Recently I was asked by one of our clients if we ran "green" servers.  I did a bit of research and found that there are some companies (I only found U.S. based ones) that promoted themselves as "green" hosts.  I had a bit of think about this, particularly in light of the popular "carbon trading" debate going on. 

I decided that this was a great question, that like most things in this area - it has a complex answer.

I have been following the carbon debate with interest - and to tell you the truth, I believe that it is a step in the right direction.  Buying "Carbon Credits" online is a novel idea, and has the potential to not only do some good on the ground (by planting trees) but it more importantly makes these actions in the reach of most people, thus increasing the "social capital" and general awareness of the issue.  I am concerned however that it is largely being used to "greenwash" western systems.  Particularly in IT, the carbon debate is only a small part of the environmental impact of the IT sector - with the release of toxic waste in the manufacture and particularly the disposal of IT equipment being largely overlooked.

Currently, much of the US IT waste is collected under the guise of "recycling", given a green tick then shipped to China / Africa where it is smelted and broken down in villages under appalling conditions.  Check out the following trailer for a documentary called "digital dump".

You can visit the Basel Action Network - http://www.ban.org  

I am very sceptical of the environmental record in the USA  (and yes, I understand that Australia is often not much better!), with the USA being the largest polluting  and consuming nation on the planet, we moved our servers from USA datacenters (which were cheaper) to Australian datacenters (in Brisbane).  We felt that having them in the same country we are indirectly more responsible for them (in an environmental and social sense).

Now I agree that our carbon impact should be minimised - our business has green policies - we ride our bikes to work, we purchase of (green) renewable power, we have two recycle bins (office paper and the council standard), and (true) recycling of computers.  Most of our old office machines are given (free) to new users in the community (as second hand computers).  I recently spoke with a friend who is an engineer, and recently completed her masters degree looking at the recycling / disposal of IT equipment in Australia - she said that while Australia is varied in it's policies between states, Queensland currently does not seem to export it's waste offshore.  (Thanks to Subha Balasubramanian )

I am worried that businesses (and people!)  take the easy option of purchasing cheap "carbon offsets" , and don't give consideration to the basic precepts of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".  For example I was astounded when I heard that a friend flew to Brisbane (3000+km round trip) to go shopping - saying that it was OK because they had purchased carbon offsets for their flight !  My wife and I are involved in a movement here to reduce consumerism (Buy Nothing Day and "Compact")  - the first question we say that needs to be asked is "do I really need that ?"  Reducing the production of new goods and equipment when there is perfectly functional second hand goods has a far greater (positive) environmental impact than buying carbon credits to offset your shiny new purchase.

So there you have it - sorry it is not a straightforward answer... We discuss this in the office as we are all involved in the environmental sector here, and take it seriously.  If you would like to chat more about this, or other IT matters - feel free to contact me.