The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has published a set of guidelines for marketers who want to promote their products' green credentials. We mention it because scarcely a day passes here at TechTarget on which we do not receive a message about IT going green thanks to vendors' new innovations that emit less greenhouse gas and can cut your electricity bills thanks to the fact new products pull fewer watts than their predecessors.
There's certainly an element of truth to the green stories that vendors are telling. If you can use less power, you will make fewer greenhouse emissions and just about everyone thinks that is a good idea.
But let's not forget that an equally pressing reason for IT products that use less power is that electricity is a finite resource that is increasingly expensive. Indeed, the price of electricity is galloping ahead of inflation. In NSW, for example, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has allowed electricity price rises of 5% annually, before inflation. Big power users have had even faster rises and more are expected in the near and medium-term future.
That power is finite is evident from the fact that even the USA has experienced brownouts or power shortages in some cities, pressing companies like Google who now build data centres next to hydro-electric plants to ensure supply. The reason for that decision is the company's complete and utter reliance on electric power, without which it cannot turn a dollar.
And that's the "green" we suspect should be pushed to the fore in the debate about IT's impact on the environment. Businesses certainly enjoy reducing the size of their environmental footprint. Doing so is an important thing for the long-term future of business.
Today's green hype, however, has a lot more to do with saving money (or making sure a business can keep making it) than it does with environmental activism.
We'd like to see that reflected in more careful use of the word "green." Vendors will also need to take care of phrases like "energy efficient," which is singled out in the ACCC's document as deserving of special care.
Will we see changes to the way products that consume less power are promoted in 2008? We suspect that before long, the power of the word "green" will pall as an IT marketing ploy. "Power 2.0" as its replacement, anyone?
What do you think of green marketing of IT products? Send a message to editor@techtarget.com.au and let us know.
The author thinks it sensible to point out that he shelled out several thousand dollars for rainwater tanks at home and commutes by bicycle, just in case a mob forms outside TechTarget ANZ's offices.