Cisco Greens IP

Cisco is looking at ways to help its customers go green and has announced its first major product aimed at reducing the "vampire power" drawn by electrical devices even when they are not in use.

The EnergyWise architecture is a free software upgrade for Cisco's Catalyst line of network switches that allows businesses to monitor and control the energy consumption of various network devices, including IP phones, video cameras, and wireless access points. Using EnergyWise companies can automatically turn off or reduce power to their digital devices.

The company also plans to extend EnergyWise to reduce energy usage of other types of products such as personal computers and printers and, eventually, to control energy use by other devices throughout a building, including heating and lighting.

Don't forget - a pdf of all the 2008 blogs is available with news, comment and links to a range of sources. Click here for more details.

BT Sustainability Discussion

I went to a lunch at BT today, ostensibly to 'discuss the current sustainability topics with key influencers in the marketplace'. Some of BT's high-powered Strategy & Marketing Advisory Board were there (it's the first time I've sat next to an ex-head of state at lunch) together with a bunch of analysts.

I'm not really sure what BT's motives were. The (one hour) discussion was wide ranging, which meant not very deep, and by the time I got wound up enough to say my piece the hour was over.

Nevertheless, the discussion did help me refine my view on the role of governments in fighting climate change (which I touched on yesterday) and which will clearly have an impact on the IT sector.

It seems to me that there are three areas where governments can get involved:

1) Legislation and regulation. I make the distinction between the two because setting emissions targets and creating a cap and trade system simply sets limits but doesn't constructively help to achieve them. By regulating the economy and corporate behaviour it is possible to direct economies towards a more carbon-friendly future. (If we learn nothing else from the current economic mess it's that greater regulation of companies and markets can save a lot of pain).

2) The second area is that of investor and enabler. Investing in infrastructure designed to support a greener economy will help companies help themselves. The $825bn package to help stimulate the US economy is a case in point - much of this is green-related. Other countries will be introducing similar packages and those with vision will focus on the means to support a lower carbon business environment.

Governments also have a role as enablers. The biggest challenge in addressing climate change is that it is multi-faceted and interconnected (and global which is another story). Only governments have the big picture and broader responsibility to make things happen. Some of this can be achieved through regulation, but there is also a pro-active role, for instance in promoting the use of IT as a green enabler. We all know that IT can make a significant contribution, but to be really effective it needs co-operation, co-ordination and support. Governments can, and should, provide some impetus. As I reported yesterday, the EU is looking at an action plan to boost ICT as an enabler of a greener EU. National governments need to do the same.

3) Thirdly, the public sector must lead by example, which it is currently failing to do, at least in the UK. One challenge that all companies providing sustainability solutions face is 'what did you do in the war?' If you haven't done it internally why would another company let you lose on their organisation? The same argument holds for the public sector. For governments to set targets but not be seen to be leading the way in achieving them is counter-productive.


So where does this leave BT? Well the point was well-made in the discussions that BT should aim to be an enabler, rather than a leader. In my view no one will be a leader in this market, where success (in terms of reducing carbon emissions) will only come from companies working together. The point I would add is that this is a long-term opportunity - targets are set out to 2050 and it looks like we are going to be fighting all the way. It needs investment and commitment for success. But commitment also means belief in your contribution. BT is a (the?) leading provider of videoconferencing in the UK and rightly proud of the impact it has on reducing carbon emissions from travelling. But, again as was pointed out in the discussion, if it believes in reducing business travel why did it not stand up and condemn the building of another runway at Heathrow?

Which brings us back to the role of government.


Don't forget - a pdf of all the 2008 blogs is available with news, comment and links to a range of sources. Click here for more details.

EU to Launch New Green ICT Plan

According to Euractiv, the European Commission is planning to launch an action plan in March aimed at boosting the role of ICT in greening the EU.

The article quotes McKinsey's estimates (which we reported here) that some specific ICT opportunities could lead to emissions reductions of five times the ICT sector's own emissions, or 15% of total BAU (business as usual) emissions by 2020. The EU is looking for these sorts of reductions to help it achieve its environmental targets.

Much of the McKinsey gains are from the deployment of smart technologies, which represents a huge opportunity for the ICT sector in Europe. The article also points out that the EU assembly's industry committee is also looking to boost green public procurement, with mandatory energy efficiency standards.

This is interesting because it's a real indication of potential investment in ICT to reduce carbon emissions across an economy. The EU, UK and the US all have, or are likely to have soon, very ambitious carbon emissions targets with no real indication as to how the targets can be achieved. When push comes to shove governments will have to commit to investing in significant 'green' infrastructure to make it work. They will also need to set an example through their own actions. This is a significant part of the huge opportunity for ICT companies in the coming years. Those with good experience of public sector projects (a decreasing number in the UK) will have a real head start.

