GreenIT eBook: Greening Your Business Through...

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GreenIT eBook: Greening Your Business Through Technology Helping SMEs Transition to a Low Carbon Future. An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government. Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Transcript of GreenIT eBook: Greening Your Business Through...

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GreenIT eBook: Greening Your Business Through Technology Helping SMEs Transition to a Low Carbon Future.

An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.

Version 1.2 – September 2011.

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An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Disclaimer

This document is designed to offer guidance only. Despite due diligence and reasonable attempts from AIIA to verify information published, including third party information including case studies, AIIA cannot guarantee accuracy or completeness. It is not AIIA’s intent to mislead or deceive any readers.

AIIA is providing the information contained in this document in good faith and recommends that companies considering acting on this advice should undertake their own due diligence in order to determine whether the information provided is favourable for their own situation. Accordingly, AIIA will not be liable to the reader or any third party if the reader incurs any loss as a result of reliance on this information.

Please contact AIIA if you find something that requires attention.

Copyright – © 2011 Australian Information Industry Association.

Published by: Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) Head Office 39 Torrens Street Braddon, ACT, 2612 Australia

Telephone +61 2 6281 9444 Fax +61 2 6285 1408 Email [email protected] Website www.aiia.com.au

Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Contributors

Producer: Josh Millen, National Policy and Program Manager, Sustainability (AIIA)

Author: Scott Evans, GreenIT Specialist (AIIA)

Copy Editing and Document Design: Kerryn Nelson (Big Mouth Marketing Communications), Josh Millen, Scott Evans.

Acknowledgement

AIIA recognises the contributions of all individuals and organisations involved with the preparation of this publication, including sourcing of references, case studies and content feedback.

About AIIA

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is the nation’s peak industry body for the technology sector. AIIA sets the strategic direction of the industry, influences public policy and provides members with productivity tools, advisory services and market intelligence to accelerate their business growth. AIIA member companies employ 100,000 Australians, generate combined annual revenues of more than $40 billion and export more than $2 billion in goods and services each year.

For more information, visit www.aiia.com.au

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An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Disclaimer continued

About VECCI

The Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce (VECCI) is the peak body for employers in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the State.

VECCI has been providing a wide range of services to business for over 150 years, with a focus on industrial relations advice, training services, networking, advocacy and representation. This has recently included business sustainability, with services aimed at helping the small and medium business community reduce carbon emissions, increase resource efficiency and save money.

Since 2007, VECCI has been very active in promoting the benefits of sustainable business practices through two flagship programs, ‘Grow Me The Money’ and Carbon Down.

For more information, visit www.vecci.org.au

About Carbon Down

Carbon Down is a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government dedicated to reducing Victoria’s carbon footprint through innovative, practical solutions.

The program aims to inspire and support large companies and organisations to develop projects that help small and medium sized businesses reduce their carbon footprint.

Carbon Down’s primary objectives are to:

• Raise awareness amongst Victorian SMEs of the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions for environmental and economic benefit.

• Reduce barriers and increase motivation amongst SMEs to take up carbon management and reduction activities.

• Make low-cost, practical carbon reduction information available and accessible to all Victorian SMEs.

• Demonstrate measurable carbon reduction through a mass reach program.

• Document and share program learnings with key stakeholders.

For more information, visit www.carbondown.com.au

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Page 4An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Statement of Purpose

This document has been developed to assist Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) business owners to achieve the following aims:

1. Gain an insight into GreenIT and understand why it is important

This eBook provides an industry level viewpoint on GreenIT and highlights the capabilities offered by key industry sectors which are measured in terms of economic, environmental and social outcomes.

Whilst a lot of gains are currently being made by the IT industry, this only represents 3% of the overall opportunity. The bigger picture is in how IT can be used by other industries to innovate and develop more efficient practices (i.e. Energy, Transport, Buildings, Manufacturing and others).

2. Integrate GreenIT solutions into their company’s strategic direction

The eBook provides a generic GreenIT roadmap, highlighting the range of available GreenIT solutions that an organisation may choose to adopt. Some initiatives may be more relevant than others, depending upon the size of an organisation. Initiatives have been grouped in order of ease of implementation, starting with a focus on IT equipment and progressively expanding throughout the enterprise and supply chain to conclude with solutions that enable a low carbon economy.

Target Audience

The key audience of the eBook is aimed at organisations that have between 10 and 100 staff members. Such organisations have fewer resources with which to keep abreast of the latest innovations and market demands than larger organisations for key roles such as: IT Manager, CSR Manager, Operation Manager and Procurement Manager. As a result, a number of economically viable initiatives may be overlooked that would otherwise provide the organisation with a competitive advantage by providing access to a larger market, cutting costs to maintain margins, increasing utilisation and productivity or enabling differentiation.

Many of the principles outlined in this eBook are still relevant for organisations with less than 10 staff members, however, they may require an alternative approach due to cost considerations.

Similarly, many of the principles and initiatives outlined in this eBook may well be understood and have been implemented by organisations with greater than 100 staff members. Here, this guide may assist in bringing to the fore initiatives that were otherwise planned for the future.

Figure #1 - Target audience of the eBook

10 Staff 100 Staff

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An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Executive Summary 2

GreenIT Capability from an Industry Perspective 3

GreenIT Roadmap from an Organisation Perspective 4

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint 6

Overview of the Opportunities 8

Case Studies 13

Phase 2: Identify Hot Spots – Enterprise Profiling 23

Overview of the Opportunities 23

Case Studies 25

Phase 3: Tackling Hot Spots – Reducing the Enterprise Footprint 29

Overview of the Opportunities 30

Case Studies 32

Phase 4: Stewardship – Reducing the Value Chain Footprint 36

Overview of the Opportunities 37

Case Studies 40

Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy 48

Overview of the Opportunities 49

Case Studies 51

Case Study Acknowledgements 57

Glossary 58

Endnotes 59

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Page 1An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Foreword

Foreword by Bob Hayward (Chairman, AIIA Council for Environment & Sustainability Leadership)

In 2010, the AIIA sponsored a white paper on the role of ICT to transform Australia to a low-carbon economy. Since then, the climate change debate has intensified, especially with the recent introduction of legislation for a carbon tax to commence in Australia in 2012. In parallel with an unprecedented growth in energy costs – particularly for electricity – the challenge of using technology efficiently in the face of growing demand is now front-of-mind across the Australian business landscape.

The AIIA’s Council for Environment and Sustainability Leadership (CESL) considers the broad distribution of knowledge on best practices for sustainable ICT to be a critical element of a larger strategy. This strategy consists of multiple programmes to better prepare AIIA members, Australian business, Government, Society and individuals to adapt for a low carbon economy, while taking full advantage of the many opportunities ICT can deliver to accelerate and fulfil that goal.

In my introduction to the first AIIA GreenIT eBook (2009) on ‘Greening Your Business Through Technology’ I stated that “unless technology is procured intelligently, consumed efficiently and disposed of wisely, the growing use of technology can create a serious problem for business leaders, for Australia, and for the planet”.

This statement is as true today as it was just a few years ago.

The first AIIA GreenIT eBook took a wide-ranging view of techniques and technologies that all manner of organisations and individuals could take advantage of to reduce their environmental impact footprint as well as control their rising costs for energy use.

In this second AIIA GreenIT eBook, the focus is more specific – providing small and medium business with actionable advice to help with their journey to a low carbon economy. In the past few years, much progress has been made in the field of sustainable technology and the application of ICT for positive environmental outcomes. This second eBook draws attention towards and inspiration from those efforts, with case studies and a structured methodology for SMEs to follow on their path towards efficiency.

I would like to acknowledge on behalf of the AIIA and its members, the assistance and support of the Victorian Government, the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) and Carbon Down, a joint initiative of the Victorian Government and VECCI, in making this report available.

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Executive Summary

This document is designed to assist SMEs to identify and utilise the capabilities of GreenIT in order to unlock opportunities that could provide economic, environmental and social benefits to their organisations.

GreenIT refers to ICT that both reduces the environmental footprint of the ICT industry (Green in ICT) and reduces the environmental footprint of other industry sectors (Green through ICT).

From an industry perspective, GreenIT has the collective capability across a number of key industries to achieve the following outcomes1:

• Growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $35 to $80 billion.

• Reduction in CO2e emissions by up to 116 Mt.

• Creation of up to 70,000 jobs.

From an organisation perspective, GreenIT provides the capability for organisations to:

• Reduce the footprint of IT equipment.

• Manage the profiling of the enterprise’s footprint.

• Provide measures to reduce the enterprise’s footprint.

• Provide measures to reduce the value chain footprint.

• Provide measures to operate in a low carbon economy.

Care needs to be taken to consider the unique circumstances and needs when evaluating each of the opportunities presented below.

In some cases, the initiative may not have sufficient economies of scale to be economically viable. Alternative approaches that are more manual may be considered as an alternative. In other situations, there may be a lack of buy-in, leadership, or ownership required from the top-level of management in order to drive the initiative, either throughout the enterprise or value chain.

It is recommended that:

• Each initiative is evaluated on its own merits, with a business case being developed to validate the benefits before commencement.

