BT - Sustainable Workforce Assessment

BT yesterday announced the UK launch of a service known as Sustainable Workforce Assessment (SWA), designed to help large corporates and public sector organisations improve staff morale and help reduce costs.

The service addresses HR issues ranging from workforce costs, financial targets, skills enhancement and employee engagement to talent management and retention. According to the press release I received; "Through this assessment, BT will help organisations reduce costs, if they are concerned about sustainability, or if they want to improve the welfare of their people, whilst creating a strong business benefit."

The analysis is conducted across seven practice areas which are work-life balance, stress and mental health, disability, cultural background, age, parents and carers and dignity at work.

BT has done much of this in-house already. The company has more than 10,000 home-based workers with average productivity apparently 20% higher than their office-based colleagues. Also:

- 75% of long-term absentees now return to work compared with a national average of 25%.

- Absenteeism in BT contact centres is 35% below average.

- 96% of our new mothers return to work, twice the national average.


Lets be clear, BT does seem to be doing something right in HR and can no doubt help other companies do the same.

However, does this really warrant a 'sustainability' label? (Interestingly, the version that BT posted on its shareholder news site was simply headed 'Services to solve HR issues'). However, the press release was accompanied by a quote from the head of sustainability practice at BT Global Services.

Lets be clear BT is a leader in making its business sustainable, but there's no reference I can see to what's sustainable about this service. And I find the comment that "Through this assessment, BT will help organisations reduce costs, if they are concerned about sustainability", very odd. Sustainability is not about reducing costs. All that does is increase profits. In the CSR context, sustainability means minimising the impact on the environment and society around you.

In fact the SWA service may well do just that, particularly if it ends up in more people working from home, and consequently having less impact on the environment through the energy use from commuting. But the press release doesn't even mention that.

China Mobile - Green Action Plan

NYSE-listed China Mobile is the leading mobile service provider in China, with the world’s largest mobile network and the world’s largest mobile subscriber base.

The company is in the process of implementing a 'Green Action Plan' on various aspects of its operations. Based on China's goal of reducing energy use per unit of GDP by 20% compared to 2005 levels, the goal of the Green Action Plan is to increase energy efficiency (per unit of telecommunications traffic) by 40% by 2010 compared to 2005, thus preventing the use of 8bn kWh of electricity. This will prevent the emission of over 6.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to around 2.7 million tonnes of standard coal energy or taking over 1.7 million vehicles off the road for a year.

The plan includes:

- Standardisation in buildings, equipment and design

- Using IP and 3G Technology in 2G Systems

- Green packaging and transportation standards

- Energy conservation for equipment

- 'Informationalisation', i.e. promoting the use of information services to increase efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

- Environmental Protection by reducing emissions, increasing waste recycling, actively using renewable energy and promoting public awareness of environmental issues.

In its annual report for 2008, China Mobile announced that electricity usage per business unit has dropped by 11% compared with 2007, with 1.17bn kWh of electricity conserved. A total of 21,000 tones of steel were saved as a result of the adoption of standardised tower design and 2,135 green energy base stations are already in the network.

I guess China Mobile has a lot more to work with than other mobile operators, but it's nice to see China a focus for energy reduction. Targets are based on levels of business, though, and ultimately we have to get to absolute reductions.

IBM's My Environment programme

IBM has launched an employee programme called My Environment designed to provide employees with information on how they can be more green in their personal lives, both at home and in their communities.

There are three elements:

- Employee education - offering employees information and tips on how they can be more environmentally responsible.

- Community involvement - providing employees with On Demand Community tools that they can use in their volunteer efforts. On Demand Community is an IBM initiative to encourage employees in volunteer activity by providing them with a set of technology tools targeted at non-profit community organisations and schools. It provides IBM employees and retirees worldwide with access to a web site which provides a range of solutions including online presentations, videos, web site reference links, software solutions and documents. New volunteer solutions are being created in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund, Solar One and The Nature Conservancy, all to be launch later this summer.

- Social networking - employees will be able to submit stories about how they have helped the environment and readers will be able to commit to taking similar action by clicking a button.


Sounds good. It certainly represents the sort of pro-active approach to addressing climate change in the community, which we have advocated in the past.

Microsoft aims for the green Hohm

Microsoft is launching an online application, called Hohm, designed to help consumers better understand their home energy usage and to provide recommendations on how to conserve energy and save money. A beta version will be made available from http://www.microsoft-hohm.com, although it's not running yet and it's not clear when it will start.

Hohm will provide energy savings recommendations, which can range from removing air leaks to installing a programmable thermostat. These recommendations are tailored based on specific circumstances in the consumer’s home including house features, usage patterns and appliances. The savings will vary based on the information shared and the characteristics of consumers’ households, but the idea is that Hohm will provide increasingly more accurate and relevant suggestions for energy conservation as its users contribute home energy input and feedback.


In addition, consumers will be able to compare their energy usage with that of others in their area and connect with the Microsoft Hohm community to find referrals and exchange ideas.

Microsoft has teamed up with partners including Puget Sound Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Seattle City Light and Xcel Energy. The company is also partnering with Itron Inc. and Landis+Gyr to make it easier for utilities and consumers to automatically access granular energy consumption data. Integration with meter data will also make it even easier for utilities to take full advantage of Hohm.