Don't forget - a pdf of all the 2008 blogs is available with news, comment and links to a range of sources. Click here for more details

BCS Green Data Centre Qualification.

The British Computer Society (BCS) has announced that it is developing a qualification for data centre operators based on the EU Code of Conduct.

The qualification will set a standard for IT professionals in understanding energy efficiency and is part of the BCS' work to encourage the IT industry to address the issues of energy cost, power consumption and carbon emissions.

The new qualification is part of the ongoing programme of work the BCS is delivering through its carbon footprint working group and data centre specialist group. The qualification will be available from summer 2009 and will complement the BCS Foundation Certificate in Green IT which will be launched in April 2009.


Don't forget - a pdf of all the 2008 blogs is available with news, comment and links to a range of sources. Click here for more details

China's Green Online Games Base

According to China CSR, a green online games development base has been opened at the Shijingshan Science Park.

It does seem, though, that this is a somewhat different use of 'green' than we are used to. The aim of the initiative is in 'spreading green online game culture, a spirit of self-discipline and cracking down on unhealthy online behaviour'.

The vice president of Capital Normal University is quoted as saying that whilst online games have become an important part of people's lives they also have some unhealthy content such as violence, gambling, and superstition. The green online game base will help develop a national games industry, protect children's health and ensure the purity of the online game environment.

Not 'green' as we know it, but commendable none-the-less.

Green Storage Inititiative

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) has released a Green Storage Power Measurement Specification (GSPMS) as part of its Green Storage Initiative (GSI).

The specification includes a methodology for classifying storage products based on energy consumption and application environments, as well as a standard for idle power consumption measurements

The idea is to classify storage systems based on the application environments they are intended to support, ranging from small home/office applications to larger enterprise-oriented applications. The criteria for each system class are based on the required data protection, component redundancy, serviceability, data access time and range of energy consumption.

SNIA's GSI plans to expand the GSPMS (still with me?) to cover the development of standardised power measurement guidelines and storage system power supply efficiency specifications as well as promotion and publication of vendors' completed test metrics.

IBM's Green SNOW

IBM has announced a new consulting offering around supply chain logistics called the Supply Chain Network Optimisation Workbench (SNOW).

The idea is to provide companies with a detailed analysis of supply chain logistics with suggestions on how to reduce CO2 emissions, fuel usage and costs.

SNOW is built around a tool developed by IBM's China Research Lab and is based on an SOA foundation using Websphere and other IBM-brand software. It looks at five major logistics areas:

* Product - looking at the CO2 impact of materials
* Sourcing - the CO2 impact of suppliers
* Production - the emissions from manufacturing
* Warehousing - the environmental impact of various storage requirements
* Transportation and distribution

IBM now has a list of consulting offerings around CSR issues, including the Carbon Tradeoff Modeler, CSR Assessment and Benchmark Utility, Green Sigma and Environmental Product Lifecycle Management.

Supply Chain/Logistics is going to be the most challenging application area in the development of Green IT and this is IBM's first stab at addressing the market. But the reason it will be so challenging, particularly the logistics aspects, is that it will become increasingly dynamic. Choices of transportation and storage options will be complicated by different fuel costs, fluctuations in fuel prices (and availability), future carbon charges, potential climate change impacts and a variety of other inter-related variables within a global market context.

In this scenario it's hard to see a one-off consulting project backed-up by an analysis tool as the long-term answer. There will be a need for a comprehensive solution supported by transportation, climate, etc. data to provide dynamic and flexible answers to logistics solutions. Solutions providers are working on their offerings and IBM (with no application software of its own) can only really compete as part of a partnership.

Cause or Cure - The Met Office Climate Change Supercomputer

The UK Met Office has ordered a new $46m IBM supercomputer to study climate change. The IBM machine, which will be up and running later this year, will be the second most powerful machine in Britain. However, according to a report by redOrbit, it will also emit an estimated 14,000 tons of CO2 each year (40% up on what the current machine emits).

This is one of the ironies of Green IT. Computers create a lot of carbon emissions (you should all know the 2-3% figure by now), but they can make a substantially higher contribution to savings elsewhere.

As Alan Dickinson, Met Office Director of Science put it “This is a fraction of the CO2 emissions we save through our work. We estimate that for the European aviation industry alone our forecasts save emissions close to 3 million tons by improving efficiency”.

The Green IT Review 2008 pdf

You might be interested to learn that there is now a pdf of all The Green IT Review 2008 blog posts available.

