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The A to Z of green IT
Green is the new black...

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Wednesday 21 November 2007

Xmas

Are you dreaming of a green Christmas? Well, it turns out the festive period could be doing more harm than good with its wasteful attitude.

Green IT from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more...

A is for Abroad
B is for Blades
C is for Carbon footprint
D is for Data centres
E is for Energy sources
F is for Freecycle
G is for Government
H is for Homeworking
I is for Ice caps
J is for Jobs (Steve)
K is for Kilowatts
L is for Landfill
M is for Mercury
N is for Nanogeneration
O is for Offsetting
P is for Paperless office
Q is for Queen
R is for Recycling
S is for SmartPlanet.com
T is for Travel
U is for Upgrade
V is for Virtualisation
W is for WEEE
X is for Xmas
Y is for You
Z is for Zero emissions

Every year in the UK, around one billion Christmas cards are thrown away and will still be in landfill 30 years from now, according to figures from UK government advice body Envirowise, which is recommending users send e-cards instead.

Last year Envirowise subscribers sent more than 54,500 e-cards - saving more than a tonne of paper, as well as cutting the environmental costs of production and delivery.

There are also financial savings to be had by moving to electronic cards. Martin Gibson, programme director at Envirowise, said if each of the 4.3 million private sector companies in the UK sends just one Christmas card to clients or customers this year, that represents an expenditure of more than £1m on stamps alone.

It's not just 'Season's Greetings' that are getting a grilling either, as another piece of research estimated the UK gobbled up enough energy to roast 4.4 million turkeys by unnecessarily leaving office equipment on standby over the ten-day Christmas period last year.