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"Smart use of ICT can save the planet"

Michael Feeley | Thursday April 24, 2008



Writing exclusively for Hi-Tech Scotland magazine, Richard Moir, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Cisco in Scotland, has challenged conventional wisdom on the environmental impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Drawing on recent research by the global environment network WWF, Moir spells out his belief that the ICT industry should not only set its sights on reducing the 2% of global CO2 emissions that it is directly responsible for, but also that ICT systems should also be utilised to drastically reduce emissions in other areas of human activity, helping to cut the total volume of greenhouse gases by up to 20%.

Moir tells Hi-Tech Scotland: “The smart application of technology could remove something in the order of 10 times the amount of CO2 produced by the ICT industry. And this 20 percent cut in global emissions could be achieved right now, provided the industry can take the initiative.”

“Large data centres currently guzzle conspicuous amounts of energy, not just for information processing but also for cooling, power conversion and lighting. At Cisco, we believe data centre power consumption could be cut by up to 85 percent using a combination of more efficient servers and virtualisation to improve use of disk space and do away with the need for separate physical appliances for functions such as security.”

Moir believes that ICT solutions have a larger environmental role to play than simply reducing their own emissions and provides numerous examples.

“Take transport, which currently accounts for up to a quarter of CO2 emissions worldwide but is set to produce up to double that amount by 2050. A recent study by WWF and the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) estimates 22.2 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved a year if just 10 percent of European employees became flexi-workers. The study also estimated 2.1 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved if 50 percent of employees replaced a single meeting a year with an audio or Web conference, and replacing 20 percent of European business trips with videoconferences could save 22.4 million tonnes annually.

“Our experience at Cisco seems to bear out these predictions. So far we have been able to cut business travel by 20 percent thanks to the introduction of TelePresence rooms, which give participants a way to meet face-to-face without having to be in the same place. This is next generation videoconferencing, which really has to be experienced to be believed.

Moir continues: “In our European Services division, senior managers have gone even further and taken the lead in replacing travel with collaboration tools such as Unified Communications. Meetings have been given different priority levels and only those of the highest order automatically qualify for air travel.

“The initiative has not only reduced costs, but has also actually improved the level of collaboration as it is possible to take part in more meetings virtually than in person - and all this while improving the work-life balance of the workforce.”

Moir goes on to identify other areas where ICT can reduce environmental impact including traffic flows, buildings management, manufacturing, logistics and public sector efficiencies.

To read to full column, see page 16 of this month’s Hi-Tech Scotland.

www.cisco.com

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