The 100-page document contains a wealth of information about what's has been going on in the world of Green IT in 2008:

• 200 posts, including news, reviews and comment on ICT company activities, legislative changes, country markets, new technologies, Green initiatives, etc.

• All images, diagrams and charts published with the blog during the year

• Hyperlinks to various sources including white papers, research reports, press releases, company publications, etc.

The document is an ideal way for you or your colleagues to get up to speed on Green IT, with lots of leads and links to follow up to learn more.

Obviously you could just copy the blogs yourself, but it’ll cost you more in lost time than the very reasonable administration fee of UK£75! (plus VAT in the UK)

Send (sterling) cheques, made out to Market Focus Ltd, or purchase order details to me via email at pete@marketfocus.co.uk, or post them to:

Market Focus
62 Tring Road
Wilstone
Tring
Herts
HP23 4PD
UK

Include your email details so that I can forward the pdf to you straight away. (Note this is a fee per company – feel free to distribute within your organisation, as long as The Green IT Review is acknowledged as the source).

US Economic Stimulus Bill - Green Opportunities

As you may know, the Democrats have proposed an $825bn package of measures to help stimulate the US economy, through $550bn to create jobs and $275bn in tax cuts.

The measures include significant environmental investment with IT implications. It's worth reading the complete list on the Reuters web site, but the measures include:

Highways, Rail, Transportation:

• $19bn for clean water, flood control and environmental restoration.

• $10bn for transit, rail to cut traffic congestion and gas consumption.

• $6bn to buy buses and equipment for public transit.

Energy:

• $31bn to modernise federal and other public infrastructure with investments for long-term energy savings.

• $11bn for research and development, pilot projects and federal matching funds to modernise electricity grids.

• $8bn for loans for renewable energy power generation and transmission projects.

• $6.9bn for state and local governments to improve energy efficiency.

• $6.7bn for renovations and repairs to federal buildings, especially for energy efficiency improvements.

• $2.4bn for carbon capture and sequestration technology demonstration projects.

• $2bn for advanced vehicle battery loan guarantees and grants.

• $500 million for energy-efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.

Environment, water resources:

• $4.5bn for environmental restoration, flood protection, hydropower, and navigation infrastructure.

OKI UK Goes Green

Printer company OKI has reached an agreement to supply its Scottish facility with 85% renewable energy.

The Scottish factory configures all OKI printers and fax machines and manufactures toner and ribbons for the EMEA market. It has agreed to source 3.6 million KWh of green energy a year from Scottish Power, primarily from wind power.

The company has kept the cost down through qualifying for an exemption from the UK's climate change levy (CCL), which is effectively a tax on the use of energy in industry. (The CCL does not increase the tax burden on industry as a whole, since there are offsetting cuts in employers' National Insurance contributions and additional support for energy efficiency schemes and renewable sources of energy, as is the case with OKI).

News catch-up:

- Whilst Apple got credit for launching more environmentally friendly products at the Macworld show, the company has come under fire for not publishing a CSR report. The company's board (which includes Al Gore) recommended that shareholders vote against a resolution for a separate CSR report on the grounds that sufficient information is provided on its web site. This is bucking a trend that will see a top companies in Denmark legally required to provide CSR data in their annual reports from the start of 2010.

- On its developers network Microsoft publishes The Architecture Journal, described as "an independent platform for free thinkers and practitioners of IT architecture". The latest version is all about Green Computing. It's pretty deep stuff, but a good resource for serious practitioners. It's free and here.

- Victor Creative Media, part of the JVC group, will apparently (according to Tech-On) shortly be producing CD/DVD cases made from a mixture of non-food rice and plastic resin. So it uses less carbon in production and disposal. Every little helps

Infor's Green Solutions

I spent some time with Infor last Friday getting a briefing on their Green offerings. The company's pro-active approach puts to shame the more reluctant attitude I've come across from other software vendors. But then again Infor wouldn't have grow to be the third largest provider of business software from a standing start in six years if it hadn't been pretty forward-looking.

For those who don't know, Infor was founded in 2002, originally under the name of Agilisys, and has grown rapidly since then, primarily through acquisition. (You may recognise names such as Baan, Systems Union, Datastream, Infinium, SSA Global and Mapics). It now has $2.2bn in revenue (split roughly 40% US, 40% Europe and 20% rest of the world), over 70,000 customers and 125 offices in 34 countries.

The company serves a broad market, but there is a particular focus on manufacturing and distribution - half the customers are in these industry sectors. As regular readers will know, these are markets that have been at the forefront of Green initiatives, not least because emissions reductions go hand-in-hand with energy savings and reduced costs.