The beta version will be free, but only available in the US. A lightweight standards-based software development kit (SDK) is also available for utilities interested in partnering with Microsoft Hohm.

What's interesting here is that Microsoft has clearly put a lot of effort into this product which will undoubtedly grow in functionality and cover other countries. The real question is whether this is a prelude to the company entering the commercial Carbon Emissions Management Software (CEMS) market - Microsoft has already provided some carbon management capabilities in its Dynamics software. There will be a lot of players in the market (mostly small and new) that will be hoping not.

Data centres, canals and hot water

Last week I wrote about data centres in the UK potentially being built by the side of canals so that the water can be used for cooling. There is an extensive canal network in the UK and at least one major company has adopted the idea.

I've had some feedback from Deerns in the Netherlands (where, as we all know, there are even more canals) pointing out the drawbacks. It emphasises the point that you need to have an holistic approach to these solutions.

Anyway, as I mentioned in the post, for environmental reasons there is a temperature limit on the water released back into the canal (or river). But the experience in the Netherlands is that in high summer the canal/river water is so hot by itself that almost no temperature rise is allowed in the cooling water, meaning the cooling capacity of the plant is reduced.

To overcome the problem the data centre has to have its own chiller plant as a redundant facility. But the chiller has to be designed to work under the worst conditions, i.e. summer, so it creates a high power demand, which many data centres already have problems with.

So the use of canal/river water performs well on an annual basis, but to design a chiller plant purely for summer time use results in a over dimensioned plant. Ideally you would want to have a system that reduces this peak summer requirement. One solution, which Deerns is looking into, is thermal storage using underground aquifers, and the company is building the capability into a data centre in the Netherlands.

It does rather detract from the idea of data centres being built alongside canals in the middle of the country, though. Which is probably a good thing.

BT's green success

BT Global Services organised a session with analysts today to provide an update on the organisations strategy and portfolio around sustainability.

I was online (which means I missed chunks - don't ask) but there was some interesting information on the company's activities. I'm not entirely convinced about BT's efforts, which (like BT Global Services as a whole) seems to have selective coverage of the market, but there are certainly some areas where BT can make a significant contribution to its clients efforts.

There's no doubt, though, that the company has done a lot to reduce its own carbon footprint and is much more serious about addressing the issue than some other major ICT companies. Interestingly, the effort seems to have paid off. One comment made during the presentations was that BT reckons that their own internal efforts were a factor in winning around £1.8bn of business. It may have been a small factor in the decision, but even so ....

EPEAT vote of confidence

As you will know by now if you're a regular reader, the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) programme evaluates computer desktops, laptops, and monitors based on 51 environmental criteria developed by stakeholder consensus and supported by the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

Anyway, EPEAT has received recognition in a ruling by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (a North American organisation that promotes integrity and performance in business).

The support came from a ruling on a Dell objection to Apple advertising its MacBooks as “the world’s greenest family of notebooks,”. (I'm not sure of the details of the objection, but I assume that Apple's claim was based on EPEAT certification).

In its ruling NAD suggested some adjustments to Apple’s advertising, but took no issue with EPEAT. In fact it found that:

- EPEAT was clearly an industry accepted measure of environmental performance

- EPEAT’s ratings provided a good comparison of the environmental friendliness of products

- Companies whose products receive higher ratings in EPEAT should be able to communicate those ratings, and the environmental improvement they denote, to consumers.

So EPEAT gets a vote of confidence, but it does show how cutthroat the market has become in making rival claims about how green products are. It's not about greenwashing, its about how you assess how environmentally friendly products are. (And who does the assessment - if you asked Greenpeace then they would all be as bad as each other, but that's another story).

IBM's new green alliance

IBM has today announced a new alliances around its green offerings.

To be frank, I find IBM's strategy and offerings around green IT a little confusing these days (I liked the House of Carbon approach of a year ago, but they had to drop that because someone else was apparently using the name). I suspect the company suffers from taking the marketing initiative, in that the approach is constantly evolving in line with a fast moving market.

Anyway, I listened into the pre-release briefing last week and this is how I understand it.

Smarter Planet is IBM's point of view on how interconnected technologies are changing the way the world works. Within that approach, Green and Beyond addresses the environmental aspects. Within Green and Beyond IBM has identified three areas that businesses need to address:

- Green infrastructures; to mitigate the impact of IT equipment, data and applications, and real estate and facilities

- Sustainable solutions; basically to be more aware of the environmental impact of operations and to deliver products and services in a more environmental friendly way

- Intelligent systems;apply information and technology to change the way industries operate, e.g. smart traffic, smart energy, etc.


The announcement today centres on a new industry alliance with key companies in metering, monitoring, automation, data communications and software to help companies in their move to smart solutions for energy, water, waste and greenhouse gas management

The Green Sigma Coalition, as the new alliance is known, includes Johnson Controls, Honeywell Building Solutions, ABB, Eaton, ESS, Cisco, Siemens Building Technologies Division, Schneider Electric and SAP. The coalition members will work with IBM to integrate their products and services with IBM’s Green Sigma solution.

