Despite the disappointments of the Copenhagen climate talks, climate change is fast becoming a reality for business. It is partly a matter of planning for the future. The political battles rage on, taking different paths in different parts of the world, but the overall trend is clear. Activities that produce greenhouse gases will be penalized economically. More efficient use of resources from energy to water will become a high priority. Companies face a choice of when, not if, to “go green.”
A spoonful of fact – underappreciated until recently – is helping this medicine go down. Producing less waste and using resources more efficiently can be good for the bottom line. True, installing systems to monitor, manage and reduce electric consumption seems a burden – until you see hundreds of thousands of dollar or Euros vanish from the cost structure.
In 2010, WTA introduced a "Green Teleport" campaign to encourage the operators of teleports to take a fresh look at their energy use and find ways to manage it downward, both to save money and reduce their carbon footprint. The digital revolution has transformed today’s teleports into data centers – though with
much richer options for communications than the typical "glass house." And on present trends, in the US alone, data centers are forecast to consume 12 gigawatts of power at a cost of $7.4 billion by 2011, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The energy they consume will churn out 79 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. By 2020, McKinsey & Co. expects them to be producing more CO2 than the airline industry.
So clearly, reducing teleport energy usage would be good for the planet. If done properly, it can be good for the bottom line of teleport operators. This was brought to WTA’s attention by Mary Frost, president of Power to Change US, former president of GlobeCast America and until recently a member of our Board. In research with teleport operators, she identified opportunities to reduce energy consumption at a typical teleport by up to $300,000 through changes to business practices and facility design. That’s real money – and it may be just the start.
For our campaign, we have published an introductory white paper, "The Green Teleport: The Business Case for Sustainability." We have surveyed a cross-section of teleport operators to learn how seriously they take the issue and what they are doing about it. We will present the results in a white paper released at our 2010 Member Forum in Washington on March 15, the day before the opening of SATELLITE 2010. Titled "The Green Teleport: Best Practices in Energy Management and Carbon Reduction," the Forum will present case studies from the experiences of satellite carriers and teleport operators. We expect to come away with a clearer picture of the opportunity as well as how much priority our business is willing to give to give to the green mandate. (See Upcoming Events at www.worldteleport.org).
Our survey results show that it is still early days in the effort to go green, but there are encouraging signs. The first step in the process is an energy audit to learn where the facility can improve. Only a quarter of respondents have already conducted an audit but almost 40% are either conducting one now or plan to do so. The first target of opportunity is the installation of automated building controls for lights, temperature control and ventilation, followed by more energy-efficient lighting. Operators are also asking their employee to pitch in by turning off equipment when not in use, training them in energy-efficiency best practices and using more teleconferencing as a substitute for travel. The most encourage news is that companies are not just paying lip service to the issue. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they believed that climate change is a major problem. The CEO is involved in the company’s green initiative at over 75% of responding companies and the CEO and COO are the ones with primary responsibility for success.
The March 15 Member Forum is open to WTA members only. There is no charge for attendance. The results of the Green Teleport survey will be made public in a report following the Forum.
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Robert Bell is the Executive Director of the World Teleport Association, which represents the world’s most innovative teleport operators, carriers and technology providers in 20 nations. He can be reached at mailto:rbell@worldteleport.org
