UK blueprint on how tech can beat climate change

The government is to lead the way in Green IT by launching a national strategy to cut computer-related carbon emissions.

Government CIO John Suffolk announced the Green IT Strategy, saying it would be scrutinised by ministers over the next eight weeks ahead of its launch.

Suffolk stressed the importance of the role IT has to play in helping reduce the UK's CO2 emissions, saying IT plays a role in 5.5 million public services and government spends approximately £14bn on technology each year.

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He said: "We can very significantly impact in terms of what is going on but the key thing is to make progress."

The strategy will provide advice and tips on how to slash IT power demands and emissions.

Suffolk said it was important for CIOs to begin by mastering the basics in cutting carbon, such as: using equipment for longer, using DC power and fresh air cooling in data centres, switching off computers out-of-hours, reducing employee-to-printer ratios and increasing video conferencing and home working capabilities.

The strategy will focus on examples of best practice and Suffolk suggested that IT "champions" with a proven record of cutting carbon should be a model for Green IT for the public and private sector.

He said: "The problem is that people do not know what the best design for Green IT is and we have to reinvent it again and again.

"If anybody can show us how best to do it then we should copy them, rather than continually relearning and making a big mess of it."

The strategy will also set out how far along the public sector is in reducing its CO2 emissions from IT.

Suffolk also has high hopes for further CO2 cuts from near-future chips that can reduce power demands by adjusting their clock speed to match the task.

He warned that the UK government has many underground data centres that are directly at risk from climate-change-related flooding.

The announcement comes as a study by the centre-right think tank, Policy Exchange, said the government had missed 60 per cent of its green targets set since 1997, including providing five per cent of electricity from renewables by 2003.