Green Sigma is IBM's environmental consulting/solution offering based on Lean Six Sigma. It combines real-time metering and monitoring with analytics and dashboards to allow decision-making around efficiency, cost and environmental impact.

In addition to the Green Sigma Coalition, IBM announced other enhanced and new capabilities and additional alliances across the infrastructure piece, including enhancements to the Tivoli energy management portfolio to accommodate controls and sensors from several vendors including Honeywell and APC. In particular, IBM and Cisco have integrated the Tivoli Monitoring for Energy Management and Cisco EnergyWise energy management solution.

It's all good stuff and it does bring home the variety of products and solutions that need to work together to give companies comprehensive information on their environmental performance and the means to manage it. Expect to see more of these coalitions forming as the market matures, as well as issues surrounding standards for data transfers between devices, as we're already seeing around smart grids.

To find out more about the green initiatives from IBM and a number of other major IT companies, see the Green IT Portal links on the web site side bar.

Power Predictor launched

Here's another neat product with some potential.

It's a device that measures the amount of solar power and wind energy that could be generated at a particular site by home owners and businesses. The device measures both solar and wind energy as well as providing a report reviewing the most suitable products available, how to buy them, what the payback time will be and what carbon savings can be achieved.

Toby Hammond, inventor of the Power Predictor and managing director of Better Generation (which produces the device) said: “For most people, micro power generation is a step into the unknown. No one should spend thousands of pounds on renewable energy equipment without knowing the payback time based on the amount of energy they could generate at their premises.”

I think the critical word here is 'should'. If you've got any sense you'll use one of these to test the potential for renewable energy generation, but the £100 cost may just be seen as another expense.

And if it turns out that it's not a suitable site, what do you do with the device? It's not very green to just throw it away. Maybe it's more for suppliers of micro power generators. But then they won't want to lose potential customers ....

GreenPrint Version 2

I haven't come across GreenPrint before, but this is an innovative product that's cheap and will make someone a fortune.

Basically, the software eliminates unwanted pages from printing, with a claimed saving of 17% or more. According to the press release, the software analyses each page of every document sent to the printer and looks for typical waste characteristics (e.g. pages with just a URL, banner ad, logo, etc.) and then highlights and removes them. It also makes it easier to select only the pages you want to print, provides image removal options, and allows a file to be saved as a PDF rather than printing.

GreenPrint Technologies claims that the software saves the average user over $90 and 1,400 wasted pages per year.

Version 1.0, was launched in November 2006 but has since been redesigned for greater waste detection, an increase in speed (5 to 10 times faster than the old version, on average) and to introduce more features.

As well as releasing V2 of Home Premium, the company plans to launch a new version of its Enterprise edition shortly to add new print management and reporting functionality for large organisations.

Greenprint has also launched a free version; “We are committed to having the biggest positive impact we can, and providing GreenPrint World V2 at launch will help us accelerate our progress towards saving a million trees and a hundred million pounds of greenhouse gases,” said GreenPrint CEO Hayden Hamilton.

Great idea. Get your version from here.

Global climate change impacts in the US

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), on behalf of the National Science and Technology Council, has produced a report on the impact of climate change on the US.

It's extremely detailed and full of revealing (if not depressing) insights into the variety of impacts that climate change can/will have. I can't pretend to have read it all, but you can - it's here.

I mention it here because it does bring home the wide variety of risks to the businesses and economies that global warming bring. Business continuity because an awful lot more challenging faced with the changes laid out in the main conclusions (which I've edited for brevity):

1. Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced.

2. Climate-related changes are already observed in the United States and its coastal waters. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snow melt, and alterations in river flows. These changes are projected to grow.



3. Widespread climate-related impacts are occurring now and are expected to increase. Climate changes are already affecting water, energy, transportation, agriculture, ecosystems, and health.

4. Climate change will stress water resources.

5. Crop and livestock production will be increasingly challenged.

6. Coastal areas are at increasing risk from sea-level rise and storm surge.
Sea-level rise and storm surge place many U.S. coastal areas at increasing risk of erosion and flooding, especially along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Pacific Islands, and parts of Alaska. Energy and transportation infrastructure and other property in coastal areas are very likely to be adversely affected.

7. Threats to human health will increase.

8. Climate change will interact with many social and environmental stresses.
Climate change will combine with pollution, population growth, overuse of resources, urbanization, and other social, economic, and environmental stresses to create larger impacts than from any of these factors alone.

9. Thresholds will be crossed, leading to large changes in climate and ecosystems.

10. Future climate change and its impacts depend on choices made today.


Of course it's not just the US that's impacted. Corporations and their suppliers - including IT services companies, outsourcers and telcos - around the world are facing a business risk. In the immortal quote from Casablanca; 'maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon (and for the rest of your life)'.

New EU-US Energy Star standards

The European Commission and the US EPA yesterday agreed to new, more ambitious specifications for computers, copiers and printers under the EU-US Energy Star Programme. The new criteria are effective from 1 July.

The EU Energy Star programme follows an agreement between the US Government and the EU to co-ordinate energy labeling of office equipment. The EU manages the European side and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which started the scheme in 1992, manages the US side.

