• Competitive fixed cost model (from $1,995/month)

• Able to scale to meet user expansion requirements

 

A press release with the announcement quoted a recent Enviance survey that showed that 61% of companies lack systems in place to record carbon emissions: ‘a large number of companies will be scrambling to implement auditable GHG measurement and reporting tools or risk serious fines’.  This is the market that Enviance is aiming for with this ‘peace-of-mind’ solution.

The company certainly has the pedigree.  It’s been in the business for ten years and was identified as one of the emerging leaders in a Groom Energy Research report into the Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) software market. 

But note that eight companies were identified as emerging leaders in the report.  Enviance may win business on the grounds that it’s a safe pair of hands and fulfils an immediate requirement, but it’s likely to encounter a lot of competition when the market has settled.  The stand-alone carbon counting software market may well turn into a price-based war of attrition.

By the way, the Groom Energy Research report (in January) said that increased pressure from customers and investors for companies to create a ‘greener’ public image was a more important market driver than pending GHG regulation.  Probably true over the long term, but legislation will clearly generate spikes in demand.

Fujitsu achieves Carbon Trust Standard

Fujitsu UK and Ireland has achieved the ‘Carbon Trust Standard’ for reducing its carbon footprint. The Carbon Trust is a not-for-profit company set up by the UK Government to take the lead in helping businesses and the public sector cut carbon emissions and save energy. 

The Carbon Trust Standard was launched in June 2008.  The award to Fujitsu was in recognition of a ‘robust and transparent’ process for measuring emissions and clear progress in reducing its carbon footprint.  The emissions reduction was 1.7%. 

In achieving the standard Fujitsu joins household names in the UK such as First Direct, Tesco and O2, and public sector organisations such as HM Treasury, London Fire Brigade and Manchester University.

 

I know what you’re thinking – 1.7% doesn’t sound like much (although it does represent 1,483.7 tonnes of carbon), but that’s not the whole story. The Carbon Trust Standard is strict in requiring organisations to measure, manage and reduce their carbon footprint and make real reductions year-on-year.  So the quoted reduction only relates to what was achieved as the result of the company’s own actions – on a like-for-like basis for example. 

In particular it’s only internal actions that count, not offsets, which continue to be a bone of contention in carbon reduction.  (Interestingly, the UK government itself has a target of making its ICT carbon neutral by 2012, something which is unlikely to be achieved without purchasing offsets).

So the Carbon Trust Standard is as much about transparency, independent certification and real emissions reductions.  It puts a very visible peg in the ground against which future actions will be measured, which is something Fujitsu will have to live up to.

Australia starts work on new data centre metrics

itnews in Australia reports that that the Federal and State governments have come together to develop new metrics to measure energy efficiency in data centres.

There is already a National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) - similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) from the US Green Building Council – managed by the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW).  But a data centre is a very different beast, in terms of power consumption, to your average building, so specific metrics for data centres are to be added.

Two companies have been chosen to develop the metrics; Xergy, which helped develop NABERS, and Connection Research, which specialises in analysis of sustainability issues.  Connection Research has put together a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to provide input to the methodology for developing the metrics. 

I’ve said before that I’m not keen on the proliferation of standards around green IT – the more universal measures are then the more likely they are to be adopted, particularly internationally.  But the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) measure from the Green Grid is pretty crude, a ratio of the total data centre power to what’s used by the IT equipment.  There are a number of issues around the way it’s measured and, in particular, in comparing data centres.  It doesn’t, for instance, take into consideration increased utilisation rates through virtualisation, or any additional levels of reliability/availability that are built in.

As Graeme Philipson, Research Director at Connection Research pointed out, there are other organisations around the world looking at better data centre metrics, including the Green Grid itself and the British Computer Society.  Hopefully emerging metrics will be compatible, as well as taking into consideration existing guidelines on data centre operation, for example the EU Data Centre Code of Conduct.  But then, having worked with Connection Research on other aspects of green IT assessment, I’m sure they’ll do a thorough job.

Sustainability and employee involvement

The US National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) has released a study entitled ‘The Business Case for Environmental and Sustainability Employee Education’.  The full study is here, but basically it found that training staff and getting them involved in environmental and sustainability (E&S) initiatives helps companies achieve a range of business objectives from attracting and retaining employees to boosting the bottom line.

“ …. many companies now realise that to achieve their sustainability goals, they need to involve the entire workforce (or all their employees),” said Diane Wood, president of NEEF. “Successful employee engagement programs motivate employees and can be an asset in recruitment and retention."

But the study also concluded that since educational programs compete for resources, a strong business case can be as important as building the program itself.  In terms of making the business case, the report cites best practice as linking E&S education initiatives to business objectives, stressing the shift in societal and stakeholder expectations and taking a top-down, bottom-up and sideways approach when engaging employees (that should cover everything!).

In terms of the program itself, the study recommends:

• Building momentum by recognising work that is already being done.

• Creating E&S education pilot programs to build the case for a larger program.

• Understanding that each geographic region has its
unique problems and opportunities.

• Complementing education with incentives.

• Regularly reporting back to employees on how their actions are making a difference.