Around 18 months ago Infor started work on adding Green capabilities to its software. There was apparently no business plan that laid out the necessity or the return, but the company believed it would be an inevitable market development. (That doesn't sound radical now, but a lot of IT suppliers were - and in some cases still are - reluctant to make any significant concessions to Green IT until there was a cast iron business case).

Anyway, the company identified four areas of focus for solutions, with EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) and supply chain inevitably at the top of the list. The areas of opportunity the company identified and the solutions are shown in the Infor chart below.



The EAM Asset Sustainability Edition and SCM Network Design solutions are both new, developed over the last 18 months and released in 2008. The other offerings are existing products that are being improved to include sustainability features and benefits. The next big focus area will be in compliance, which has a broader appeal across industries.

Infor is certainly up with, if not ahead of, the market with its Green product development. The good part is that the new products command premium prices. The down side is that the focus for sales has moved away from traditional roles, such as plant managers, to environmental health officers and CFOs. But then that goes with the territory and something all suppliers will have to deal with.

My only concern is that Infor seems to be reluctant to talk about its own efforts in going Green (little or nothing on the web site). The company is simply supplying the tools which help customers minimise the environmental impact of existing operations, so it's not like they're providing environmental advice, as some IT services suppliers appear to be doing. Nevertheless, the solutions would have more weight if they were backed by a more visible Green commitment from the company itself.

Google and a Nice Cup of Tea

In what would have been a huge disappointment to many, the UK's Sunday Times reported last weekend that "Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea."

It seems that a cup of tea is in order after all, though, as the originator of the research denies he said it and Google takes exception to the accusation.

The author of the study on which the article is based, Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross, is quoted as saying in TechNewsWorld that "Our work has nothing to do with Google. Our focus was exclusively on the Web overall, and we found that it takes on average about 20 milligrams of CO2 per second to visit a Web site." (The Sunday Times quoted a figure of 15g of CO2 generated by boiling a kettle).

As would be expected, Google is not amused. As we have reported in this blog, the company claims some of the most power-efficient data centres in the world, has patented some ideas for floating data centres (great blog pictures) has invested in geothermal technology and has some innovative environmental initiatives at its Mountain View HQ.

Still, when did facts ever get in the way of a good story?

Greenpeace - Green Electronics

Greenpeace has published its annual round-up of Green electronics products. This is an annual report that goes beyond the quarterly assessments of suppliers (Guide to Greener Electronics - see previous blogs) to look at specific products. Companies provided information on their Greenest products and input was received from Acer, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM/Blackberry, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba (Apple, Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm and Philips apparently all refused to participate).

Among the findings were:

- Progress continues in phasing out the use of hazardous chemicals.

- For larger products such as TVs and monitors, significant amounts of post-consumer recycled plastic are being used, while mobile phones and - with some exceptions - desktop and notebook computers are lagging behind in this respect.

- Companies have adapted quickly to new Energy Star requirements

- While more companies now track the energy used to produce their products, there is no international standard that allows for a good comparison of energy embodied in the product to be made.

- Even though computer manufacturers are generally good at providing in-use energy data and comparisons for their products, monitor and television producers need to make this a higher priority.

- While some companies now have sections on their website that list green products, these are still usually not prominent enough to promote green products as a major purchasing decision.

Among the product winners were:

Desktop computers - Lenovo ThinkCentre 58/M58p, ahead of Fujitsu Siemens Esprimo E7935 E-Star 4 (followed by products from Dell, HP and Acer)

Notebook computers - Toshiba Portege R600, ahead of HP Elitebook 2530p (followed by products from Lenovo, Dell and Sony)

Computer Monitors - Lenovo L2440x wide, ahead of Fujitsu Siemens SCENICVIEW PPW-5 ECO

The full report is here.

Association of Climate Change Officers

Two environmental lawyers in the US plan to launch what is provisionally called the Association of Corporate Climate Change Officers (ACCCO), although the name may change before the launch, planned for 6-18 months time. Their web site is here.

The first issue is defining what a climate change officer's role is (hence the issue around the name) but the founders point out that responsibility is increasingly being assigned at board level.

The idea is that the body will focus on developing the role of the corporate managers responsible for climate change, provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and best practice and help promote corporate activities around climate change to the public as a whole.

This is an inevitable development as climate change gains corporate importance, but it will also have a significant impact in focusing efforts. The more clearly internal responsibility is defined the more visible will be corporate efforts. It will also be helpful to suppliers in identifying where corporate responsibility sits (which was one aspect of my Green briefing with Infor last week - more of that in a later blog).