The new specifications, covering computers and imaging equipment are expected to save 18 TWh and 4 TWh, respectively, in the EU alone due to purchases over the next three years. The savings will be achieved over the lifetime of the products, i.e. during four to six years. The potential total of 22 TWh electricity savings is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of Ireland.

Green IT profiles from The Green IT Report

The Green IT Report (TGIR) today launches the first of a regular series of Green IT company profiles. These are in-depth examinations of the sustainable activities, particularly related to climate change, of major IT companies and also of vendors that have a specific green focus in terms of the software or IT service they offer.

If you are actively involved in green IT, want to understand what other companies are doing and who your competitors are, or want to identify potential partners, then these profiles will give you an inexpensive, in-depth head start.

If you’re an IT user and looking for environmental solutions or just want to assess current and future suppliers on their climate change credentials, then the profiles are a quick way to get all the information you need from one source.

The profiles are based on face-to-face meetings and discussions with the companies and are backed up by the in-depth knowledge and critical comment of the sector that has been available from this web site for the last 18 months. Each profile covers:

• Company background

• Approach to Green IT - internal organisation and structure around CSR, sustainability and climate change

• Internal actions - the extent to which the company is addressing its own carbon footprint and greening its products and services

• Market offerings - the market focus and details of the products and solutions offered to clients

• Strategy and performance - business generated through green IT and strategy moving forward

• TGIR comment - The Green IT Report's critical assessment of the company's strategy and performance in addressing climate change, both internally and for clients.

The first two green IT profiles are available today and cover Greenstone Carbon Management, the UK specialist carbon solutions company, and Infor, the global mid-market software supplier. Capgemini will be the next one off the blocks. All profiles are around 10 pages in length and competitively priced at £200 each (plus VAT where applicable).

The profiles are in pdf format and can be emailed on receipt of a confirmed order. For more details or to order a copy, call +44 1442 891 419 or email mailto:info@thegreenitreport.com (The reports will be available via the web site after an upgrade later this year)

ASDA's logistics get greener

UK supermarket chain ASDA, part of the US Wal-Mart group, has implemented map-based transport optimisation software from Paragon Software Systems. The software allows ASDA’s logistics operation to better model routes to optimise the use of fleet and drivers. It's expected to save ASDA 5-10% on the fleet costs. The company has a goal of reducing the total emissions of its transport fleet by 40% by the end of 2009.

Wal-Mart has been very hot on becoming environmentally friendly, including introducing strict environmental guidelines for suppliers. This has clearly reached its UK subsidiary, which is looking at a variety of means to reduce emissions from transport. ASDA's efforts include encouraging its local suppliers to pool their efforts and deliver their goods to one local hub to help reduce the mileage of the company lorries.

Paragon has a range of offerings and its interesting to note that on its web site there is a list of benefits reported by Paragon users. The top three are:

- Reduce transport costs by up to 20% - by cutting mileage and improving driver and vehicle utilisation
- Improve customer service
- Cut carbon emissions

Other factors cited include efficiency, control, delivery time, responsiveness, decision making, admin costs and strategic growth objectives.

Clearly carbon emissions are already important in logistics and that can only increase, so there's going to be a lot of focus on logistics systems in the coming years. They will become increasingly complex and comprehensive in minimising, managing and reporting emissions, as well as adapting to road conditions and climate impact. It's something that logistics solutions suppliers should be working on now.

The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Digital Britain

Yesterday the UK government published its long-awaited Digital Britain report which "offers a strategic view of the sector, backed by a programme of action". Its a long report (245 pages - the Executive Summary is 18 pages) so it's not for the faint-hearted. If you want to take a look it's here.

Given that significant contribution that digital communications can play in reducing carbon emissions in the environment one would expect quite a lot of comment on green aspects in the report, but there only appears to be one page (page 83) that directly addresses the issue, under the heading of "Telecommunications and Climate Change".

The page refers to:

- telecommunications replacing the need to travel, mobile radio in fleet management and the roll-out of smart meters.

- carbon emissions associated with mobile users and re-iterates the governments commitment to cutting emissions.

- the need for innovation, with an example of a company (4energy) which is trialling an alternative to conventional air conditioning for keeping telecommunications equipment rooms cool. There is also a research programme in British universities to reduce energy requirements for delivering high speed data services.

I searched the document for other references, with the following results:

Environment:

- There is a proposal to appoint a Champion for Digital Inclusion and Expert Task Force. Among their tasks is: Intelligence and Focus - To monitor and evidence the risks and opportunities of emerging digital technology for excluded groups and communities and minimise the environmental impact from these technologies.

- A comment that the government will "work closely with manufacturers to examine the environmental impact of the Digital Radio Upgrade".

Green:

- The only comment not on page 83 is a reference to the public sector green ICT Strategy to drive sustainability (no details).

I also searched for Climate, Carbon, Footprint, CO2 and Emissions, but there were no other relevant comments.

It's disappointing because there are lots of other green aspects to talk about and issues surrounding digital growth. For example, better broadband access helping home working, the 'dematerialisation' of products and services reducing the impact of a variety of environmental factors, the move to videoconferencing, etc.