 

When I came across this study I was reminded of the old saying that 90% of market research is simply to confirm what you already know.  It seems pretty obvious that corporate environmental initiatives need employee buy-in and education is an important part of establishing that buy-in.  In the green IT context, for example, it needs employees to understand the impact of turning off PC’s, printing less, etc. and the direct and indirect benefits to them.  In many aspects of internal environmental and sustainability policy employees may not see any direct benefits either to the company or its staff.

In terms of green IT, employees also need help in adopting the right practices.  For example in making the default option for PCs to shut down when not in use and duplex printing the norm.  Education is important, but there also needs to be processes and choices in place to help them achieve the objectives. 

Last but not least, there is a chicken-and-egg issue here.  If you really need people with the expertise to take green initiatives forward, then you need to show commitment, which means having the capability in-house … 

Google releases Powermeter API – a Smart move

Google has made available the application programming interface (API) for its Powermeter – which we first reported on more than a year ago.  The Powermeter helps users monitor their energy use and cost, either overall or by device.

Making the API available means that developers can integrate the software with their applications and products.  Hence device manufacturers will be able to incorporate the ability to work with the software at the time of manufacture.

Up till now Powermeter relied on Google’s utility or device partners to supply the energy data, but Google said that it’s launching the API “in order to help build the ecosystem of innovative developers working towards making energy information more widely available to consumers”.

It’s an interesting move by Google and may have more significance than at first sight.  The company would like to see electrical equipment manufacturers incorporate Powermeter compatible in a range of home devices, such as refrigerators and washing machines.  Building in such capabilities has already started - US company Whirlpool anticipates selling a million smart-grid-ready clothes dryers by the end of 2011.  The company is part of the Smart Green Grid Initiative in the US.

By making the API available, Google is hoping its software will end up at the heart of the smart device movement.  And with smart grids seen as a possible element of, or stepping stone to, the ill-defined but potentially all-pervasive Internet of Things, Google may just have planted a seed that could bear significant fruit.

It’s likely, though, that the company could also find itself at the centre of another privacy and security row.  There is already significant concern about privacy issues around smart grids and smart meters, causing some resistance to their adoption around the world.  It seems that people don’t want others to know how much energy their using, although I would have thought there were much greater privacy issues to worry about first.

Deloitte expands its sustainability practice with the acquisition of dcarbon8

Deloitte has acquired UK carbon and sustainability consultancy firm dcarbon8. The company will be absorbed within Deloitte’s expanding environmental and sustainability consulting practice.

dcarbon8 provides carbon footprinting and management, supply chain carbon assessment, sustainability strategies and environmental communications strategies (for which read PR).  It has the capability to deliver Carbon Trust and Planet Positive certification of products, businesses and buildings as part of its services. Deloitte particularly pointed to dcarbon8’s expertise in carbon footprint, water and sustainability advisory services as being complementary to its own.

Sustainability is an area that’s ripe for consultancy at all levels – from global strategy in the face of uncertain carbon legislation down to product lifecycle carbon assessment, so it’s no surprise that all the consultancy firms are building their businesses.  If the financial climate had been better we would have seen a lot more of these small specialist firms snapped up in the last couple of years. 

The economic climate also explains why IT services companies have not been on the acquisition trail of similar boutique firms.  With IT playing a significant role in reducing emissions throughout corporations, I still expect to see such acquisitions in the next year or two as part of their green IT push.

Vodafone heads ICT sustainability league table

Sustainability consultancy Two Tomorrows has a tool called Tomorrow’s Value Rating that rates companies on how well they manage social and environmental issues.  The methodology focuses on five areas; strategy, governance, engagement, value chain and innovation.  The company regularly publishes information on the largest companies in different industry sectors.  The latest is in the ICT sector. 

Vodafone is top of the list, with an overall score of 60%, which Two Tomorrows attributes to its ‘strong, all-round sustainability leadership’.  Thomas Krick, global manager of the Tomorrow’s Value programme, commented that: “Vodafone has implemented comprehensive governance mechanisms for sustainability issues. It listens and responds to stakeholders both locally and globally, and has a strong track record of developing services that help improve the lives of disadvantaged people and remote communities.”

Vodafone is followed closely by Nokia and HP, with Sony, AT&T and Verizon trailing at the foot of the table – Verizon scoring just 23%.

 

A detailed overall assessment of the companies is here, but Two Tomorrows concludes that the sustainability leaders in ICT are developing products and services to support the response to climate change and ICT companies as a whole are showing sustainability leadership.  Nevertheless, there is considerable room for the sector to improve its management of its direct environmental impacts.

The analysis is worth reading, but I thought the press release was spot on with a couple of quotes.  Thomas Krick went on to say: “The results of the Rating reflect a broader trend of ICT companies showing sustainability leadership. They are increasingly recognising the commercial opportunity that lies in helping other sectors to reduce their carbon footprint ….  Companies in the sector are also working together, especially in trying to address social and environmental challenges in their supply chains, and in regard to electronic waste management.”

However, Jason Perks, group director at Two Tomorrows, added: “While the sector continues to push best practice in sustainability innovation, the management of its direct environmental impacts often offers room for improvement. For example, while most companies have set CO2 emissions targets, the majority struggle to achieve significant reductions.

Together I think the two comments are a pretty good summary of the where the industry is in terms of green ICT.