Advancing the green agenda

10 February 2009

There is no doubt that IT can help reduce environmental issues in many parts of the economy. Bernd Kosch, VP strategic alliances at Fujitsu Siemens tells us more.

Green IT policies need to take into account the environmental impact of hardware products and production processes as well as the procurement and usage scenarios of technology. We have raised our game across the business, focussing on aligning with the various stakeholders in the Green IT ecosystem and using the resulting knowledge to drive appropriate activity in the design, development, production and delivery of our products and services. We are championing this cause and sharing our experiences so that the entire industry can reach new highs and collectively offer end customers products and services that contribute to wider CSR activity and deliver quantifiable business value.

Our activity has particularly intensified in the area of ecosystem and alignment. Our engagement with NGOs, analysts, suppliers, customers and industry consortia is at an all time high. We have established good relationships with Greenpeace and other NGOs, with the Climate Savers Computing Initiative and with The Green Grid. These consortia are driving the green agenda in information technology.

Our product and technology advances over the last 12 months have also had a significantly green flavour, culminating in the recent announcement of our new Green IT labelling scheme. Our Green IT label has three levels, represented by star ratings, with three stars being the highest. While we have and will continue to put products through third party certifications, we introduced our own labelling scheme to stretch ourselves.

We are also focusing on factory production. The combined knowledge of our in-house professionals and external thought leaders has given us a production edge that we had not foreseen when we embarked on this journey. Today, our development and production teams are continuously seeking product and production improvements – looking for every tweak that can raise the rating by fractions of a point.

The use of recycled materials continues to challenge us as we seek to incorporate higher proportions in new products – but with such emphasis embraced across the production team there are small advances made all the time. Fractional streamlining in our production processes can realise many positives for the environment. Whether the outcome contributes to lower energy use, lower water requirements or lower emissions we must delight in successes. For example, in the last 10 years, we reduced the energy needed to produce a PC by 50 per cent thanks to a series of measures we have taken.

Managing energy is important to us. Assuming a server lifespan of four years, you could replace all of the hardware in many data centres in operation today and pay for the infrastructure investment out of the achieved energy savings.

There are many companies though who are still unaware of the savings that can be made. Incomplete cost-optimisation from separating IT-cost from facility-cost often leads to a misallocation of resources and energy being wasted.

So where do we go from here? While we’re proud of our achievements and the recognition that we have received, we remain committed to continuous improvement. Momentum for the green agenda in business is increasing and Fujitsu Siemens Computers intends to retain its market-leading position.

Green IT is a comprehensive subject, it’s not just the power and greenhouse gas issues that tend to dominate general discussion. Energy efficiency constitutes a direct and clear business case that offers immediate monetary reward. Hopefully, this will help to start and drive the change that we all need to protect the environment as we enjoy it today.

About the author: Bernd Kosch is the strategic vice president of alliances at Fujitsu Siemens Computers. In 2007, he took over responsibilities in the coordination of the company’s Green IT activities, including consortia related initiatives, partner cooperation on environmental aspects and representation of Fujitsu Siemens Computers towards NGOs.

This article first appeared in the spring 2009 edition of Retailspeak magazine.