• Selected initiatives are integrated into an existing strategic plan for visibility and tracking of progress to plan.

• Outcomes achieved are promoted in both internal and external communications.

• The organisation ‘starts small’, focusing on quick wins and then progressively expands throughout the enterprise in order to build up momentum and management buy-in. This will require greater levels of leadership as initiatives involve more and more stakeholders.

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GreenIT Capability from an Industry Perspective

In August 2010, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) released a GreenIT whitepaper that detailed the economic, environmental and social benefits available to both large and SME organisations.

In summary, the outcomes that can be achieved across a number of key industry sectors are2:

• Growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $35 to $80 billion.

• Reduction in CO2e emissions by up to 116 mega tonnes (Mt).

• Creation of up to 70,000 jobs.

The key industry sectors that make up these outcomes are highlighted below. These have been categorised by the opportunities that reduce the overall IT footprint (3% of the opportunity) and those where IT enables the footprint of other industries to be reduced (97% of the opportunity):

This is significant for organisations because:

• Energy efficiency will account for 55% of Australia’s cuts in greenhouse gasses over the next 40 years.3

• More than 60% of Australian CEOs are focusing on investing in strategic technology assets to set themselves up for growth.4

• More than 50% of executives consider sustainability ‘very’ or ‘extremely important’ in a wide range of areas (including new-product development, reputation building and overall corporate strategy).5

Reducing IT FootprintGreen in ICT (3%)

IT Enabling CO2 Reduction

Green through ICT (97%)

Green Technology

Energy

Manufacturing

Transport

Buildings

Other sectors(health, education, smart cities...)

Figure 2 – GreenIT Industry Capability

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GreenIT Roadmap from an Organisation Perspective

The key motivation for organisations to integrate GreenIT products and services into their technology roadmap is the capability to do things faster, better and cheaper. In fact, the need to do this is becoming increasingly important, with local organisations now driven to respond to increasing global competition and higher operating costs. Larger organisations will have other motives, including additional governance, compliance and regulatory requirements.

In order for organisations to successfully integrate GreenIT products and services into their technology roadmap, it is important that initiatives are evaluated collectively as a team – rather than individually – using existing criteria.

As the initiatives are highly inter-connected, it is important that the impacts of each initiative are fully understood by others before a final decision can be achieved. A summary of these roles and viewpoints is highlighted below:

IT Managers CSR Managers Operation Managers Procurement Mgr’s

Key GreenIT topics• End-user computing

• Green data centre

• Cloud computing

Key GreenIT topics• Footprint calculation

• Baseline reporting

• KPI reporting

• Scenario modelling

• Carbon neutral

Key GreenIT topics• Facilities management

systems

• Future office solutions

• eCommerce solutions

• Digital media solutions

• Business portal solutions

Key GreenIT topics• Equipment lifecycle

• Carbon credits

• Green certifications/ standards

Table 1: GreenIT viewpoint by organisational role

To simplify the evaluation and integration process, these GreenIT initiatives can be represented in the following generic GreenIT roadmap.

Commencing with Phase 1, the focus is initially given to the IT department. Each subsequent phase expands in scope, thereby demanding a greater level of commitment, leadership and influence in order to achieve the desired outcomes. Phase 4 extends into the supply chain and Phase 5 focuses on what an organisation needs to do in order to operate in a low carbon economy.

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GreenIT Roadmap from an Organisation Perspective continued

Phase 1: Get StartedReduce the IT footprint to build credibility and demonstrate tangible benefits

Phase 2: Identify Hot Spots Measure and monitor operations to profile the enterprise footprint

Phase 3: Tackle Hot SpotsImplement initiatives to reduce the enterprise footprint

Phase 4: StewardshipImplement initiatives to reduce the value chain footprint

Phase 5: TransformationTransform operations to operate in a low carbon economy

• Equipment lifecycle

• End-use computing

• Green data centre

• Cloud computing

• Footprint calculation

• Baseline operations

• KPI reporting

• Scenario modelling

• Building management systems

• Data centre co-location

• Future office solutions

• eCommerce solutions

• Digital media solutions

• Business portals

• Smart grids

• Carbon price modelling

• Carbon trading

• Carbon offsetting

Table 2 – Generic GreenIT Roadmap

Each phase is explored in more detail below in order to give an understanding of the capabilities that GreenIT can provide. Additionally, case studies have been used to illustrate key outcomes and benefits that are currently being achieved by a number of different organisations today.

For medium to large size organisations:

• The data centre is a good place to start (controlled within IT department).

• Data centres account for 2% of Australia’s overall power demand (data centre usage was 4.5 GWh in 2009, National Energy Market was 197 GWh in 2008/2009).6&7

• Power is not managed very well within Australian data centres. Some 65% of IT departments rarely see the power bill nor do they have an idea of how much electricity they are consuming.8

• A simple first step organisations can take is to start measuring their data centre’s Power Utilisation Effectiveness (PUE).

For smaller organisations, it may be more appropriate to focus on the other responsibilities of the IT department (i.e. equipment lifecycle and cloud computing).

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Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint

Reducing indirect emissions (power consumption)

The most effective way to reduce an organisation’s IT footprint is to reduce the consumption of electricity. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, ranging from replacing end-of-lifecycle equipment with energy efficient equipment, to changing the operation of equipment such that it automatically goes into low power-mode during periods of non-usage.

A recent calculation of the IT footprint within Australia indicated that the IT Industry alone accounts for nearly 2.7% of Australia’s total carbon emissions.9

More significantly, the IT industry consumed 13.2 GWh of electricity in 2009, being responsible for almost 7% of all electricity generated in Australia.10

The two areas that consume the most amount of power from IT equipment are the household and the data centre. Other enterprise IT equipment was not far behind.11

kWh / year Tonnes CO2e / year % of IT CO2e

• Total data centre

• Total other enterprise

• Total household

• Total infrastructure

4,572,118

2,989,078

4,639,737

1,047,109

4,936,650

3,223,620

4,971,743

1,232,819

34.4

22.4

34.6

8.6

Total 13,248,042 14,364,832 100.0

Table 3 – CO2e Footprint of the IT Industry (Philipson April 2010)

From a device perspective, as highlighted in the figure below, the biggest consumers are data centre utility equipment, PCs, printers and imaging equipment, servers and video monitors. Focusing on these areas will give the biggest savings for reducing the footprint of IT equipment.12

Figure 3 - ICT Carbon Footprint in Australia, 2009 by Device Category (%) (Philipson April 2010)

Data centreenvironment 18.8%

Mobile devices 1.0%

Networkequipment 7.0%

Landlinetelephone equipment 1.7%

Printers & imaging equipment 15.7%

Data centre storage 1.5%

Video monitors 9.7%

Games consoles 5.4%

Total servers 14.7%

Total PCs 15.8%

Network infrastructure 8.6%

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Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Reducing environmental impacts (manufacture and disposal of IT equipment)

The manufacture of IT equipment is very material intensive. The total fossil fuels used to make one desktop computer is about 10 times the weight of the computer itself – including substantial quantities of chemicals (22 kg) and water (1,500 kg).13

This is very high compared to many other goods such as cars and refrigerators where the fuels used for production are roughly equal to the weight of the produced product.

The diagram below presents a life cycle analysis of a desktop computer and estimates that 345kg CO2e is used during the manufacturing process and 940 kg of CO2e per year in computer usage.14

Silica 25%

Plastics23%

Iron 20%

Aluminium14%

Copper7%

Lead 6%

Others, including:MercurySeleniumSilverColbaltGoldManganeseArsenicCadmium

Zinc 2%Nickel 1%Tin 1%

Average compositionof a desktop computer

Life cycle stages

Inputs

GSG emissions

WATER

All these materialsneed mining,quarrying, extracting

Dismantling, sorting,recycling of material

COMPUTERUSE

ELECTRICITY

DISPOSALCOMPONENTSMANUFACTURING

PRIMARY MATERIALSEXTRACTION

PRIMARY MATERIALSPROCESSING

ASSEMBLY

PACKAGING

DISTRIBUTION

To relatedIndustrialsectors

Pumping andtreatment

Production from coal, gas, oiluranium (extraction and burning)

Extracting andmanufacturing of carboard and plastics and printing

Secondhand user

Ever shortening lifespans:2 to 3 years for a laptop4 to 5 years for a desktop

940kg of CO2 eq

per year

Average CO2 emissions

from componentmanufacturing (kg)

Flat LCD screen

Regular CRT monitor

Electroniccomponents

Chemicalsproduction

Silicon wafers

Circuit boards

Central unit case

185

18 8

69

4817

15

11

CaseTube

or

From oil to plastics and iron or to steel sheets

Industrialprocesses

Figure 4 – Life Cycle emissions of a computer (Bournay 2008)

In addition, the disposal of computer equipment has a large impact on the environment. Given that a standard desktop generally weighs approximately 10 kg (2010) and has a lifespan of 3 – 5 years, this means that 10 kg of eWaste needs to be disposed of at the computer’s end-of-life, including a number of hazardous materials contained in the computer that have significant environmental and health impacts, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and cobalt. This will present a significant environmental problem as technology becomes more pervasive in our society and portable devices that have shorter lifespans become more prevalent.

