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When it comes to green IT, the digital media and entertainment industry is all image and no substance. A new report shows that even though the entertainment industry thinks it should green its IT infrastructure, it gives itself grades of C, D, and F for work actually done.
The Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum and its Global Renewable Energy
and Environmental Network (GREEN) group decided to survey what progress has been made toward greening IT in digital media and entertainment-related businesses. So it surveyed IT professionals in the industry. The results weren't pretty.
First, some background. The entertainment industry is a surprisingly sizable polluter. A UCLA study found that California's film industry is the state's second largest polluter, trailing only the oil industry. And as the entertainment industry goes digital, its IT infrastructure becomes a bigger and bigger polluter.
The GREEN study found that IT professionals in the industry think something should be done...but no one actually seems to be doing much. So 99% of IT professionals in the industry believe that their digital media and& entertainment industry-related businesses should reduce their carbon footprint, but 76% give the industry a C, D, or F for their actual environmental practices. Only 2% gave the industry an A.
There's more disturbing news, still. Consider these figures, quoted directly from the survey:
- 77 percent allocate only 10 percent or less of their budget towards green IT
- 53 percent don't have or don't know if they have a corporate sustainability agenda
- Only 22 percent say management is highly sensitized to the Think Eco-Logical message
- Top three environmental activities that executives are undertaking are conducting discussions, publishing guidelines, and doing nothing!
Buildings
does digital really equal worse pollution?
I haven't read the UCLA study, so I don't know what the boundaries of their assessment were. However, IF it included energy expended in huge special effects explosions, plus the embodied carbon and resources in the vehicles, buildings, etc. destroyed in the course of filming, then isn't there a chance that the increasing use of ICT through CGI and the like will actually reduce Hollywood's footprint?
Rather than needing a jumbo, several gallons of fuel, explosives, lights, crew, and all the rest of it, now3 all you need is a person, desk, computer and a bit of heating & lighting.
Thats quite apart from the possibility that new digital equipment will replace older, less energy-efficient gear.
As with all of these comparative studies, the choice of boundaries of assessment is critical, and can push the results in favour of one option over another.
Its probably correct to say that as the industry goes digital, its IT infrastructure footprint will grow, but thats a slightly misleading and narrow view. Really, we should be looking at the picture as a whole and seeing what/whether other sources of pollution may be shrinking even faster because of it . . .
Hollywood, it's time to make a difference!
www.powerdownfortheplanet.org
Video competition - win cool prizes and cold hard cash
Hollywood use your video skills to make a difference!
Many people don't think to turn off their computers after using them. Given that most personal computers waste half of the energy delivered from the wall, leaving your computer on wastes money, wastes energy, and generates excess heat.
So pick up a camera and make a video telling your own story of energy efficiency and IT waste. Join us, gather some friends, and broadcast your vision of efficient computing. The team with the most compelling video can win up to $5,000 and energy efficient laptops; students at participating universities are also eligible to win $5,000 and Specialized Globe bicycles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jABb8L89G44
Green IT
Hello,
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