Pipeline Cooling

There was an article in The Guardian in the UK yesterday about the fact that there are plans to harness the pressure inside gas pipelines to generate clean electricity.

There is an extensive gas pipeline across the UK, but the pressure at which gas passes through it is too high for domestic use, so there are apparently hundreds of sites, known as letdown stations, where pressure is released. The idea is to put small turbines inside the gas network to harness the energy from this pressure release.

Work is due to start later this year in London and the first scheme is expected to produce 20MW of electricity. If it's repeated across the country it could generate the equivalent of a typical power station.

But that's not all. When you reduce the gas pressure it produces a rapid temperature drop, typically from 10C to -30C, which is effectively free refrigeration. The company that has developed the technology to capture this potential power and the cooling (called 20C) is apparently already talking to two companies interested in putting data centres near these letdown stations.

It's another example of the broad, lateral thinking that's required in an environmentally-conscious world. It also, once again, demonstrates the fact that IT users and suppliers need to work hard at looking for innovative solutions to going green. No one has all the answers (particularly not IT companies).

Wall Street Journal Criticises Dell Green Claim

One report you may have missed over the holidays is a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article which critically examined Dell's claim to have become carbon neutral.

The first point is that Dell only included it's own internal carbon footprint, i.e. boilers, company cars, building electricity and business travel, and not the emissions from its suppliers that make the parts, shipping, and the power required to run the computers.

This seems to me to be a harsh criticism, since there are no clear rules about what should be included in a company's carbon footprint assessment. If Dell had included these numbers there may well have been double counting (that's why the way Dell has done it seems to follow the general rules of organisations such as the Carbon Disclosure Project).

What is more problematic is the WSJ claim that Dell has achieved carbon neutrality primarily through buying carbon credits and that some of the environmental improvements that these credits are funding might have happened anyway. This is a universal problem. It's clearly much better to reduce your own emissions than to pay someone else, which is why offsets have often got a bad name.

Clearly Dell has put a lot of effort into becoming carbon neutral and if there is any criticism due it is primarily around being as open and transparent as possible about what lies behind the headline of carbon neutrality. It's a lesson for all companies making Green claims. Even in the article itself Dell is praised for going further than most in its efforts.

The WSJ article is here

HP Expands its US Trade-In Programme

HP has announced the introduction of a trade-in/recycling programme for US consumers. Through the HP Consumer Buyback and Planet Partners Recycling Program they get cash back for their unwanted PCs, monitors, printers, digital cameras, PDAs and smartphones (whatever the brand). If there's no value, consumers can recycle their HP and Compaq-branded products for free. The service is provided through Market Velocity Inc.

Let's hope it's available outside the US soon.

Zerofootprint Carbon Calculator

Zerofootprint is a Canadian company (with offices in Australia and the UK) dedicated to helping companies go green. One part of the organisation is Zerofootprint Software, which develops enterprise carbon management solutions for corporations and multinational organizations.

The company offers an Enterprise Carbon Management (ECM) hosted solution which calculates and monitors emissions from across a business. The software basis its calculations on up-to-date local and global protocols and conversion factors, which is one of the most daunting tasks for corporate footprint data capture and measurement.

It seems like an ideal solution for many companies who are still grappling with the problem of measuring their footprint across the business. Certainly what companies need is a quick, flexible, scalable, up-to-date method of calculation and Zerofootprint seems to be offering that, in a hosted form.

Whatever method is used, there's not much point in creating any emissions reduction targets until you have some benchmark to work from.

Greenwashes of the Year

Over the holiday period there have been a lot of reviews of what's been going on in Green business and Green IT in 2008, together with forecasts for 2009. (Forecasting in the current economic climate is a dangerous game, beyond saying that there is too much pressure to go Green for it to be any less significant in 2009 than in 2008 and it can only grow in importance).

Anyway, one review that did catch my eye was American Public Media's 2008 Greenwashes of the Year. In summary, the favourites were:

- Fuji Water, who's green campaign could hardly disguise the irony of shipping water around the world.

- The CEOs of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, who flew their private jets to Washington to plea for a bailout (needed because of their insistence on continuing to build gas-guzzlers). After the outcry the second trip was in hybrid cars.

- Clean coal - Really?

- The Democratic and Republic Parties, who apparently both put a lot more effort into Greening their conventions than is reflected in their policies.

- Shell, for its UK advertising. The Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints about ads showing flowers being emitted from refinery chimneys.

- Apple, for not phasing out the use of PVCs and BFRs in the 3G iPhone, as promised

There's more here, but the above should serve as a salutary lesson.