In order to minimise the impacts of eWaste on the environment, a greater emphasis is being given to recycling where all of the commodity materials can be extracted in a safe and effective manner.

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Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

This not only minimises the amount of hazardous materials that are disposed of in landfill, it also offsets the demand for mined minerals. The natural outcome of this is that CO2e is also mitigated. While the actual amount of CO2e that is mitigated is variable per tonne recycled (mainly because it depends on the products that are recycled), it is somewhere between 4 – 6 tonnes CO2e.

A report by WarnkenISE: ‘Potential for Greenhouse Gas Abatement from Waste Management and Resource Recovery in Australia (2007)’15 provides the individual offset values for the various commodities. Based on their analysis and from information provided to AIIA in the Byteback program about the commodity and waste types collected in one tonne of eWaste from recyclers, it is possible to work out an aggregated result. In the case of Byteback, Sims E-Recycling were able to quantify a figure of 5.44 tonnes. While this is only looking at part of the lifecycle, nonetheless, this is a significant amount of carbon abatement.

So, simple measures such as recycling eWaste and extending the life of IT equipment can readily provide great benefits to the environment. With the roll-out of a National Television and Computer collection and recycling scheme in 2012, Australian businesses will have greater access to services that recycle eWaste in a more responsible manner.

For further details on the national scheme refer to: http://www.aiia.com.au/?page=e_waste

Overview of the Opportunities

There are a number of options available for organisations to reduce the footprint of their IT equipment. Some of the main capabilities are described below:

Capability Overview

Equipment lifecycle Incorporating environmental considerations into the procurement, reuse and disposal of IT equipment is an effective way of reducing an organisation’s carbon emission. An Energy Star rating system will provide the ability to compare efficiencies between different brands and products, thereby allowing you to select the most energy efficient solution that meets your specific requirements. More efficient equipment uses less energy, which in turn reduces operational costs and associated carbon emissions.

Reuse is all about extending the life of IT equipment. By reusing existing IT equipment or refurbishing (upgrading parts of the existing product), products are repurposed, negating the need to purchase new equipment to perform the same role.

Recycling focuses on the recovery of commodity materials, such as gold, silver, copper etc from eWaste that would otherwise have gone to landfill. This reduces the demand of commodities refined from raw materials, thereby reducing carbon emissions and the impact on the environment. It also ensures other hazardous materials which would otherwise go to landfill are responsibly handled.

Table 4 – Overview of the opportunities to reduce IT footprint

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Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

End-user computing Energy saving options associated with end-user equipment are quite varied and are highly dependant upon each particular business office environment. Some of the most common opportunities are described below.

Notebook computers operate much more efficiently than desktop computers, as they are designed to run on battery power. This means that notebooks offer a good solution to reduce power and carbon emissions associated with end-user equipment. Although not suitable for all situations, more and more organisations are choosing notebooks over desktops. This in turn provides organisations with the added benefits of a more productive, flexible and mobile workforce. One factor to keep in mind, however, is that notebooks generally have a higher maintenance cost than desktops.

Multi-function devices are also a great way to reduce power consumption and carbon emissions within the office. They provide the ability to minimise standby power and maximise equipment utilisation by replacing ‘stand alone’ printers, photocopiers, facsimiles and scanners with a single device.

Thin-client computing can also provide additional opportunities to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions in specific situations. Rather than applications being executed on the client, they run on the server where only screen information is transmitted between the server and client. They have less electronic components, consume less energy consumption and contain fewer electronic elements meaning less eWaste at end-of-life. However, thin-client computing also puts more IT load on servers and may cancel out savings made unless additional efficiencies are made in the data centre. Whilst this makes sense in theory, the challenge to achieve energy savings is in server virtualisation and optimisation.

Energy management policies provide the ability to monitor and control how IT equipment behaves under specific situations. As such, energy management policies are either inbuilt into IT equipment or are provided separately as software packages. This can range from deactivating screen savers, automatically putting computers into hibernate mode during idle periods, automatically shutting down during out of office hours or installing a ‘kill switch’.

While this provides direct cost savings to an organisation’s power bill, organisations also benefit by lowering the carbon footprint associated with the operation of IT equipment.

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Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

Green data centre The data centre is a key facility and is estimated to be 34.4% of the overall carbon footprint of the IT industry. The data centre also hosts the majority of an organisation’s overall IT infrastructure.16 Its design can vary greatly depending upon the required level of reliability.

When considering data centres, the four tiers are:• Tier 1 – Basic.• Tier 2 – Redundant components.• Tier 3 – Concurrently maintainable.• Tier 4 – Fault tolerant.

As the reliability increases, so does the equipment and infrastructure redundancy required, increasing both capital cost and energy demands.

The most common metric used to measure how efficient a data centre is in its operations is the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). The PUE is calculated as the ratio of the total power drawn by a data centre facility to the power used by the IT equipment in that facility.17 For example:

Total Facility PowerIT Equipment Power

PUE =

The closer the PUE is to 1, the more efficient the data centre is in its operations.

A recent study indicated the current benchmark is for a PUE of less than 2.0, where18:• 1.7isthebenchmarkforimprovedoperations.• 1.3isthebenchmarkforbestpractice.• 1.2isthebenchmarkforstate-of-the-artdesign.

The diagram below gives an overview of the energy split across the different equipment types for a typical tier 3 data centre. The biggest contributors to the power usage in a data centre are cooling and IT equipment (servers, storage, networking equipment and monitoring workstations).19

Cooling 40%

Utility transmission & distribution losses 7%

Site power system losses 6%

Misc. (lighting, BMS,security,etc) 3%

IT equipment 44%

Figure 5 – Energy usage of a typical tier 3 data centre (Johnson, Marker & Tony 2009)

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Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

Green data centre Below is a summary of different case studies that were performed by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group in 2008. This information has been provided as a reference guide for improving the energy efficiency of data centres. Each ‘X’ represents the number of case studies performed (Accenture 2008).20

Cloud computing Cloud computing can assist organisations to ‘take the next step’ when it comes to consolidating and virtualising their IT infrastructure in order to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. Cloud computing provides the capability to procure on demand and broker services across multiple managed service providers. This further automates the provisioning and deployment of IT products and services. Hence, IT infrastructure can be utilised more efficiently and effectively in multi-tenant environments (even automatically shut down) that have less of an environmental footprint than traditional methods.

Meaning something different to many organisations, a particular implementation of cloud computing really depends an organisation’s specific situation and needs. Its aim is to help align the procurement of IT services, deployment of IT applications and management of IT systems in a more efficient manner that is better aligned with business needs.

Iniative Improved operations Best practice State-of-the-art

Data centre site infrastructure projects

Data centre cooling

Data centre airflow managment XX

Free cooling in large scale sata centres X XX

Data centre cooling optimisation X

High efficiency chilled water systems X

Modular cooling systems XX XXX

Wireless sensor network adaptive cooling X

Data centre power distribution

High efficiency power transformation XX

High voltage AC power X

High efficiency stand-by power systems XX

IT infrastructure projects

Consolidation and optimisation

IT computing resource optimisation X X

IT consolidation and virtualisation X X

Server power charaterisation and modeling X

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Page 12An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

Cloud computing Rather than being solely a specific technology, cloud computing is more about developing holistic solutions that allow the full potential of recent technology advancements to be realised – such as reliable high-speed networks, large world-class infrastructures, advanced virtualisation and commodity hardware.

The key characteristics that define cloud computing are:21

• On demand self service – automated provisioning of IT services.

• Broad network access – accessibility through any device type.

• Resource pooling – multi-tenant application models using shared resources.

• Rapid elasticity – ability to scale up/down quickly, as required.

• Measured service – metering and monitoring of service provided.

The benefits from cloud computing that are not achievable in traditional architectures include:22

• Scalability – creating additional capacity on-demand.

• Efficiency – utilisation of IT resources is optimised.

• Cost containment – charging for IT resources based on usage (CapEx to OpEx).

• Flexibility – ability to quickly reallocate resources.

• Value – high speed computing using commodity hardware.

• Resiliency – no single point of failure with self-healing capabilities.

As a result, organisations are able to develop new business and service delivery models that were previously either not technically possible or financially feasible.

Typically, organisations either explore Infrastructure-as-a-Service (server and storage virtualisation) or Software-as-a-Service (multi-tenant applications hosted on shared infrastrucure). Platform-as-a-Service is becoming increasingly popular, providing additional capabilities where applications are deployed to an elastic fabric without the need to manage the underlying infrastructure provisioning and management requirements.

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Page 13An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Corporate Express

The Issue Corporate Express – a leading supplier of office products and services – wanted to improve the operation and management of its data centre so that the organisation could meet current demands and better plan for the future.

The Key Challenge

To address immediate capacity issues and re-architect the entire data centre in order to reduce complexity, increase scalability, improve efficiency and become better aligned with corporate sustainability objectives.

The Desired Business Benefit

To achieve state-of-the-art, benchmark performance in its data centre operations and management and facilitate sufficient capacity to support the organisation’s future growth.

