Friday, October 01, 2010
Economic Green Light
Last Wednesday the analysts at Heavy Reading hosted their Green Broadband Conference in NYC. Now in its third year, GBC is the redux of the Green Telecom Conference put on last spring by the same group. Most interesting to me was its singular focus on energy consumption. Listening to the speakers – ranging from corporate execs to network architects and heads of sustainability for the nation’s leading telcos and OEMs – the calculable wins involve using less power, using alternative power in far-flung regions (off the grid), and fleet fuel reduction via GPS technologies, hybrid vehicles, home garaging, etc.
In a moment of opening consensus among the panel members was recognition that in addition to the politics of it, perhaps the biggest challenge to achieving their sustainability goals, is the considerable cost of upgrading legacy network equipment to more energy-efficient devices. “The cost of new technology can make it very, very difficult to see the business case for green," they said. Naturally, my response to this would be the overwhelming need to look beyond just the device itself to find financial and environmental metrics that outpace the number of kilowatts consumed. Among all the impressive stats and creative thinking in the room that day, the term “supply chain” never came up.
In a second moment of overwhelming consensus, panel members vehemently disagreed with findings of a recent Heavy Reading survey that shows nearly 80% of respondents feel the current economy has stymied their sustainability initiatives. Even without allocated funds, execs from Verizon, Alcatel-Lucent and Comcast agreed that if there is payback – measurable ROI that drives shareholder value – sustainability, or any initiative for that matter, will get the “Green” light.
For any exec looking to tie these thoughts together, you might want to check out a practical reuse framework for your organization. One large client was able to reduce spend on capital equipment by $35 million in the first year, reduce electronics waste by 80%, and substantially lower CO2 output by limiting unnecessary shipping and other transportation costs.
Sounds like a business case to me.