There is also the reverse aspects that I mentioned the other day. The growth of the use of video over the internet and mobiles will mean a continued rapid growth in data centres, increasing CO2 emissions. Is there a policy to minimise this impact?


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Canals cool data centres

It's not news, but I've only just come across this novel use for canals. As one who lives close to Britain's canal network (and the reservoirs that feed them), it is particularly interesting.

Anyway, it seems that pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is using canal water and heat exchange technology to provide cooling for the data centre at its West London HQ, rather than traditional air conditioning. The target is to reduce the company's head office CO2 emissions by 920 tonnes a year.

The initiative is in partnership with British Waterways, which manages the canals, and because water is returned to the canal slightly warmer, there has had to be an environmental analysis and consent from the Environmental Agency.

It suggests a potential new lease of life for Britain's 200 year old canal network and potentially a total of 2,200 miles of canals and rivers could be used in this way. British Waterways estimates that a further 1,000 waterside businesses nationwide could follow the company's lead by using canal water for heating or cooling. This would result in annual energy savings of £100m and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions of approximately one million tonnes, the equivalent to some 400,000 family sized cars being taken off the roads.

I guess the down side is that canals and rivers are used extensively for leisure activities so building data centres on the banks would not be ideal. But they do pass through towns where buildings would not be a problem. In any case, British Waterways is concerned about dissolved oxygen levels and the impact on the local canal environment, so there is a limit on capacity to balance the local ecology.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

France moves towards a carbon tax

According to EurActiv, the French Environment and Finance Ministers last week opened a debate on the introduction of a carbon tax in France by 2011 by presenting a white paper for public consultation.

The idea is to push both businesses and consumers towards greener energy consumption to help France meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The government maintains that the tax would not add to the financial burden on industry and households, because it would be accompanied by other tax reductions. However, few details were published and the government has asked a panel of experts to look at the detail at a meeting on 2-3 July.

The move anticipates Sweden's plans to make implementing such a scheme at EU level the priority of its forthcoming six-month presidency, which starts in July. Whilst the EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) sets a price on carbon for industrial emissions, Sweden argues that it leaves 60% of emissions untouched and is advocating a tax as the best way to bring them down.

In fact there have been several attempts since the early 1990s to introduce a unitary carbon tax for all EU member states, but countries have been unwilling to pass national decision-making on taxes to the EU, hence the EU ETS. It will be interesting to see how successful Sweden is, but making the push in the six months leading up to Copenhagen is good timing.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Amsterdam - Europe's first smart city

The city of Amsterdam has launched its Smart City project, which comprises a number of sustainability initiatives which will be tested in the city, the most successful of which will be adopted. Over the next two years projects will be tried out in four areas: Working, Living, Mobility and Public Spaces. The first three are estimated to account for a third of the city's emissions each. Details of the projects are here.

The Municipality of Amsterdam has its own target of being a climate-neutral organisation by 2015 and the overall aim is to meet the European Union’s 2020 emissions and energy reduction targets.

The projects include the use a smart electric grid, smart meters, smart-building technologies and electric vehicles to reduce energy consumption and Amsterdam claims to be the first city in Europe to do so.

Accenture is one of the suppliers and will work with local agencies to develop, implement, manage and assess each of the phases and projects. The company will help deploy a smart grid and will support a range of applications created by the programme. The company will also manage the integration of the smart-grid technology and the analysis and use of data.

Amsterdam is a member of Accenture’s Intelligent City Network, which we reported on in March.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Cisco Visual Networking Index

Cisco has been tracking the potential impact of visual networking applications on the internet, under the title of Visual Networking Index, and a couple of days ago released its latest forecast. It makes fascinating, if slightly depressing, reading.

The full details of the forecast are here and the following are some selected 'highlights':

- Annual global IP traffic will exceed two-thirds of a zettabyte (667 exabytes) in four years. If I have my sums right, that's around 700bn gigabytes.

- Global IP traffic will quintuple from 2008 to 2013. Overall, IP traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40%.

- In 2013, the internet will be nearly four times larger than it is in 2009. By year-end 2013, the equivalent of 10 billion DVDs will cross the internet each month.

- Internet video is now approximately one-third of all consumer internet traffic (excluding P2P file sharing).

- The sum of all forms of video will account for over 91% of global consumer traffic by 2013.

- In 2013, internet video will be nearly 700 times the U.S. internet backbone in 2000.

- Globally, mobile data traffic will double every year through 2013, increasing 66x between 2008 and 2013. Mobile data traffic will grow at a CAGR of 131% between 2008 and 2013, reaching over 2 exabytes per month by 2013.

- Almost 64% of the world's mobile data traffic will be video by 2013. Mobile video will grow at a CAGR of 150% between 2008 and 2013.

- Business IP traffic will grow at a CAGR of 33% from 2008 to 2013. Increased adoption of advanced video communications in the enterprise segment will cause business IP traffic to grow by a factor of four between 2008 and 2013.


You've probably got the point by now. Video is driving rapid internet growth which in turn has huge implications for energy use and emissions. Just think about the increase in data centre capacity that these figures imply.

