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Green ICT Series
“Green" – much more than saving energy
July 13, 2009
A topic for the future: Nadine Schäfer is writing her thesis on green ICT. She asked T-Systems customers about how innovative technologies turn their business into a sustainable one.
The business informatics student at the Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences is convinced that "ICT solutions can contribute a lot to climate protection by reducing CO2 emissions." For her, environmental protection is "more than just energy efficiency." In her paper Nadine Schäfer also takes a look at how to avoid hardware, paper and travel. "In times like these where there are so many threats to the environment, there are many factors that play a role." She uses case studies as the basis for establishing an approach with which she can objectively measure and evaluate the environmental impact of
ICTICT
Information and Communication Technology. These two terms began to be combined in the 1980s to emphasize the growing convergence between the two technologies.
solutions at companies. In other words, what impact do they have on eco-efficiency? Environmental and economic advantages
Nadine Schäfer is especially impressed with the example of a packing materials manufacturer who was able to cut down the number of business trips by car or plane to both its German and European subsidiaries by more than half with modern video conferencing solutions such as Telepresence. At the same time, the company reduced its annual CO2 emissions from 25.28 tons to 9.23 tons. "At first I could hardly believe the results," says Nadine Schäfer. The company also saves on costs by using video conferencing and is able to be more flexible when organizing business meetings. The company saw a return on investment after only four months. "Green technology makes a good investment," says the student. She estimates that other companies could generate similar or even better results. The problem: "A lot of companies don't keep track of what they save by using green ICT. So they don't have anything to compare it to. They don't realize how much they would save on travel expenses and CO2."
