IT Eco-labeling – Purchasing Greener IT equipment which reduces impact on the environment, saves energy and carbon footprint..

I have a lot of people asking me what PC they should buy next. Depends on what you want it for and what your budget is usually.  Can you upgrade what you currently have first,  it is usually better to reuse and recycle. For personal usage, there may just be a need to use a PC for website browsing, documentation, emails, iplayer, music/itunes, games, etc. An organisation’s usage can only be best determined when you have a current understanding of the people, (business) processes and technology.

What are the guidelines a buyer follows when they purchase a PC? The brand name/manufacturer, latest deal in store/online, cheapest price, battery power, speed of machine, graphics ability, appearance, storage ability – files for music, photos and/or  videos and backing up features. Do you need a desktop, laptop or netbook? What monitor would you want with the desktop?  Does it need to connect to another external device? The processor speed, memory size, monitor and applications you run will affect the PC energy and battery usage. This may therefore increase the IT CO2 and energy usage costs.

Eco-labeling for IT equipment is also another area which needs to be looked into as a criteria and I will also explain this in more detail in separate blog posts. Much in the same way buyers look at labeling on food packaging (Carbon Trust C02, recycling), energy star rating for fridges and washing machines, some IT manufacturers also provide information on the environmental attributes for technology. These include a breakdown of product information on the hazardhous substances, packaging, recycling, product lifetime, etc.  

I have already addressed the need to provide some awareness to the buyer for IT equipment eco-labeling with a well known PC store a couple of weeks ago and am awaiting a response to this.

Purchasing technology which fits the specific needs for personal usage/organisation/schools, saves money, uses less energy and reduces the environmental impact is a Green IT service Giving Time and Solutions can assist with.

DATE: 23/05/2010

Tripta Prashar

www.givingtimeandsolutions.com

The future generations and teaching them about Green IT…

 

 I asked my young nieces to draw a picture which they would enjoy doing and signify the message about reducing IT equipment impact on the environment. They found this a FUN task to do, and it certainly raised the awareness about Green IT. It is very easy to not remember to turn off the light switch or computer, but having a big poster around places which are in vision is quite a good way to remember. Kids learn from adults and I believe they also can teach them too! Having been in touch with schools, the impact of IT equipment on the environment still appears to be unknown to children. The awareness of Green IT does need to grow, as it’s their future!

There is Eco-Schools…..

There are currently 14018 schools in England which are registered Eco-Schools. The main aim is for every school to be a sustainable school by 2020. Every school registered in Eco-Schools learns about environmental issues. There are also 46 countries around the world also in this programme.

Taken from the actual Eco-Schools website….

‘Children are the driving force behind Eco-Schools – they lead the eco-committee and help carry out an audit to assess the environmental performance of their school. Through consultation with the rest of the school and the wider community it is the pupils that decide which environmental themes they want to address and how they are going to do it. Measuring and monitoring is an integral part of the Eco-Schools programme, providing schools with all the evidence they need to really shout about their environmental success.  

Schools work towards gaining one of three awards – Bronze, Silver and the prestigious Green Flag award, which symbolises excellence in the field of environmental activity.  Bronze and Silver are both self accredited through this website and Green Flag is externally assessed by Keep Britain Tidy.’

This kind of approach would work well for companies  - auditing/continously monitoring their own environmental impact and being awarded some kind of incentive. It’s easy to tell people what they’re doing wrong, but a much better approach would be to ‘praise and reward people for doing things right’.

On 24th June 2010, it’s Schools Low Carbon Day in the UK. Taken from the website, the 3 main aims are to ‘educate children about climate change, focus children on their own energy consumption/carbon footprint and encourage action by asking children and/or their families to make a pleadge to cut their carbon emissions in some way’.

Eco-Schools and Low Carbon Day are great ways to raise awareness to children about environmental issues. 

‘Let’s leave something great for the future generations’.

DATE: 09/05/2010

Tripta Prashar

www.givingtimeandsolutions.com