UK tech has 12 years to help save the planet

The UK technology industry has just 12 years to slash its rapidly growing carbon footprint if it is to help the world avoid catastrophic climate change, a study has found.

Green IT from A to Z

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A is for Abroad
B is for Blades
C is for Carbon footprint
D is for Data centres
E is for Energy sources
F is for Freecycle
G is for Government
H is for Homeworking
I is for Ice caps
J is for Jobs (Steve)
K is for Kilowatts
L is for Landfill
M is for Mercury
N is for Nanogeneration
O is for Offsetting
P is for Paperless office
Q is for Queen
R is for Recycling
S is for SmartPlanet.com
T is for Travel
U is for Upgrade
V is for Virtualisation
W is for WEEE
X is for Xmas
Y is for You
Z is for Zero emissions

The IT and consumer electronics sector needs to act now by keeping tabs on its CO2 emissions, pushing customers towards greener behaviour and accelerating low carbon tech and practices, according to the report by the UK trade association for technology Intellect.

The report says IT accounts for about two per cent of global CO2 emissions and warns that without action there would be a five-fold increase in emissions related to IT and a six-fold increase in emissions related to consumer electronics.

The widespread implementation of low carbon tech holds the key to stave off damaging temperature rises of two degrees centigrade-plus the report says - stating this needs to happen by 2020. It warns waiting until 2040 would be to "court disaster".

The report identifies 26 different technologies that can be applied by other sectors of the economy to reduce their carbon emissions.

Emma Fryer, Intellect programme manager for energy and the environment, spelled out the dangers of ignoring the report's recommendations.

She said: "The consequence is to end up raising the temperature of the atmosphere way beyond two degrees centigrade. We are talking about implementing this by somewhere around 2015 not 2040."

Intellect claims the tech industry can exceed the target set by the CBI Climate Change Task Force for a 30 per cent improvement in the efficiency of electrical equipment by 2030.

The report points to efficiency and standby improvements in products such as LCD and plasma flatscreens and more efficient future displays such as OLEDs and FEDs. Fryer also referred to innovations such as ByeBye Standby - a device that can switch off plugs with a remote control.

Fryer told silicon.com tech companies need to think about measures such as rebuilding data centres around energy efficiency, for example scaling down centres containing non-mission critical data.

The report also supports carbon accounting - attaching a cost to producing CO2 - as a way of driving demand for energy efficient products and services.

Intellect is hoping to drive these green changes forward through a number of schemes by:

• Working with scientists at the University of Warwick to develop a mechanism to allow business to quantify IT-related emissions.
• Developing a programme of guidance for its members on improving the energy efficiency of their business and manufacturing process.
• Building a web-based tool for consumers to compare energy efficiency, lifespan and other environmental credentials of different electronic products.
• Creating a panel of technology experts from both business and academia to develop a summary of the best opportunities for emissions reduction and how to optimise them.