Little Miss Enviro Geek : Microsoft Partners

Some personal news...

biwirth — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:24:00 GMT

Hello Dear Blog Readers,

(hmmm....that kinda sounds like the beginning of one of those SPAM emails)

I wanted to let you all know I am moving on from Microsoft and shall no longer be blogging here. I'll be moving an archive of these posts to my website http://www.greenitstrategy.com and shall continue blogging there on Green IT.

So what will I be doing now?

Well, I have decided to take some time off, write a book and maybe look into starting my own business. Regardless, you can always catch me through my website and please do feel free to visit me there.

Thank you to everyone who contacted me with their Green IT questions over the past two years and gave me feedback. I really appreciate your support and good luck with your own Green IT initiatives.

Kind Regards,

Bianca AKA Little Miss Enviro Geek

WWF releases paper on teleworking, sponsored by Microsoft

biwirth — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT

I am posting on April Fools Day but trust me when I say this post is not a joke! :)

The World Wildlife Fund (not World Wrestling Federation!) have released a new paper on the opportunities presented by teleworking and video conferencing.

In their opening statement, WWF state that they believe virtual meetings and telecommuting have the opportunity to to save more than 3 million tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to about half of the current US CO2 emissions. This paper extends on the WWF’s overall position on the top 10 ICT initiatives they propose would reduce the most carbon.

In their paper WWF propose four different scenarios modelled as “future worlds” which would present varied opportunities for carbon savings:

The key findings of the paper include:

Teleworking has the potential to deliver greater greenhouse gas (GHG) savings than virtual meetings
The Smart world scenario would achieve maximum benefits where IT, users and policy makers work together to deliver solutions + policies
A laptop with a webcam, wireless internet access & appropriate software represent the key technical requirement for teleworking

One of the most interesting insights, and something I see & hear from customers when I talk with them about teleworking, is that it isn’t necessarily the technology that inhibits these types of initiatives – its the organisational change and the cultural barriers. In the past two years the technology has matured and is lower cost than ever before – but some customers I speak with tell me their organisation just won’t ‘handle the change’. Typical concerns I hear for teleworking include:

Cultural attitude to work: e.g. ‘Mary isn’t working, she is sitting at home watching television / on a beach’.
Organisational change: e.g. training users to utilise the technologies appropriately.
Organisational policies: for example, ‘work hours being set between 9-5 - if you aren’t sitting down working during those times then its not acceptable’. There is obviously a need to be able to contact people during a set of work hours as most workers need to interact with other people and customers, however flexibility & the right internal policies can result in more work being done, not less. As pictured below, a study from the paper indicates increased productivity from virtual meetings:

If you are a visual person, supporting the paper is an interesting scenario & time-based calculator for some European & Asian areas and the US:

Overall the paper provides some good research for anyone planning a business case for teleworking and virtual meetings. Checkout the entire paper HERE and the planning calculator HERE.

Microsoft: Climate Change Policy

biwirth — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:43:05 GMT

Microsoft has released our Climate Change Policy - interesting but short...

"Microsoft recognizes that climate change is a serious challenge that requires a comprehensive and global response from all sectors of society.

To address it, we are committed to measuring, transparently reporting, and reducing the carbon footprint of our own operations. We are also pursuing opportunities with our partners to increase the energy efficiency of computing.

While energy efficiency is important, long-term solutions to climate change will require dramatic innovations to transition the world to a sustainable low-carbon economy while expanding the number of people who have access to electricity substantially. Microsoft believes software will play a key role in enabling this transformation. We are working to apply information technology innovation to help people and businesses around the world address climate change and protect the environment. We are also supporting research efforts on this topic being conducted by leading environmental groups, scientists, and governments around the world.

We see an important role for governments to provide the frameworks that spur the transition to a low-carbon economy, including:

Direct funding for basic research into renewable and sustainable low-carbon energy sources
Market-based mechanisms that are stable and predictable over the long-term and incent the private sector to invest in the transition to sustainable low-carbon energy sources and technologies
Regulatory systems that support innovation and eliminate barriers to the adoption of sustainable low-carbon technologies"

Microsoft: Green TechReady, Green Partner conference, Green TechEd...

biwirth — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:11:00 GMT

Within Microsoft recently we have undertaken a number of initiatives to make our events more environmentally friendly. At TechReady, an event for internal softies to attend, they have published a number of initiatives, including:

All attendees will be given a reusable water bottle to fill at water cooler stations throughout the TechReady venues. Biodegradable cups will also be available at each water cooler station.
The majority of conference-created collateral, including pocket guides and notepads, will be printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper (processed chlorine-free, printed with vegetable-based ink).
Badge holders will be collected at the end of the event to be reused at future TechReady events.
The Conference Store will be stocking a variety of environmentally friendly merchandise.
Prizes for evaluation completion will include various solar-power gadgets.
Air-conditioning/heating and lighting will be minimized during off-hours to minimize power consumption.
Disposable plates and bowls utilized during certain meal times are made of 100% organically-grown bamboo, a renewable and biodegradable material. Cups, napkins and boxed lunch containers are also made with biodegradable and recycled materials.
Menus will incorporate a variety of locally-grown and organic ingredients. Left-over food will also be donated to area food banks.

They had a similar initiative last year which resulted in:

Recycled 14,240 pounds of mixed paper, glass, cans and plastic
Recycled 12,400 pounds of cardboard
Diverted 26,400 pounds of organic waste from the landfill and sent to compositing facility
Saved 38,000 disposable water bottles from the waste stream
5,000 pounds of leftover food was donated to the Farestart program for those in need
Nearly 700 badge holders were collected for reuse

At the Microsoft Australia Partner Conference this year, we have an award for Environment and Sustainability Solutions based on the Microsoft Platform. Check out Nick Mayhew’s Partner blog for details – judging will commence soon so if you are a partner, get your submissions in!

And finally in Australia at TechEd 2008 we are planning our own environmentally friendly initiatives – more announcements in this space soon!!!

Although some people might argue this is all contributing to greenwashing, I personally think that if Microsoft can improve the environmental efficiency of their events, it’s a huge boon for everyone, from the people that receive the unused food from the events (homelessness is a massive problem everywhere), to the attendees who can also feel good about recycling and reusing.

It's Earth Day, and Microsoft have a great new website so you can love it up with the trees...

biwirth — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:25:00 GMT

So its Earth Day today - what does this mean and what is Microsoft doing to celebrate?

Quite simply, Wikipedia says Earth Day is "...intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment". The earth is affected by everything we do and we are affected by everything on earth in some way - so a day to recognise this justified I think! :)

Microsoft launched a new website today to celebrate: http://www.microsoft.com/environment/ it looks fantastic. Find out here things like:

How is Microsoft committed to the environment;
What are the business solutions from Microsoft that you can implement - quite cool here is the Dynamics Dashboard for tracking energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions http://www.microsoft.com/environment/business_solutions/articles/dynamics_ax.aspx - LOVE IT!
Find out ways to help the environment, through PC energy savings and cool tools;
Watch a video on best practices for Data Centre management;
Check Microsoft Environmental news;
Research the latest Software Showcase from Microsoft Partners.

This is excellent information to help you, my fellow geeks, develop strategies around 'green' or environmentally sustainable IT - think about including environmental information as part of your next business case to help get it up to executive management sign-off - they are all thinking about Corporate Social Responsibility (environment being just one area under CSR) and this might be the tipping point you need to get your dream Unified Communications infrastructure or Windows 2008 Hypervisor environment! ;-)

Recycle PCs to your heart's content with Microsoft...

biwirth — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:48:00 GMT

Our Environment and Sustainability Director told me last night we have a refurb program for old PCs - I had absolutely no idea!

So I checked it out and there essentially 3 ways you can participate:

Donate a PC - all you need to do is find a Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher in your area and give them a call to discuss your donation. This is a great option for businesses doing their hardware refresh programs.
Refurb computers - so for this one you actually refurb the computers with Windows 2000 or Windows XP with Office 2003 standard and on-sell them. There is no charge to join the MAR program and you can be a commercial, non-commercial, public or private business.
Get a refurbished PC - refurbed computers are available for charity, education use plus some specially approved purposes. I checked out one of the refurbisher's sites and they had a P4, 2Ghz, 512MB RAM with 20GB HDD PC plus a monitor, mouse and keyboard for AU$280.00.

And it's not just Australia - this program is available all over the world - NICE! Got more Q's? Go to the FAQ's.

Iced Earth by Iced Earth, Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine & Learning to Live by Dream Theater

Are you a 'Green' Microsoft Partner?

biwirth — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:58:00 GMT

Nick M recently started a regularly updated blog entry on Microsoft partners (http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmayhew/archive/2008/04/03/green-it-solutions-from-australian-microsoft-partners-tell-me-more.aspx) so if you know of environmentally friendly or IT solutions for sustainable IT from our Microsoft partners, shoot your solutions to him at http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmayhew/contact.aspx.

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