The Solution

Corporate Express worked closely with vendors to virtualise the existing environment and build a next generation data centre facility that implemented the latest in energy efficient technology practices.

What was Achieved?

Corporate Express now has a very efficient ‘green’ data centre that has improved performance, reliability and responsiveness to business demands – as well as sufficient capacity for future growth.

Results

Corporate Express was able to reduce the space, power and cooling requirements for a new Next Generation Data Centre by 70-80% and was able to remove 184 physical servers to achieve a highly virtualised environment (95%). Data Centre Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is now 1.49 – which was better than ‘best practice’ at the time.

This has allowed the IT department to better respond to business demands – it can deploy a new server within one hour – has extended data centre lifespan, increased server utilisation, simplified DR, reduced restoration timings and substantially reduced storage requirements.

Other GreenIT initiatives include: removal of 350+ CRT monitors, printer consolidation, use of EPEAT to procure energy efficiency and replacement of all end-of-life network equipment with more energy efficient models.

Corporate Express now has plans to be 100% virtualised over the next two years, other than physical servers, further reducing the space requirements of IT equipment. The organisation is also in the process of implementing real-time data centre PUE, which will provide visibility of the impact of changes within the data centre in real time, therefore providing instant calibration with the organisation’s sustainability goals.

Case Studies

The following case studies highlight how organisations have benefited from implementing initiatives that reduce their IT footprint.

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Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Corporate Express ‘Results’ continued

Economic Benefits

Virtualisation strategies minimised the construction costs of a new Next Generation Data Centre ($11k per square metre), provided savings of $23k annually in power costs and reduced TCO of servers by 40%.

Environmental Benefits

• Saved 140 tonnes CO2e annually by migrating to a new data centre.

• Saved 667 tonnes CO2e annually through server virtualisation and data de-duplication.

• Saved 835 tonnes CO2e annually through shutting down the PC fleet overnight

• Reduced paper usage by 68%.

Social Benefits

The corporate sustainability programs delivered and currently in flight, together with the data centre achievement and other GreenIT initiatives, have resulted in Corporate Express winning:

• 2010 ICMG Green Architecture Award.

• Sustainable Company of the Year (8th Australian Sustainability Awards).

How can this be applied to your business?

Whilst these sustainability changes are more suited to organisations with high computer requirements, smaller organisations can still benefit from virtualising their environment. This includes migrating to the ‘cloud’, which is becoming popular with smaller organisations that want greater agility in the provision of infrastructure services.

Extended Data Centre Lifespan

Virtualisation reduces the number of physical servers required in the data centre, thereby freeing up rack space and extending the lifespan of the data centre far beyond that which would otherwise have been possible.

Maximise Energy Efficiency

A number of initiatives are able to be implemented that reduce power consumption and cooling requirements and increase server utilisation. These include data duplication, simplified Disaster Recovery (DR), upgrade of storage and network infrastructure and tiered storage.

About Corporate Express

Corporate Express is one of Australia’s leading suppliers of office essentials, with a product offering including office products, IT solutions, business furniture, print management, canteen and catering supplies, promotional marketing, facility supplies and education products. Corporate Express Australia (and its subsidiary Corporate Express New Zealand) is wholly owned by Staples Inc, the world’s largest office products company and is a trusted source of office supplies.

For more information, visit www.ce.com.au

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Page 15An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Innovation Science

The Issue Innovation Science – a leading software and systems engineering company – wanted to reduce the carbon emissions associated with its power usage.

The Key Challenge

To find ways of reducing the organisation’s carbon emissions despite the fact that it was unable to purchase ‘green energy’ from the electricity supplier associated with its leased office space.

The Desired Business Benefit

To demonstrate a commitment to the environment and green credentials by taking action to eliminate any unnecessary power usage.

The Solution

Innovation Science implemented several innovative and cost-effective IT solutions.

What was Achieved?

Innovation Science reduced its power consumption by targeting areas where efficiency measures could be implemented including non-critical infrastructure, UPS, desktops and office lighting.

Results

Innocvation Science reduced energy consumption which included the development of an in-house custom software solution to detect when staff were logged into the corporate network and to power-down non-critical shared network infrastructure (servers, etc.) when all staff were logged out.

Economic Benefits

• Achieved a 5X ROI over five years.

• Saved $1,000 per year in power costs.

Environmental Benefits

• Saved more than 5.2 MWh of electricity annually, which is equivalent to saving 5.4 tonnes CO2e.

Social Benefits

• Significant energy savings were able to be achieved without the need for manual intervention.

How can this be applied to your business?

Depending upon existing infrastructure, some if not all of these initiatives can be applied to your businesses. They are all simple, practical and have a quick Return On Investment (ROI), thereby needing minimal investment where cost savings are achieved through reduced power consumption.

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Page 16An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Innovation Science ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Automate Infrastructure Start-up/Shut-down

Custom software can be written specifically to turn ‘on’ and ‘off’ any shared electronic infrastructure, based on whether or not staff are logged into the corporate network. Short and long staff days can also be supported whilst keeping power usage to an absolute minimum.

Minimise Desktop Power Usage

A power-down policy for all end-user related IT equipment is a simple and practical way of reducing baseline power consumption. It can include workstations, peripheral equipment and ancillary devices such as shredders and microwaves – with staff simply required to switch all designated devices and appliances off when leaving at the end of the day.

Minimise Utilisation of Non-critical Infrastructure

An organisation’s network can be segmented to allow non-critical infrastructure to be readily shutdown during out-of-office hours by using synchronised shutdown scripts, network power control devices and timer switches. This can also include servers, switches and peripheral devices.

Replace Workstation UPS with Surge Protectors

Where a local power supply is proven to be reliable, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) for workstations can be replaced with high-end surge protection boards. This eliminates power wastage, yet still offers acceptable power quality.

Implement Energy Efficient Lighting

Existing halogen light bulbs can be replaced with energy efficient IRC bulbs that offer equivalent light output. Staff can also be encouraged to switch off lights in any non-public areas when they are not occupied.

About Innovation Science

Innovation Science is a software and systems engineering company based in Adelaide, South Australia. The company specialises in scientific research and custom software development for defence and commercial clients.

For more information, visit www.iscience.com.au

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Page 17An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Jetstar Airways

The Issue Jetstar Airways – a value based carrier network which provides ‘all day, every day low air fares’ – wanted to achieve a more competitive market position that supported its aggressive growth strategy.

The Key Challenge

To virtualise all back office and business systems so that they could be accessed from any international check-in at all international airports in which the airline operates.

The Desired Business Benefit

To increase efficiency and productivity so that business goals can be achieved faster, better and cheaper.

The Solution

Jestar Airways implemented a technology roadmap to commoditise all of its IT operations, comprising the following phases: Minimise, Centralise, Radicalise, Commoditise, Outsource and Utilise Application Service Providers.

What was Achieved?

Jetstar Airways has now virtualised all IT operations including Server Virtualisation, Storage Virtualisation, Client/PC Virtualisation, Network Virtualisation, Application Virtualisation and Services Virtualisation. Additionally, it has commoditised the delivery of IT and IT services.

Results

Jetstar Airways has removed 120 servers from the data centre, virtualised the corporate desktop environment and has become the only airline in the world that can access all business systems from any check-in counter at which they operate. The Application Virtualisation Strategy business solution has been delivered across Asia, irrespective of local technology where all service providers, contractors and offices supply their own local IT. Whilst agility is not always the key business driver for virtualisation, it does allow Jetstar Airways to enable anything from commercial point of sale systems to engineering MOR systems from any access point across the network.

Economic Benefits

Jetstar Airways’ virtualisation strategies continue to deliver ‘like for like’ savings of 40% across all the server technologies – in both capital investments and operational expenses – compared to traditional architectures. For each server removed from its data centre, Jetstar Airways saves $2,500 per year in power and $9,000 in management and administration. In total, this comes to more than $800,000 per year in associated energy and support costs.

Desktop virtualisation also provided additional savings through extending the asset life of its desktops from three to 10 years, reduced power consumption by 85%, management costs by 42%, maintenance costs by 60% and remote system management costs by 100%.

Environmental Benefits

• Offset 87,500 tonnes CO2e annually.

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Page 18An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

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Jetstar Airways ‘Results’ continued

Social Benefits

End-user IT equipment does not need to be locked down as the corporate desktop environment is accessed via virtual desktop or SD Card, allowing end-users to select and configure IT equipment that meets their own personal needs.

How can this be applied to your business?

Adopting a strategy to virtualise operations is a great way to increase efficiency and productivity so that business goals can be achieved faster, better and cheaper. While virtualisation provides many benefits to larger organisations, it is still relevant to SMEs that are able to utilise new technologies such as Software-as-as-Service (SaaS) and Cloud Computing.

Scalable IT Infrastructure

By working with the right provider and technology platform, you can scale your IT infrastructure accordingly as your needs grow. This negates the need to over engineer solutions as they can be up-scaled on demand as extra capacity is required. You can either build and deploy your own private scaleable network using cloud hosting providers or utilise cloud service providers that have scalable software solutions for use.

