Make tech greener, CIOs told (21-Sep-07)
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Full story: Make tech greener, CIOs told (21-Sep-07)
With an annual spend of £12 billion, the public sector is the biggest user of IT in the UK. Cabinet Office minister Gillian Merron has warned that government computer systems must become greener, as it has a responsibility to set a positive example.
This means not just reducing the amount of electricity used, but also looking at how systems can be built in ways that consume fewer materials and make recycling easier, she said.
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And make everyone else green with envy...
By Steve Ranger
Published: Friday 21 September 2007
Government computer systems must become greener to set a good example for the rest of the country, public sector tech chiefs have been warned.
Speaking at a European e-government conference in Lisbon, Cabinet Office minister Gillian Merron called on the UK's CIO Council to reduce the carbon footprint of government computers and improve the sustainability of public sector IT.
Get the latest public sector news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the PS newsletter today! Merron said that worldwide, IT is responsible for about one billion tonnes of CO2 emissions each year - between two and four per cent of global energy - and the public sector is the biggest user of IT in the UK, spending around £12bn per year.
She said the government has a responsibility to set a positive example on the environment. This doesn't just mean reducing the amount of electricity used but also looking at how systems can be designed and built in ways that consume fewer materials and which make recycling easier, she said.
Government CIO John Suffolk said there is real potential to deliver more sustainable IT that also costs less and provides better results for users. New technologies can help reduce energy consumption and allow more flexible working.
He said in a statement: "There is already some excellent practice in place and we look forward to working with the IT industry to build on this and to deliver continued improvements in the future."
The CIO Council will now work with the Information Age Partnership to look at how government can work with the industry to put public sector IT onto a more sustainable footing, and will publish an initial report in 2008.
- Source: Silicon.com
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The Greening of Public Sector IT (28-Sep-07)
You can hardly move these days for statements from government and industry on their action plans for the environment. This week, as well as the Prime Minister’s party conference speech lauding his green credentials (a must for all politicians at the moment), we had the Cabinet Office Minister Gillian Merron calling on the UK Chief Information Officers' Council to reduce the carbon footprint of government computers and improve the sustainability of public sector IT.
Speaking at the fourth European Ministerial e-Government Conference in Lisbon, she said that as a major customer of the IT industry, government has a responsibility to set a positive example on the environment: ‘I am asking our IT leaders to work with industry to find new ways to improve the sustainability of government computer systems. This doesn’t just mean reducing the amount of electricity they use, but also looking at how they can be designed and built in ways that consume fewer materials and which make recycling easier.’
John Suffolk, the Government's CIO, endorsed that statement, saying: ‘There is real potential to deliver more sustainable IT that also costs less and provides better results for users. New technologies can help reduce energy consumption and allow more flexible working.’
The CIO Council will work with the Information Age Partnership to take a systematic look at how government can work with the industry to put public sector IT onto a more sustainable footing. They will publish their initial report in 2008.
These statements follow on from the publication of The UK Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan in March 2007. Much was also made of the environmental benefits offered by the new Cabinet Office IT contract with Fujitsu, Project Flex, back in June.
All parts of the IT supply chain have to be conscious of the growing demand for environmentally-aware solutions. This will require the industry to get its own act in order (for example, through the more efficient design and operation of data centres), but there are also opportunities to drive innovation in terms of how we use IT, particularly with regard to flexible working and the use of collaboration and mobile technologies.
If the ethical imperative isn’t enough, the government has the power to provide real commercial drivers for change. We will have to see if it also has the will.
- Source: [Ovum]
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