I think there are two issues here. Firstly, it emphasises the fact that emissions from data centres will continue to grow significantly, certainly in the short term. All the effort being put into making data centres more energy efficient will not hold up the growth very much or for very long. Putting data centres where there is renewable energy available, or where waste heat can be re-used, is a better long-term strategy.

Secondly, the energy used in data centres will inevitably incur increasing costs as carbon taxes are implemented. Ultimately, these costs will have to be passed on to the customer in some form. In fact the use of bandwidth for video has already been in the news in the UK this week, with BT insisting that the suppliers should be charged for the high proportion of the bandwidth they take. Carbon taxes will add to that pressure.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Pew Centre - Climate TechBook

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change, basically a think tank on all things to do with global warming, has made available a free online resource of information on the impact of climate change and technologies that can help reduce it.

The resource, known as the Climate TechBook and which can be found here, provides:

- An overviews of greenhouse gas emissions from key economic sectors: electricity, transportation, industry, residential and commercial, and agriculture

- Overviews of relevant technologies in these areas

- Fact sheets that provide background information about specific technologies, the current status of the technology, cost information, policy options to promote the technology, and obstacles to further development and deployment.


Initially the TechBook consists of 15 briefs and fact sheets but the plan is to regularly add new content to provide a comprehensive source of information on low-carbon technologies.

Unfortunately (for the rest of us) it's US focused, but nevertheless a lot of the technology information is universal. It's also quite detailed. It gives Pew the opportunity to promote its own reports but there are also a lot of other sources included.

It's a useful resource. As the press release pointed out, an important part of helping people, companies and economies to become greener is to have as much information available as possible about the technologies and options.

I suppose the only danger is that we may also see similarly presented initiatives with some greenwashing around existing technologies and companies pushing their own version of the ideal solution, but that's not the case here.



The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Smart Grid update

- At the end of May the ZigBee Alliance and the European Smart Metering Industry Group (ESMIG) announced that they're working together to define interoperable communications standards for smart metering technology across the European Union (EU). The ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile is the first open standard to be endorsed by ESMIG.

The ZigBee Alliance is a group of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications. Members include ember, Emerson, Landis & Gyr, Philips, Samsung, Schneider Electric and Texas Instruments. ESMIG is the organisation for smart metering in Europe.

The two organisations will work together to identify where ZigBee Smart Energy can be rolled out across the 27 Member States. They will also evaluate ways to maximize the benefits of a standardised smart metering program for consumers, utility service providers (there are an estimated 2,000 electric, water and gas utility service providers in the EU) and the environment.

- Meanwhile, Intel last week hosted the first meeting to discuss the snappily titled IEEE 2030 Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS) and End-Use Applications and Loads (P2030)

The idea is that IEEE P2030 will leverage the IEEE's technical knowledge and open standards development process to come up with a knowledge base for understanding and defining smart grid interoperability between electric power system and end use applications and loads, integrating energy technology and ICT. (If you think that's long-winded you should see the press release).

As an indication of the importance, registration for personal attendance at the meeting was closed by May 4th because they had run out of room.

- According to an article in the Korea Times on Monday, South Korea has unveiled a plan to be the world's first country to have a smart grid (although it will be in competition with Malta, which, as we reported back in February has similar plans).

The article quotes the Ministry of Knowledge Economy's claim that the grid will generate a new market of 68 trillion won (about $54.5bn) and create 500,000 new jobs annually, and reduce the country's power consumption by 3% by the time it is completed in 2030 (Malta expects to be there by 2012).



The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

UK guidance on calculating carbon emissions

It's a sign that things are starting to get serious when the government produces guidelines on how to measure greenhouse gas emissions, as the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has just done. The Consultation document is here.

Actually the guidance was required by the recently introduced Climate Change Act. The Act also requires a review in 2010 to evaluate the contribution that reporting on GHG emissions is making and also requires that reporting be made mandatory by 6th April 2012.


As far as I can tell there is nothing new in here in terms of how emissions are actually calculated. Its just a more thorough and comprehensive description of best practice. Defra's methodology is based on the GHG Protocol and advises that GHG tools be used if the Defra tools, which are still under development, are not available or overseas data is required.

As the guidance points out, some organisations will already be reporting some emissions data for regulatory schemes such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), the UK's Climate Change Agreements (CCAs), as well as the forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) (See previous blog). These schemes only cover some of an organisation’s total GHG emissions as the (rather fetching) diagram below shows. The Defra guidelines, on the other hand, covers the total corporate carbon footprint.

It does illustrate how complicated GHG reporting can be, as well as highlighting the extent of the opportunity for the growing band of Carbon Emissions Management Software (CEMS) suppliers who are poised to help.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Intuit's Green Snapshot

A little late, but worth mentioning because it could be the first step to greening a large number of small businesses.

Intuit is the company that provides the financial management solutions, including the QuickBooks accounting software widely used by small businesses (and their accountants). It has recently introduced a free product to help QuickBooks users save money and go green (in that order in the publicity). It's free and works with all versions of QuickBooks desktop software.



The online solution estimates a company's carbon footprint based on the last 12 months expenses in QuickBooks. From the findings it also recommends actions to reduce the footprint. It can also create a Green Profile report that summarises the business's environmental footprint, commitments, and savings.