Flexible Business Systems

By virtualising your business systems, you can operate your business independently from any location. This gives you choices as to how you interact with your business (office, home or mobile) and allows you to spend more time working on your business by getting things done rather than in your business by getting things to work.

About Jetstar Airways

Jetstar Airways is a value based carrier network which provides ‘all day, every day’ low fares with an open approach to air travel. Collectively, the Jetstar Airways Group of airlines operate over 3,000 weekly flights to 17 countries, serving in excess of 56 markets across the Asia and Asia Pacific region and employing 7,000 staff across the Asia Pacific region.

For more information, visit www.jetstar.com

About VMWare

VMware is the global leader in virtualisation and cloud infrastructure, delivering customer-proven solutions that accelerate IT by reducing complexity and enabling more flexible, agile service delivery.

Customers of all sizes rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, allowing enterprises to adoadopt a cloud model that addresses their unique business challenges.

In Australia and New Zealand, VMware services 98% of the ASX 100, more than 9,000 customers and 3,000 partners and helps them to reduce their carbon impact and achieve their environmental goals through virtualisation.

For more information, visit www.vmware.com

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Page 19An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority

The Issue Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority – a NSW agency that owns and manages some of NSW’s most significant assets, including Sydney’s heritage and cultural precincts at The Rocks and Darling Harbour – wanted to curb ever increasing energy costs and power demands from IT equipment.

The Key Challenge

To reduce the energy costs associated with powering end user equipment and implementing patches and managing upgrades in a more effective and efficient manner.

The Desired Business Benefit

To provide ‘environmental leadership’ by making business operations carbon neutral by 2010 and reducing carbon emissions of its precincts by 80% by 2020.

The Solution

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority implemented 1E’s Wakeup and Nightwatchman in combination with Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager 2007 (‘ConfigMgr’) and Windows Server Update Services (‘WSUS’). The project kick-off was coordinated with Earth Hour to communicate the upcoming change program with the business stakeholders and end users.

The results of the project were continually communicated to the business where results were published on the Intranet, were discussed in project management meetings and talked about throughout the business. This provided a high level of business understanding, ownership and co-operation to keep the momentum of the project going.

What was Achieved?

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority now has a centralised system that automates the shutdown of all end user computers and deployment of patches and upgrades to computers. The system provides management with extensive reporting to track recent changes and measure improvements in power usage, including details on the usage patterns of computers to identify where improvements can be made.

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority has since continued to make more changes and improvements in this area including higher levels of virtualisation and consolidation, reducing servers, enabling dynamic power management on servers instead of ‘static high performance’ and new ‘greener’ hardware. Additionally, on the software side, Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 are being used to manage power even more stringently.

Results

Computers automatically shut down at 7pm each night where end users are able to defer if working back. Computers automatically wake up for patches and upgrades and will shut down again after completion.

This provided a system to start the baseline measurement of energy consumption and most importantly, it offered a platform to start the conversation with the broader business and to evangelise the results.

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Page 20An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Sydney Harbour Foreshoe Authority ‘Results’ continued

Economic and Environmental Benefits

• Have reduced power costs and associated CO2e emissions from computers by 51% since implementation.

Social Benefits

• Raised awareness and encouraged staff to think green.

• End users experience fewer impacts associated with patches and upgrades.

How can this be applied to your business?

As the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority has a desktop count of less than 300 users, this is a great example of how smaller organisations can benefit from using technology to automate desktop shutdown and deployment of patches and upgrades.

Minimise Desktop Power Consumption

Turning off computers when not in operation is a very practical way of reducing the power consumption of computers. This can be automated with software, though not necessary, where improvements in reduced power consumption are made immediately, providing direct savings to the profitability of an organisation.

About Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority owns and manages some of the State’s most significant assets, including Sydney’s heritage and cultural precincts at The Rocks and Darling Harbour.

With more than $1.1 billion in assets and around 220 employees, the Foreshore Authority manages significant commercial and retail leases, provides security, cleaning, building maintenance and other facility management services and cares for the public domain and around 140 heritage items.

The Authority also operates tourism and marketing services and holds significant events in The Rocks and Darling Harbour each year. Between them, the precincts attract around 40 million visitors annually.

For more information, visit www.shfa.nsw.gov.au

About AH Technology

AH Technology has years of experience with system solutions and represents 1E in Australia and NZ.

AH Technology’s committment to GreenIT led to the publication of the Sydney Harbor Offshore Authority Case Study in the GreenIT eBook.

For more information, visit www.ahtechnology.com.au

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Page 21An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Earth Hour

The Issue Earth Hour – an annual campaign encouraging individuals and businesses to turn their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change – wanted a better way to manage email and web campaign communication.

The Key Challenge

To reduce the effort involved with the conversion of new sign-ups, communicating with campaign contacts and building and tracking the profiles of campaign respondents.

The Desired Business Benefit

To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the campaign by spending less time in administration and more time on actually running the campaign.

The Solution

Earth Hour utilised the Salesforce CRM technology to create an online centralised database of all campaign contacts which provided the ability to automate email communication and create real-time campaign reports as required.

What was Achieved?

Earth Hour now has a single point of reference for all matters relating to campaigns and their engagement with contacts.

Results

Earth Hour has now migrated over 30,000 sign-up records and approximately 5,000 campaign engagement contacts to the Salesforce CRM database. The database provides the ability to capture and share communication from individual campaign respondents with all team members and automate repeatable workflow tasks such as welcome emails and migrating contact information into the CRM database.

Economic Benefits

• Reduced the effort and time involved with setting up and administering campaigns.

Environmental Benefits

• Reduced the IT infrastructure footprint by providing infrastructure as a cloud Software-as-a-Service solution (SaaS).

Social Benefits

• Provides team members with the flexibility to work remotely, without compromise.

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Page 22An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 1: Get Started – Reducing the IT Footprint continued

Earth Hour Continued

How can this be applied to your business?

All businesses need to communicate with customers and effectively manage their leads to build a pipeline of future sales opportunities. Utilising the Salesforce CRM platform provides an efficient and effective alternative to streamline administrative activities and provide real-time intelligence in order to better manage campaign activities for converting leads into successful proposals.

Minimise Investment in Technology

Salesforce CRM is a cloud-based solution that overcomes the associated issues with alternative solutions. There is no hardware required, no annual support fees and no upgrade charges. All charges are based upon the required number of licences and required level of functionality.

Integrated Mobility and Portability

Salesforce CRM supports organisations that could have a combination of either remote, mobile, or virtual teams that collaborate on a campaign. The solution supports a range of accessibility options over an internet connection that includes a personal computer, tablet, notebook or mobile phone.

Team Collaboration

Salesforce CRM provides a central point for communicating and managing campaign contacts across all team members. It provides a single point of truth on key matters in order to increase transparency and facilitate better quality decision making in a more timely matter.

About Earth Hour

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. One year later, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement and by 2011 hundreds of millions of people across 135 countries and territories participate in the event. Earth Hour has inspired 42% of Australians to participate and over 5 years has generated close to 130,000 online pledges. Earth Hour was founded and is organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) which is the world’s largest conservation organisation with almost 5 million supporters and a global network in over 100 countries/territories.

For more information, visit www.earthhour.org.au

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the enterprise cloud computing company that has transformed the way companies collaborate and communicate. Salesforce is leading the effort to bring Cloud 2, the next paradigm for computing, to the enterprise by offering its customers the social collaboration, mobility and openness that are the hallmark of this new world.

For more information, visit www.salesforce.com

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Page 23An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 2: Identify Hot Spots – Enterprise Profiling

Prepare for the impacts of a Carbon Tax

On 10 July 2011, the Australian Government announced details of its comprehensive plan for tackling climate change. Subject to the policy being formed into legislation, from 1 July 2012, the Australian Government will set a fixed price on carbon (starting at $23 a tonne and indexed to inflation) and transition to a cap-and-trade mechanism on 1st July 2015. From that stage, the market will set the price.23 & 24

Though the tax will only directly impact around 500 of the biggest polluters in Australia, it will have an impact on small business as these costs are passed through. To assist small business with this extra burden, about 40% of money raised from the carbon price will help businesses and support jobs. Therefore, its important for small business to know how to prepare for this transition and how to access assistance programs and new tax benefits that will become available.25

Benefits from Profiling your Organisation

Measure your sustainability credentials

Today leading organisations want to do business with those organisations that have a sustainable story to tell. They want to work with organisations who have taken the time to develop a sustainable program and are incorporating sustainable messaging into their brand. More and more organisations are finding that it helps them to identify areas within their operations that run inefficiently (reducing costs) and differentiate in the marketplace (creating a competitive advantage).

On the other hand, a number of organisations are becoming confused as to the value of developing sustainability credentials and are becoming more sceptical of the claims that are being made. It’s not good enough to merely say that your organisation is sustainable. Organisations need to disclose their results against performance targets and provide details of the initiatives that are being undertaken to ensure continual improvement over time.

Without this, any sustainability claims made are just seen as ‘green-wash’ and can damage an organisation’s brand if the organisation is perceived to ‘not really care’ and is seen as merely giving ‘lip-service’ to a moral issue that is very important to the local community.

