Environment and sustainability news and comment CCB 113
September 30, 2010
The energy efficiency of data centres was once an operational issue, and almost completely off the radar for most businesses, from a sustainability point of view. That was until fairly recently. The signs of a sea change lie mainly in the fact that a number of companies have begun to incorporate data centre ‘green IT’ initiatives as a key part of their corporate environmental strategies. Equally, information technology and business process outsourcing firms, such as CapGemini and COLT, have begun to put data centres at the heart of their own sustainability commitments. Big players in the sector like HP, Microsoft, IBM and Intel are also taking huge steps to increase the energy efficiency of their data centres and publicly disclose their performance in this area. These efficiency measures of course make a lot of sense, especially since data centres are a core part of the service their sector provides and also because energy consumption is a top operating cost. But what’s more interesting is the increasing levels of transparency on this hot topic, being led in part by the likes of Google, which now publishes quarterly updates of the efficiency of its data centres online, as part of its corporate responsibility reporting.
With growing investor interest on all things carbon-related and increasing focus from business customers on the indirect environmental impacts associated with their business partners, it is not difficult to imagine that data centre power usage could become a serious point of brand differentiation for IT service providers. With the US ‘Green Data Center’ market set to grow from $3.82 billion to $13.81 billion by 2015, perhaps it already has.
Yohan Hill is a senior consultant at Corporate Citizenship. Email him at Yohan.hill@corporate-citizenship to discuss climate change, environmental strategy and emissions.
Biodiversity is the next big issue
McKinsey Global Survey results have shown that biodiversity – the diversity of species, variety of ecosystems, and variability of genes – now occupies a similar position in the public debate as climate change did in 2007. As with climate change a few years ago, executives are now beginning to recognize the importance of biodiversity for their future strategies, with the survey finding that a majority of executives, 59%, see biodiversity as more of an opportunity than a risk for their companies. Consumer and employee interest is seen to present a variety of business opportunities such as bolstering corporate reputations with environmentally conscious stakeholders by acting to preserve biodiversity, and developing new products or ideas from renewable natural resources.
On 26 August, Shell Canada announced the start-up of its commercial-scale Atmospheric Fines Drying field demonstration for managing tailings from its oil sands operations at the company’s Muskeg River Mine. Tailings are a mixture of fine clay, sand, water and residual bitumen produced through oil sands extraction, and the tailings pond at the Muskeg River Mine is some 14 square kilometres in area. The demonstration project occupies over 0.3 square kilometres (75 acres), and is expected to deliver a final deposit of some 250,000 tonnes. T he challenge is to develop and apply technologies that will accelerate the pace at which tailings can be reclaimed, speeding up reclamation and thus minimizing the need to increase the size and number of tailings ponds.
Campaign for green stamp of approval on more buildings
Environmental think tank BSRIA has joined forces with NGBailey, Buildoffsite and UKGBC to lobby the UK government for visible energy certificates in non-domestic buildings. They argue that displaying DEC performance prominently in circulation areas (especially receptions) will provide stronger incentives to landlords both to build better new buildings and especially to refurbish existing buildings to higher energy standards. BSRIA have demonstrated their support for this proposal by committing to place prominent DECs in their non-domestic office buildings over 1,000m2 by December 2011. The proposition is also gaining backing from other businesses, including Siemens and Armstrong.
US green data centre market to hit $13 billion by 2015
From 2010 to 2015, the US green data centre market is projected to increase from $3.82 billion to $13.81 billion, according to a report from Environmental Leader Insights. In addition, the report finds that US Government expenditure on green data centres will reach $0.86 billion in 2010 and increase to $2.05 billion in 2015; accounting for 14.9% of the green data centre market in the US.
Low Carbon Entrepreneurs, a website providing information for entrepreneurs wishing to start new businesses that take advantage of the emerging green economy, was launched on 13 August. By providing an overview of the sector and links to information on funding and networking opportunities, the information portal will help entrepreneurs explore the commercial possibilities of low carbon technologies.
Dell eliminates use of 18.2 million pounds of packaging
In its effort to make product packaging more convenient for customers and less impactful on the planet, Dell has eliminated the use of more than 18.2 million pounds of packaging material since 2008. The reductions result from the company’s ‘three Cs’ packaging strategy, which focuses on the cube (packaging volume); content (what it is made of) and curbside recyclability of its packaging materials. Since 2008, the company has increased the amount of recycled content in its packaging to approximately 32%, and is now 94% of the way to achieving its stated goal of increasing recycled content in packaging to 35% by 2010.
British Safety Council recognises elite performance in environmental management
The British Safety Council has launched the ‘Globe of Honour’ Award, to celebrate the top performers in environmental management. The award represents a pinnacle of achievement in the field and will formally recognise those companies who have fully embraced environmental management and sustainability as a core business operation.
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