The software was developed with Cooler, a climate change software company who's methodology is backed by a number of environmental organisations.

It's great that small businesses are being given the opportunity to assess their footprint in this way. It may be fairly basic, but it would be a first introduction for many companies that would not have otherwise given it a second thought. But it's also astute of Intuit to get into the market early. Eventually the company's software will have to have this sort of functionality, so best to get in there before someone else does.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Reporting on climate change risk

In a similar theme to my last post, two reports were published last week in the US looking at the reporting of the risks associated with climate change. They were jointly produced by Ceres, a coalition of investors, environmental groups and others, the Center for Energy & Environmental Security (CEES), which works to develop practical strategies and solutions for moving international society toward a global sustainable energy future, and the Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit organisation representing more than 500,000 members.

The first report covers trends in climate risk disclosure by the S&P 500 since 1995:

- In total 76.3% of annual reports filed by S&P 500 companies in 2008 did not mention climate change.

- While there has been an increase in the number of 10-K reports that discuss climate risks and opportunities, the quality of coverage is poor - less than 6% of reports filed in 2008 identified and addressed at least one risk posed by climate change.

- Less than 10% of S&P 500 companies in the financial sector discussed climate change in 2008 reports, which is a worry given the risk to the insurance industry and the role of major banks in financing infrastructure projects.

- The utilities sector led the way in discussing climate change in 10-K reports filed in 2008, with only 3.2% of companies failing to mention it. However, the information provided was still of low value.


The second report looked at climate risk disclosures in 10-K (annual report) filings by oil and gas, insurance, coal, transportation and electric power companies. The main findings were that:

- There was limited climate risk disclosure. Out of 100 companies covered, 28 had no discussion of risk assessment, 52 described no actions to address climate change, and 59 made no mention of emissions or a climate change position. Many companies in the insurance and transportation sectors provided no disclosure whatsoever of any climate change-related information.

- The highest levels of disclosure were described as “Fair.” No companies provided “Fair” disclosure of emissions and a climate change position, only 7 companies provided “Fair” disclosure of risk assessment, and only 5 companies ranked “Fair” on their disclosure of actions taken to address climate change.

- Most filings in the electric power, coal, and oil and gas industry sectors lacked the level of detail that investors require. Disclosure in the insurance sector was especially weak, with two thirds of the companies failing to describe any risk. Performance in the transportation sector was also inadequate, with no companies disclosing GHG emissions associated with vehicle use.

The overall conclusion from the two reports was that disclosure on the implications of climate change in SEC filings is inadequate and insufficient to meet investors’ needs. The report lays the blame with the SEC for failing to give clear guidance.

It's all of interest because it shows the extent to which companies are either in denial or as yet unwilling to face up to the consequences of climate change. When they are forced to elaborate on the risks they will also be obliged to describe how they will minimise the impact, part of which will be in using IT to track the risks more closely, make IT solutions more flexible to accommodate inevitable changes and disruption, install more comprehensive business continuity solutions, and much more.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Carbon risks and opportunities

In what looks like a fascinating report (I've only skimmed through it so far), environmental data company Trucost has assessed the global carbon exposure of companies listed in the S&P 500 Index. The report was commissioned by the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCi), a not-for-profit organisation focusing on where corporate responsibility and the informational needs of investors meet.

The full report is here, but there were some aspects that jumped out from the management summary:

Exposure to carbon costs:

- If a market price of $28.241 (which TruCost estimates to be the likely cost in 2012) were applied to each ton of CO2-e emitted by companies in the S&P 500 and their first-tier suppliers, carbon costs would total over $92.8 billion. This equates to over 1% of revenue from the companies in 2007, and over 5.5% of combined EBITDA.

- At that price, average carbon costs would amount to between 1% and 12% of revenue in the Utilities, Basic Resources, Food & Beverage, Chemicals and Oil & Gas sectors.

- Financial risk from carbon costs is greatest in the Utilities
sector, where EBITDA at a company level could fall by 2% to 117%.

- Exposure to carbon costs varies significantly across companies in the Index. Carbon costs would amount to less than 1% of EBITDA for 203 companies, while 71 companies could see earnings fall by 10% or more.

Corporate disclosure on greenhouse gas emissions:

- 66% of companies analysed do not publish adequate data on direct emissions from operations, and could therefore be unprepared for mandatory reporting requirements.

- 34% of S&P 500 companies disclose direct greenhouse gas emissions in line with the GHG Protocol, or provide data on resource use that can be used to derive emissions. These companies account for 92% of the total direct emissions from the S&P 500 as calculated by Trucost.

- The majority of companies in the carbon-intensive Utilities, Chemicals and Basic Resources sectors disclose direct operational emissions.


It does highlight the significant impact that carbon pricing is going to have, particularly on energy-intensive sectors. Pressure is building rapidly on companies to better manage emissions, which is where IT can help. IT companies in this sector will have plenty of opportunities to help their clients.