Given this, the need to profile an organisation’s environmental footprint is essential if the organisation wants to incorporate sustainability messaging into its brand. If sustainability is not already an initiative that businesses manage, it will soon become common place, particularly as more and more pressure is applied from the community, government regulations and at different levels of the corporate world.

Overview of the Opportunities

When organisations initially develop their environmental profiling practices, the effort required tends to be quite simple, generally involving small amounts of data that can be easily validated and reported against using simple Excel spreadsheets.

Over time, organisations will develop more sophisticated environmental measurement, monitoring and reporting practices. This will involve the collection and processing of larger amounts of data which requires higher levels of governance and validation. Further, this provides the capability to identify where the emission ‘hot spots’ are within the organisation.

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Page 24An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

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Overview of the Opportunities continued

New capabilities will be required in order to assist organisations with making this transition in order to reduce the associated administrative burden, improve the timeliness of information and increase the level of accuracy. Organisations will also need new governance structures for communicating the results of performance measures – both to internal and external stakeholders – so that they can be easily interpreted in a meaningful and consistent manner. An overview of some of the main capabilities available has been outlined below:

Capability Overview

Footprint calculation Raw billing data from Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are converted into CO2e emissions and are reported on an annual or quarterly basis. Scope 3 emissions can be optionally included depending upon how easy the information is to gather, its level of quality and accuracy and if it can be integrated into existing reporting systems. Regular software updates need to be applied to ensure that the latest conversion factors are used and are being updated on a frequent and ongoing basis.

Baseline operations For organisations to better understand their daily usage patterns, appropriate metering devices need to be installed throughout an organisation which make measurements at regular intervals (every 15 minutes). When compiled in a visual overview, this provides the ability to understand an organisation’s usage peaks and troughs throughout the day, otherwise known as a ‘baseline’. This can then be used to monitor the deviation against this ‘baseline’ daily and measure the impact of specific change programs to improve enegy efficiency. It also provides the ability to identify unexpected spikes that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

KPI reporting As organisations place greater demands on their environmental performance, they will integrate environmental Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) into existing governance reporting structures. As environmental performance impacts the whole organisation, this will first require inter-departmental collaboration to set agreed performance measures and achievable targets. New systems will then need to be implemented so that the source data required to measure progress against performance measures can be collected and reported on, in an efficient and effective manner.

Scenario modelling For those organisations that are impacted by government legislation (including a carbon price), more advanced analytics are required to measure the viability of future investments. The impacts of different scenarios will need to be evaluated to identify which initiatives will provide the best economic return whilst minimising any associated environmental liabilities.

Table 5 – Overview of the opportunities to identify hot spots

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Page 25An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 2: Identify Hot Spots – Enterprise Profiling continued

Barwon Water

The Issue Barwon Water – Victoria’s largest regional urban water corporation – wanted to better manage its enterprise wide environmental performance.

The Key Challenge

To measure, analyse and report on the environmental performance of operations in a timely and auditable manner.

The Desired Business Benefit

To provide ‘environmental leadership’ by being carbon neutral by 2018.

The Solution

Barwon Water implemented Prima’s Sustainability sCO2recardTM which gave the organisation the capacity to consolidate data into a single repository and provide flexible reporting and analysis tools.

What was Achieved?

Now, all of Barwon Water’s environmental data – GHG emissions, energy consumption, energy production, water consumption, waste production, etc – is held in a single data repository. This repository is supported by ‘state-of-the-art’ reporting and analysis tools, providing the capability to produce more agile, accurate and timely environmental reporting.

Results

Barwon Water has greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of its environmental reporting including:

• More agile, accurate and timely environmental reporting.

• Increased capability to measure environmental performance.

• Streamlined data collection.

• Automated compliance reporting.

• Powerful forecasting capability.

How can this be applied to your business?

Whilst carbon management software is better suited to larger enterprises with legislative reporting requirements, smaller organisations can still gain similar benefits by using systems to collect and report their environmental performance.

Measure Environmental Performance

The ability to associate performance metrics (e.g. mega litres of waste water treated) with environmental data, is essential for effective measurement and analysis of environmental performance.

Streamlined Data Collection

In order to minimise administrative overheads, it is essential to develop a data collection strategy that combines automatic and manual data feeds that are integrated seamlessly with existing business systems and processes. This also provides data quality assurance and minimises any associated human errors.

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Page 26An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 2: Identify Hot Spots – Enterprise Profiling continued

Barwon Water ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Compliance Reporting

If your organisation requires compliance reporting, utilising a packaged solution makes this much simpler to have standard reporting templates for all of the associated regulations such as NGER, EEO, EREP, NPI, FRD24C, GRI and NCOS.

Greater Forecasting Capabilities

The modelling capability of Sustainability sCO2recardTM makes it possible for organisations to perform scenario based forecasting, allowing them to make informed business decisions regarding future investment options which would otherwise not have been possible to make.

About Barwon Water

Barwon Water is Victoria’s largest regional urban water corporation and provides world class water, sewerage and recycled water services to more than 275,000 people across 8,100 square kilometres.

Barwon Water manages over $1B in assets including 10 major reservoirs, 10 water treatment plants and 9 water reclamation plants.

For more information, visit www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au

About Prima Consulting

Prima Consulting has developed the award winning Sustainability sCO2recardTM and Carbon Plus Analytics software to assist organisations with managing sustainability obligations for all emissions (including carbon), energy, water and waste. Prima Consulting is a professional services company specialising in Information Management. For 20 years Prima Consulting has been providing business solutions to its clients across a wide range of industries including Resources (Mining / Energy), Telecommunications, Financial Services, Education and Retail.

Prima’s unique Agile-based Data Warehousing and Business Discovery approach ensures rapid time to value and breaks the logjam of the traditional BI world.

Prima Consulting is a leading Qlikview Partner and a Microsoft Gold Partner. For more information, visit www.prc.com.au or http://sco2recard.prc.com.au

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Page 27An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 2: Identify Hot Spots – Enterprise Profiling continued

City of Sydney

The Issue The City of Sydney – which is responsible for Sydney’s CBD – wanted to better manage its enterprise wide environmental footprint across a number of sites.

The Key Challenge

To measure, analyse and report on the environmental performance of its properties in a timely and auditable manner.

The Desired Business Benefit

To provide ‘environmental leadership’ by being carbon neutral by 2018.

The Solution

The City of Sydney implemented East River Software’s Energy Carbon Management Platform (ECMP) to mange the automation of data capture and reporting.

What was Achieved?

The automatic and real-time data from energy suppliers’ meter devices, including solar and billing data from their energy retailer, provides the City of Sydney with the ability to report on individual business units in a more meaningful manner. Moreover, real-time information is provided at 15 minute intervals.

Results

The City of Sydney has greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of its environmental reporting. Management is able to provide greater visibility of energy and water usage patterns, business units are more accountable for individual usage and compliance reporting has been automated.

Economic Benefits

• Saved $975k on energy costs (5% reduction since 2006).

• Avoided the need for $300k on capital works for energy efficiency.

Environmental Benefits

• Achieved a total reduction of 5Mt CO2e or an overall reduction of 10.7% (2006 to 2010).

Social Benefits

• Staff members are more informed and better understand how their behaviour relates directly to improvements in energy efficiency.

How can this be applied to your business?

Energy management solutions and services provided by East River Software are suited to organisations of all sizes including large, medium and SMEs. Its value is in providing companies with a solution that can scale and deliver the necessary energy monitoring and reporting capacity and requirements as needed.

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Page 28An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 2: Identify Hot Spots – Enterprise Profiling continued

City of Sydney ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Greater Accountability

Providing individuals with knowledge regarding their daily usage statistics gives them the power and ability to establish a baseline, set efficiency targets and measure and monitor progress on a daily basis. It also provides them with instant feedback via real-time alerts and ‘event’ driven reporting regarding how successful change programs are as they are being implemented, thereby empowering individuals to continue to take action and change associated work behaviors.

Compliance Reporting

If your organisation requires compliance reporting, utilising a packaged solution makes this much simpler by having standard reporting templates for all of the associated regulations such as NABERS, Commercial Building Disclosure, Building Energy Efficiency Certificate, EEO, NGER and OSCAR.

Delay Energy Efficiency Capital Works

Providing individuals with the means to effectively manage their energy and water usage patterns can dramatically increase an organisation’s environmental performance, thereby delaying the need to invest in capital works that would have otherwise been needed to achieve energy efficiency targets.

About the City of Sydney

The City of Sydney council is responsible for the central Sydney area and surrounds, encompassing the commercial, financial and cultural hub of Sydney.

The City of Sydney’s property portfolio is widely dispersed throughout the CBD and comprises over 450 buildings.

For more information, visit www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

About East River Software

East River Software partners with clients to help them achieve their business, economical and social objectives. Founded in 2006, East River Software develops innovative products and services to address client’s needs and has more than 60 collective years of leadership and management experience in the IT industry with backgrounds in Business, Management Consulting and IT Management.

