Feb. 15, 2010
There has been much talk in the last decade or so in the US about people changing their lifestyles to have a more sustainable planet. Polls show the majority of Americans favor this. However, until the recent recession, energy usage (miles driven, electricity use per capita) continued to rise. Most people will not change their lifestyles for a cause, and this is not surprising; it’s hard to change one’s lifestyle substantially (me included) after living a certain way for decades. And: the Earth has about 6 billion people, of which 1 billion live a comfortable lifestyle. By 2050 the Earth is expected to have 9 billion people and 3 billion with our lifestyle. How can we sustain the growing use of natural resources and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? Is technology (making our lifestyle less intrusive) the answer? Can technology go from a scapegoat (high energy user) to a savior, reducing its own carbon footprint and also providing tools to allow others (us) to do so?
Not long ago office IT centers took a high portion of its electricity bill, including added energy for cooling. Furthermore, many systems caused building HVAC systems to use added power for worker comfort. In an extreme case, an IT system caused an AC system to so overcool an office that people had to use space heaters – in the summer! – to work.
With all that, IT overall does not contribute a lot to global GHG emissions. According to McKinsey & Co., between computational power and data storage, IT contributes about 2% of global GHG emissions, growing to about 3% by 2020, as more of the developing world gets access to computers. While IT is reducing its own carbon footprint, can IT also help other industries reduce their GHG emissions? And also make money?
Based on new products and advertisements, the answer appears to be yes. A number of companies are devoting R&D efforts to create new “smart” products/software to help consumers and businesses monitor data and make adjustments, such as energy usage. Systems can calculate energy savings and GHG emission reductions, too. And by helping customers reduce energy use, systems will pay for themselves and thus be in demand.
Rhetorically, how much less gasoline has been burned and GHGs emitted because of software like Mapquest and Google Earth giving directions to millions and avoiding extra driving because of not being lost? Another example is technologies for virtual meetings and secure networks to reduce typical business travel and employee commute, saving time and fuel. There is a new expression for this: telepresence, technologies to allow a person to feel as if present at a distant location. Certainly such technologies also result in increased efficiency and reduced costs, bottom line business values.

As mentioned in another blog, there are 8 purely business reasons for a company to address climate change. One of them is to focus efforts on new or rebranded products to be more “green” or efficient to increase sales. Several companies market their products as “smart” or “green” or making the world a better place. Of course, selling products to reduce energy use and increase efficiency to many businesses and buildings will not only reduce GHG emissions substantially, but is also a major business opportunity.