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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.
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.
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 CIO's 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.
Credit: Silicon.Com
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