For more information, visit http://www.eastriversoftware.com

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Page 29An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 3: Tackling Hot Spots – Reducing the Enterprise Footprint

Benefits from Reducing the Enterprise Footprint

It’s important for organisations to remain vigilant about the way in which they manage their business.

One way in which organisations are becoming more agile and productive is through the implementation of sustainable practices across the organisation. Whilst this is not the ‘silver bullet’, sustainable practices do provide direct cost saving measures and can help organisations become more agile in what is an ever changing, uncertain economy.

The different economic, environmental and social benefits that organisations are realising through the adoption of GreenIT solutions include:

• Growing sales – Reducing the complexity and costs of expanding into national and international markets.

• Maintaining margins – Reducing operating costs and capital investments.

• Increasing utilisation – Increasing workforce flexibility and mobility.

• Differentiation – Providing innovative products and services and increasing engagement with customers and suppliers.

• Reducing risk – Minimising environmental liabilities and exposure to supply shortages.

• Attracting and retaining skilled resources – Demonstrating commitment to the environment and providing resources that increase workforce capability and value through new career development pathways.

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Phase 3: Tackling Hot Spots – Reducing the Enterprise Footprint continued

Overview of the Opportunities

There are a number of options available for organisations to further reduce their enterprise footprint. Some of the main capabilities are described below.

Capability Overview

Building management systems

While a building may be designed as energy efficient, its ability to operate according to design cannot be achieved if it is not operated in an efficient and effective manner.

Energy efficient building management has come under greater scrutiny following the introduction of NABERS, a performance-based rating system for existing buildings that rates buildings on the basis of their measured operational impacts on the environment.

As of November 2010, most sellers or lessors of office space of 2,000 square metres will be required to obtain and disclose an up-to-date energy efficiency rating, including the building’s NABERS Energy star rating.26

Building management systems provide a greater granularity of control for building utilities such as heating, cooling and lighting in order to assist in the achievement of intended building efficiency ratings. These are the main sources of energy use in commercial buildings, as highlighted below.27

Heating and ventilation 12%

Appliances 7%

Air conditioning 21%

Water heating 12%

Other 22%

Lighting 26%

Figure 6 – Main sources of energy use in commercial buildings (Centre for International Economics 2007).

Table 6 – Overview of the opportunities to reduce enterprise footprint.

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Page 31An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

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Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

Data centre hosting Modifying an existing data centre to become more efficient (i.e. by lowering its PUE) is capital intensive and is often a very complicated process. This process requires careful planning and may not achieve the gains intended without additional management overheads.

A common alternative, which also simplifies this for organisations, is to use co-location services. This means that the customer’s IT infrastructure is hosted in a specially built facility where critical infrastructure such as power, cooling and internet connectivity is shared with other tenants. Such facilities typically have greater levels of security and redundancy than would otherwise have been possible.

Co-location enables greater efficiencies to be achieved at a lower cost due to the greater scales of operations – for instance some facilities can be as large as 5,000 square metres.

Future office solutions There are a number of tools and technologies already available that will transform the way in which we work in the future. Office environments will be flexible, mobile and virtual. You will be connected with associates from all over the world, will be updated with news as it happens, will work with remote teams on projects through online collaboration environments and will utilise online learning environments to keep abreast of the latest industry developments.

More and more business will be done online using the latest web based solutions. This will include an increase in the usage of online video conferencing for things such as internal meetings, conferences, professional services, education and customer enquries. Powered by a high speed National Broadband Network (NBN), such technology will be accessible to the general public that will offer a rich user experience, providing high definition video and supporting a large number of multiple users concurrently (multicast).

Other developing trends that will be more efficient in future offices include:

• Paperless offices which utilise the latest electronic records solutions to embrace a digital economy.

• Print management solutions which allow organisations to better manage office printing and waste associated with uncollected copies.

As organisations become more aware of these technologies, their usage will become more widespread due primarily to the fact that they will help organisations increase their productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Moreover, the cost of these technologies is continually coming down. Most offerings can now be purchased on a subscription basis where you only pay for what you use. While these technologies help organisations to embrace the digital economy, they also help organisations improve their environmental footprint and can reduce an organisation’s associated travel, paper consumption and office space requirements.

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Page 32An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 3: Tackling Hot Spots – Reducing the Enterprise Footprint continued

Case Studies

The following case studies highlight how organisations have benefited from implementing initiatives that reduce their enterprise footprint.

PowerfulCMS

The Issue PowerfulCMS – a leading website development company which specialises in the Drupal Content Management System – wanted a cost effective way to manage international sales and a global workforce.

The Key Challenge

To manage international sales and a global workforce at an affordable cost.

The Desired Business Benefit

To have an agile business model that is able to respond quickly to changing demands and collaborate with customers virtually – in an effective and transparent manner.

The Solution

PowerfulCMS integrated the latest project management and client collaboration tools into all key business activities, provided in the cloud as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

What was Achieved?

PowerfulCMS’ global operations are now dispersed in key geographical locations around the world. This enables all communications between staff and customers to be virtualised using the latest online SaaS solution providers.

Results

PowerfulCMS has achieved a clear value proposition, improved customer service and serves a global market in an efficient and effective manner.

Economic Benefits

Cash flow is managed more effectively with services now being procured on-demand, as needed.

Environmental & Social Benefits

Staff can now work from home which minimises office space, provides improved work-life balance of employees and reduces travel requirements (thereby lowering embedded carbon with the delivery of its solutions).

How can this be applied to your business?

While this model demands a highly skilled workforce, the same principles can be applied to any business which is considering new ways in which to increase its value proposition and competitive advantage.

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PowerfulCMS ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Greater Productivity

Utilising online collaboration models allows organisations to embrace a global workforce, where work can be continuously developed for clients around the clock – 24x7 – such that it is handed over to a colleague in the next time-zone as shifts end. This means that project assignments can be turned around in much shorter periods of times than would otherwise be possible.

Reduced Environmental Impacts

From a sustainability perspective, the use of remote work environments provides organisations with opportunities to reduce carbon emissions, thereby requiring fewer natural resources per unit of production and emitting less CO2e (CO2 equivalent) emissions into the atmosphere.

About PowerfulCMS

PowerfulCMS is a local business that helps SMEs adopt and adapt Drupal and other open source technologies to achieve business objectives. The PowerfulCMS team is also committed to technical excellence and have proven experience in ecommerce – focusing on on-time and on-budget delivery – and unparalleled ‘before, during and after’ customer service delivery.

For more information, visit www.powerfulcms.com.au

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Page 34An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 3: Tackling Hot Spots – Reducing the Enterprise Footprint continued

VicRoads

The Issue VicRoads – a Victorian agency that is involved with planning, developing and managing the arterial road network and delivering registration and licensing services – wanted to retain stakeholder buy-in through one of its largest business change projects.

The Key Challenge

To effectively manage the up-skilling of staff members during the transition to a new system (‘The Connect Project’) that will help VicRoads better manage its people, finances and road assets into the future.

The Desired Business Benefit

To provide staff members with sufficient educational resources so that, when the system goes live, they are productive and are able to manage inquires in an efficient and effective manner. The system also needed to be sufficiently comprehensive enough to underpin full end-to-end training for future staff.

The Solution

VicRoads engaged Global Vision Media to create a blended learning program that provides the flexibility of very practical, technical target training with the capacity to self direct more detailed elements as required.

What was Achieved?

VicRoads delivered a blended learning program that combined both eLearning modules with face-to-face training materials (including Participant Manuals, Quick Reference Guides, Video and Facilitator Kits).

Results

VicRoads has successfully implemented ‘The Connect Project’ with a very high level of staff satisfaction.

Economic and Environmental Benefits

eLearning modules reduced the time required to deliver the training material, minimised travel requirements and reduced the need for paper-based learning materials.

Social Benefits

• 92% voted the effectiveness of the training material to support learning objectives from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’.

• 100% agreed that they had a good understanding of how to navigate their way in the new system.

• 98% agreed that they had a good understanding of how to create a ‘Special Bid’ in the new system.

How can this be applied to your business?

All businesses need to communicate with staff and while face-to-face delivery has its place, it is costly and has an environmental impact. A blended approach allows your staff to get the best of both worlds – communicating high level information in a traditional way and conveying specific, targeted information online where the recipient can focus on what they need most. Almost all organisations can gain from a blended knowledge distribution which reduces travel, accommodation and group gathering costs – all of which can lead to carbon footprint reduction.

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Phase 3: Tackling Hot Spots – Reducing the Enterprise Footprint continued

VicRoads ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Minimise Disruption to Business

eLearning modules can be delivered online over the internet at any time, allowing staff to access training materials at a time that suits their schedule, with minimal impact on business operations. This allows staff greater flexibility in the way their training is delivered and provides the ability to run refresher programs on an individual needs basis.

Increase Training Effectiveness

Visual eLearning modules that are provided in a variety of different mediums (powerpoint, video, eLearning modules) are more engaging than traditional methods and are able to deliver high quality outcomes. Individuals can be assessed as they complete separate exercises where prompters can be provided to fill in any gaps of understanding. This provides organisations with much greater control and flexibility for the delivery of training materials, thereby allowing training facilitators to be more efficient and effective in face-to-face training sessions.

