By Gemma Simpson, 30 April 2007 13:00
NEWS
The global IT industry accounts for two per cent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions - the same amount the world's aviation industry churns out, according to analyst house Gartner.
The estimate is based on the amount of energy PCs, servers, cooling, fixed and mobile phone systems, LANs, office telecommunications and printers all use within the world's offices.
The estimate also includes all commercial and governmental IT and telecommunications infrastructures worldwide - but no consumer electronics other than mobiles and PCs.
Simon Mingay, research vice president at Gartner, said IT organisations will face increasing financial, environmental and legislative pressures to get more environmentally sustainable during the next five years.
Few IT management teams are aware of environmental and corporate social responsibilities policies already in place and have not mapped out the impact of the business' activities on the environment, Mingay added.
And the people buying technology for businesses do not fully understand the environmental impact and lifecycles of products and services because of a lack of commercial and legislative incentives, according to Garter.
But technology purchasers are beginning to factor in green measures. Garter predicts more than one-third of IT organisations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying conditions by 2010.
Reducing energy consumptions and the use of hazardous substances throughout the lifecycle of a product or service and upping recycling efforts are key areas to help businesses buy greener, the analyst house said.
Comments
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1. anonymous
Why does the phrase "Lies, damned lies and statistics" spring to mind?.
Yes, I suppose is you add together the carbon dioxide emmisions caused by the BILLIONS of PCs, servers, cooling, fixed and mobile phone systems, LANs, office telecommunications and printers all use within the world's offices and people homes, it will approach the emissions of the few Thousand aircraft run by the aviation industry.
Using the same methodology you could probaly do the same for global cattle farming.
Making supurious statictical comparisions serves no cause other than to muddy the water.
2. anonymous
Whilst conservation of the environment is essential various parties are attempting to create a voice for their own means i.e political and latterly environmental bodies which are acting as 19th centuary luddites.
Do they wish to reverse the advantage of high speed communicatins IT , travel where to reach the far corners of the globe, conduct business by sailing ship and take over a year to return.
Global warming is naturally cyclic since time began, hidden taxes with the pretence of curbing the polutants is not of prime importance to other major nations who continue to pollute with no actions being taken.
In summation we MUST continue to advance but take due care to preserve our environment.
The world is a wonderfull place which we enjoy as individuals.
3. Mike Grenville
We all have to do our bit and having identified computers as players a significant role in the process then it should seen as a call to action.
In fact rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars, according to a UN report.
Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.
Burning fuel to produce fertiliser to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it - and clearing vegetation for grazing - produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.
Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases, including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia, one of the main causes of acid rain.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20772&Cr=global&Cr1=warming
4. Roger Huffadine
How much CO2 and other pollutants do Gartner researchers produce whilst penning these useless reports? Oh! and if wee add up all of the supposed sources of CO2 we end up with a tonnage greater than the weight of the Earth. There is some VERY selective number magic going on in many places to prove that King Canute could have stemmed the tide if only he had total control of the Sun - nothing new here - move the Sun = no more big tides & no global warming.
5. Keith Farnish
Why are humans obsessed with passing the buck?
It's only 2%. It's only 4%. It's only 10%. It's carbon dioxide, methane is worse. Have you seen the impact of nitrous oxide?
Oh for a world in which everyone takes responsibility for their individual contributions to the enhanced greenhouse effect (that is, the one which goes beyond any cyclical variations in natural warming and cooling, Mr Anonymous). In the UK we have an average *direct* carbon footprint some 5 times that of the average person in China, and a carbon footprint even greater than that when we consider the cost of imports, and other intangibles that we always seem to "miss off" our list of sins.
But of course technology will save the world so it has to be exempted. And when you next walk into your data centre you can rub your hands with glee and proclaim that the air conditioning consuming electricity to cool the CPUs and disks which consume electricity, to feed the internet browsers that consume electricity, are all bunk. After all, it's technology - it's the way forwards, and don't dare turn back. Don't dare increase efficiency. Don't dare switch anything off. Not for any reason!
http://www.theearthblog.org
6. anonymous
If you want to reduce your carbon footprint don't recycle, incinerate with energy recovery
The carbon footprint of 1kg polythene film is 1.9kg C02. This then increases by about 1kg per 1kg for each itteration of recycling.
Incineration releases 40KJ per kg, the CO2 released by incineration is diregarded as it is counted in the carbon footprint of the next generation of new product.
7. Jeremy Wickins
Keith, efficiency is important, but not because of spurious claims of man affecting a perfectly natural cycle. Global CO2 levels have only occasionally been lower in Earth's history than they are now. Most of the observations about global warming are an artefact of being able to micro-measure everything for the first time . Sure, the climate is changing, but I have an enduring vision of our ancestors about 11 000 years ago getting all panicky because the ice-sheet was retreating, and their way of life was going to be affected! No doubt they made some pointless sacrifices, too!