Queen's speech highlights 'green IT'

The government is set to introduce legislation to reduce the impact of climate change, the Queen said in her speech to parliament today.

"My government will publish a bill on climate change as part of its policy to protect the environment, consistent with the need to secure long-term energy supplies," Her Majesty said.

The government has not yet announced any firm plans for what form that legislation will take, but has set itself the target of cutting carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2010 and 60 per cent by 2050, as laid out by the Kyoto protocol.

According to UN figures, the UK has the eighth-worst record in the world for carbon emissions, with the US coming in first, the EU second and China third. The UK also ranks below Germany, India, Russia and Japan in terms of emissions.

So what does this mean for the IT industry?

Given the considerable electricity consumption of computer hardware, many IT companies have already reacted to rising power costs and concerns over climate change by creating more energy-efficient products and ramping up their marketing around environmental concerns. The main issues cited have been the amount of electricity used by processors and hardware - especially in data centres.

A statement released by Intel in response to the Queen's speech said businesses need to take immediate action and look at the energy consumption of their products. The company said: "Technology can help business to make computing more energy-efficient and deliver greater performance."

Intel is one of many IT vendors touting the environmentally friendly aspects of its products.

In a statement it added: "Intel's latest processor architecture delivers energy-efficient computing that businesses and consumers can take advantage of, with desktop CPUs delivering 40 per cent greater performance for 40 per cent less energy."

Despite some hype around the topic, there is certainly room for improvement when it comes to the energy consumption of computer hardware, as older systems are known as electricity hogs.

"As far as electricity consumption goes, legacy systems are one of the worst culprits," commented Martin Rice, CEO at Erudine, a company that makes toolkits to clone and replace their legacy systems. "They consume vast amounts of electricity and electricity production is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions."

Rice adds: "Legacy systems often require a large IT department to run them which, in itself, involves additional heating and lighting costs, as well as the environmental impact of running a larger office."

Last month saw the release of a highly publicised report that linked the issue of climate change with economics - perhaps one of the first to do so. Written by economist Sir Nicholas Stern, the report predicted global warming could cut the global GDP by 20 per cent, but could cost just one per cent if governments act now.

While energy consumption of computer hardware is a major environmental concern for the IT industry, it is not the only one. The other is the pollution from discarded hardware.

Legislation for the recycling of computers and other electronics is set to be agreed on at the end of this year. Under proposals of the EU's WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive, vendors would be made responsible for collecting, treating and recycling electronic waste.

One company that has been especially vocal on the environmental impact of its products is HP. It advertises the low-voltage processors in its blade PCs and what it calls "Smart Cooling" technology for data centres.

It also claims its Global Telework Program, which allows 11,400 employees to work from home, saves 57 million miles of travel and 24,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Zoe McMahon, environmental strategies and sustainability manager for HP, said: "Industry as a whole is striving to improve energy efficiency because energy constitutes such an important part of the business cost structure. Individual consumers are also looking to reduce their utility bills and do their part to help the environment."