Government’s Green IT policies is a Step in the Right Direction

There can be little doubt that one of the most hotly debated topics in recent years has been the environment – and to what extent human activity over the past century has contributed to global warming.

Indeed, there is still some dispute as to whether recent climate change patterns are entirely down to the actions of people or whether it is simply Mother Nature at work. It is becoming increasingly accepted that, for the most part at least, we are to blame.

There have been many initiatives in recent years, designed to combat this and even reverse some of the damage. It would seem that the message is finally starting to get across and campaigns to get people to turn their lights off, ditch their cars and fly less seem to be having a degree of success.

In keeping with this, the UK government has recently unveiled its own new mandated green IT targets, which is a world’s first for a governing body. Whether or not there will be penalties in place for failure to adhere to the green IT policies remains to be seen, but it is a clear sign that the issue of climate change is being taken seriously and it may act to spur other nations into action too.

Ten of the original 18 recommendations have been mandated, many of which are very simple to implement. The proposed measures of achieving the goals range from removing active screensavers and switching monitors to low power, to shutting down PCs after office hours and applying timer switches to non-networked technology.

The wider goal is to agree and establish international standards and regulations on green IT, with links being forged with global organisations such as the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This should go some way towards setting the wheels in motion for this initiative to be taken up on a global level.

Of course, having the world’s governments on board is one thing. The upshot of this should be that it sets an example to international businesses in how to run an environmentally friendly organisation and, with ambitions to be carbon neutral by 2012, the UK government is certainly setting the bar high for others to follow.

Communications and IT play a vital role in the modern day business world but a consequence of this is a considerable amount of energy is consumed to power the technology revolution. Simple steps such as using the services of a web hosting company with strong green principles can make a big difference. This could involve carbon-offsetting, or using the most power-efficient hardware technology available.

Ultimately though, time is running out in the battle to save the planet from irreversible damage. The time to act is now and the government’s new green IT mandates are a step in the right direction.