But it also highlights the lack of preparedness amongst major companies for the inevitable demands for them to count and report their carbon emissions. Even if legislation doesn't force them too, investors will. It's no surprise that the Carbon Emissions Management Software (CEMS) market is starting to take off. We'll be reporting on the market, players and products in much more detail in the near future.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Offsetting - "A dangerous distraction"

Friends of the Earth has characterised offsetting as "having a disastrous impact on the prospects for averting catastrophic climate change" in a report published this week. Entitled "A Dangerous Distraction", the report aims to pull together the evidence on offsetting ahead of the UN talks in Copenhagen in December.

The report primarily looks at the country level and the UK as a case in point, but the arguments is relevant for all uses of offsetting. Friends of the Earth does not mince its words;" There is a growing and credible body of evidence and opinion that offsetting is not working; that it is undermining efforts to prevent dangerous climate change and supporting sustainable development; that it is profoundly unjust, and that it cannot successfully be reformed".

The full report is here, but to summarise the main reasons put forward for the failure of offsetting (and to paraphrase to make it relevant at the company level):

- Less carbon is cut - reductions are in one place, not both ends of the arrangement

- Many 'offset' projects would happen anyway, whether or not used to offset emissions

- There are no guarantees of emissions cuts

- It delays necessary changes in the offsetting country/company

- It undermines low-carbon development in developing countries

Offsetting has had a bad name for some time, so it's no surprise that there are calls for it to be removed from the equation.

To be fair, most of the main IT companies only quote offsetting as a last resort to achieve their emissions reductions targets, but they would be well advised to remove offsetting altogether. It's in danger of losing all credibility and being treated as 'greenwashing', rather than a serious attempt to reduce the impact of emissions.

Of course considerations as to whether offsetting is a legitimate activity also has an impact on those companies developing carbon counting and trading solutions. Offsetting is often an option built in to the reduction targeting aspects of the software, although since such solutions are primarily offered on a 'software-as-a-service' basis it will make no difference to most users.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Greener commuting with CO2 'pedometer' from Volvo

Here's a novel idea. Volvo and the City of Göteborg have got together to try out a project aimed at measuring the time, efficiency and environmental impact associated with commuting.

Participants use their mobile phones to contact a website, which calculates the environmental impact based on the distance and means of transport. Tickets for public transport could also be purchased via the mobile phones and eco cars could be booked and unlocked in the same way.



It was tested out on a group of employees from the Volvo Group. The 'pedometer' kept a check on what their commuting to work cost in the form of carbon emissions. With their normal travelling pattern as the starting point, the participants set a target for reducing their environmental impact by using other means of travel, such as bus or bicycle instead of by car. People who left their cars at home were able to make business trips during working hours using eco cars from a car pool. By changing their behaviour, the group succeeded in reducing their carbon footprint by more than 30%.

This sounds like a very effective way of helping people reduce their personal carbon emissions. It's the two-pronged approach that makes it attractive:

- It provides instant information on CO2 used and also on the gains by using alternative modes of transport (in the same way that smart grids do)

- But, importantly, it also helps the users to take those alternative actions, e.g. by enabling the purchase of train tickets and booking cars when required.

Anything that gives fast information on CO2 emissions and also helps avoid them must be a winner. It's going to need a lot of cooperation between public transport companies and other agencies to make it work, though. (And an efficient, integrated public transport system, which rather rules out the UK).


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.

Trilliant buys SkyPilot

Smart grid company Trilliant has added broadband to its offering through the acquisition of SkyPilot Networks, a provider of long-range wireless mesh broadband equipment.

SkyPilot has a patented broadband wireless system that achieves high bandwidth and 100% coverage at low cost. The technology apparently delivers over 10x the bandwidth of cellular with low latency, over standard Ethernet IP connectivity and has already been used extensively to deploy wireless broadband applications in difficult environments.


The advantages to Trilliant of the acquisition are best summed up in a quote in the press release from Andy White, President and CEO of Trilliant; "As the Smart Grid evolves from simple advanced metering to a multi-application network, utilities are in search of a complete solution that reliably delivers high-speed functionality at a reasonable cost, regardless of geography and topology. Trilliant’s acquisition of SkyPilot will allow our customers to extend the Smart Grid to any device, anywhere, at bandwidth speeds and costs that are unmatched in the Smart Grid industry. This increased bandwidth, combined with SkyPilot’s outstanding range and coverage, opens up the possibilities for advanced networking applications that simply weren't feasible before."

There's a further quote from Jesse Berst, Founding Editor, SmartGridNews.com; "Once the technology integration is complete, Trilliant will have the most complete broadband solution. And make no mistake; full broadband capacity is critical for the growth of the Smart Grid."

It looks like a good move for Trilliant, which now seems to be well-placed in the market with a more-or-less end-to-end solution already in place for utilities to take advantage of the smart grid boom that's coming.

What's interesting about smart grids is that they open up a whole new sector of IT infrastructure. Whilst the equipment and network suppliers themselves, such as Trilliant, stand to make big money from the move there will also be countless other solutions providers and integrators that will also benefit in the longer term. It's an example of a whole new green IT market (actually, it would probably have happened anyway, but would have taken far, far longer).

Even now there are those (in the IT industry) that still see smart grids as another expensive, government inspired white elephant. I know where my money is.


The Green IT Report offers a range of market research and consultancy services on the impact and opportunities that environmental issues represent for the ICT sector. Click here for more details.