About VicRoads

VicRoads supports Victoria’s liveability and economic prosperity by planning, developing and managing the arterial road network and delivering registration and licensing services. VicRoads manages over 22,000 kilometres of roads and 3300 bridges. VicRoads processes more than 22 million transactions a year for 3.7 million licensed drivers and 4.9 million registered vehicles. These road and registration and licensing services are delivered by around 3000 staff through a network of more than 50 offices located across the state.

For more information, visit www.vicroads.vic.gov.au

About Global Vision Media

Global Vision Media has been Australia’s leading innovator in eLearning, multimedia and video. Australia’s most experienced full-service provider, Global Vision Media, can assist with corporate videos, website development, online courseware, eLearning consultancy services or learning management systems.

For more information, visit www.globalvision.com.au

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Page 36An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 4: Stewardship – Reducing the Value Chain Footprint

Taking Greater Responsibility by Engaging your Suppliers and Customers

As the capability and understanding of sustainability develops within an organisation, there will come a time when the organisation needs to start developing greater engagement with its customers and suppliers.

When this happens, organisations need to take on more of a leadership role within their market segment, helping customers make more informed decisions regarding the overall impact of their purchasing decisions which in turn influences suppliers to develop new products and services with a smaller environmental footprint.

The interconnectedness of customers and suppliers within the value chain is demonstrated below. This is an adaptation of the Porter Value Chain model to emphasis the role both customers and suppliers play in the Value Chain.28

Figure 7 – Adaptation of the Porter Value Chain model

Organisations can engage suppliers in a number of ways, including:

• Certification – Sustainability criteria are incorporated into procurement policies, giving preference to organisations with greater sustainability credentials.

• Disclosure – Additional metrics are disclosed by suppliers in order to provide more details on the environmental footprint associated with the usage of their products and services which assist with the estimation of Scope 3 emissions (i.e. embedded CO2e emissions, paper usage, water consumption and distance travelled).

• Collaboration – Portal environments are established that provide a paperless means of communicating and transacting business online.

Organisations can engage customers in a number of ways, including:

• Disclosure – Customers can be informed of the estimated CO2e emissions associated with a product or service.

• eCommerce – Customers can purchase products and services online rather than needing to transact in a traditional office/retail environment. This reduces the associated travel and paper consumption that would have otherwise occurred.

• Digital media – Organisations can engage in an ongoing social dialogue with customers online via social media and networking sites. This provides more cost effective marketing tools and minimises the consumption of paper.

Gather product requirements

Produce product for customers

Suppliers CustomersProcurement

Distribution

Sales and service

Marketing

Core production

process

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Overview of the Opportunities

There are a number of options available for organisations to further reduce the footprint of their value chain. Some of the main capabilities are described below:

Capability Overview

eCommerce solutions Australian businesses are currently lagging behind their international peers in the effective use of ICT as a business output.

Australia is ranked 24th out of 29 for businesses that have a website (54%) and 11th out of 29 for businesses that generate any revenue at all from eCommerce (10%).29 & 30

This represents a great opportunity for Australian organisations to improve in this area by making it easier for consumers to transact online or mobile device.

The main functionality requirements will include:

• Customer acquisition – Allowing customers to subscribe to online services.

• Payments & receivables – Allowing customers to make payments and orders online.

• Invoicing & receipts – Allowing organisations to bill customers electronically and provide an electronic receipt upon payment.

Digital media solutions With the evolution of social media and networking sites, more and more businesses are using digital media to engage with customers and promote their products and services.

Two of the most popular social media sites are Facebook and Twitter, both of which are quickly becoming essential business tools.

Facebook provides access to 10 million active users in Australia, while Twitter provides access to 2.5 million active users in Australia. 31 & 32

This is supported by the findings identified in the latest Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) Digital Services Index (2009), where:33

• 55% of all respondents expect to increase spend on digital media solutions.

• 68% of respondents expect an increase in revenue either directly generated or influenced by digital channels.

• 87% of respondents expect the level of customer engagement via digital channels will increase.

• Smaller organisations are switching to digital media faster than larger corporates.

Table 7 – Overview of the opportunities to reduce the value chain footprint

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Page 38An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 4: Stewardship – Reducing the Value Chain Footprint continued

Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

Digital media solutions continued

Despite the benefits of digital media, organisations are still under investing in this space, with the majority of respondents spending less than 20% of their total advertising budgets on digital media and a significant proportion spending less than 10% (AIMIA 2009).

Those opportunities where organisations can utilise digital media solutions include:

• Digital marketing – Promoting products and services electronically, either on an organisation’s website or through social media networks.

• Digital communication – Developing an ongoing social dialogue with customers through social networks.

• Digital publishing – Creating electronic content such as eBooks, videos, webinars and eLearning material, including the development of digital libraries and catalogues.

Business portals Whereas websites are focused on providing information about an organisation, business portals provide a private forum for organisations to conduct business services online.

The main functionality requirements for a business portal include: account details, invoices, orders, receipts, reports, service support and other domain specific details.

Examples of those new business portals becoming available include:

• Accounting services – Accounting software provided as a service online (SaaS), allowing organisations to collaborate more effectively and efficiently with accounts and bookkeepers.

• Project Management Office (PMO) services – Project management software provided as a service online, allowing organisation to collaborate more effectively with remote teams.

• Recruitment services – Human Resources software provided as a service online, allowing the Human Resources department to collaborate more effectively with recruitment agencies and candidates.

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Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

Online Certification / Assessment

Today, a number of online services are available from which to streamline a variety of different certification and assessment programs. These offer a good way for organisations to quickly assess their current situation and identify opportunities for improvement without having to invest in large amounts of money in consulting services.

The programs are typically self-service, where users subscribe online and complete a series of questions that are aligned to best practice.

Each question is then rated and the user is then given an overall evaluation of their self assessment which is accompanied by an comprehensive report.

The report also provides a detailed overview of the assessment and highlights areas where improvements can be made.

More advanced programs also offer a certification and branding program as an add-on extra. This involves completing a mini-audit to provide evidence of the claims provided in the self-assessment, where users will receive a graded logo (i.e. gold, silver and bronze) based upon their assessment and audit results.

Given that each assessment is measured against a known standard, achieving certification provides organisations with a great way in which to benchmark their performance against other organisations in a clear, meaningful and transparent manner.

All results are independent and can be easily compared by any prospective clients as a way to evaluate an organisation’s specific capabilities against those of their competitors.

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Page 40An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

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Case Studies

The following case studies highlight how organisations have benefited from implementing initiatives that reduce the value chain footprint.

AIA

The Issue AIA – a leading supplier of insurance services – wanted to improve workforce management, build the company’s talent pool and grow organisational capability.

The Key Challenge

To gain greater access to people talent and expertise at an affordable cost and in a timely manner.

The Desired Business Benefit

To manage business operations in a more efficient, effective and sustainable manner that supports future growth demands.

The Solution

AIA designed an extended workforce engagement solution offered through Resource Central’s DashPoint™ and virtual PMO services.

What was Achieved?

AIA’s solution defined utilisation of a ‘virtual bench’ of pre-qualified professionals and teams to deliver required business outcomes and provide support services on demand. This includes access to interactive flash reporting, eLearning modules, virtual coaching sessions and knowledge portals.

Results

AIA expects this solution will enable access to a greater pool of talent and expertise more efficiently and effectively, minimise associated administrative overheads to procure such services and gain greater transparency and visibility of project resources and outcomes.

Economic Benefits

• Estimated savings of 30% annually in management costs with a similar lift in productivity.

Environmental Benefits

• Reduced paper consumption.

Social Benefits

• Increase in workforce capability and expertise.

How can this be applied to your business?

Extended workforce management embraces the concept that high performing teams often comprise employees, contractors and key suppliers. This provides SMEs with a new, highly-effective way of building capacity and expertise, improving efficiency and organisational capability while reducing costs and churn.

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AIA ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Deliver Better Business Outcomes

High performance teams using a mix of internal and external resources are able to be managed transparently by using interactive project dashboard reporting. Advanced reporting metrics allow executives to effectively track project resources and monitor how well they are delivering against required business outcomes.

Growing People Capability and Expertise

Virtual Productivity Services such as mentoring and tailored eLearning modules are essential for both ongoing personal development and for building the capability and expertise of internal staff. These services can be delivered remotely via PDAs and Notebooks or during Learning Events which are staged using tools such as Skype-based coaching and private customer knowledge portals.

About AIA

The AIA Group is a leading pan-Asian life insurance organisation that traces its roots in the Asia Pacific region back more than 90 years. It provides consumers and businesses with products and services for life insurance, retirement planning, accident and health insurance as well as wealth management solutions. With an extensive network of 250,000 agents and 20,000 employees across 15 geographical markets, the AIA Group serves over 20 million customers in the region.

AIA Australia Limited has been operating in Australia for over 40 years and is a leading independent specialist provider of life insurance products aimed at protecting the financial health and welfare of Australians.

For more information, visit www.aia.com

About Resource Central

Resource Central is a new type of consulting company providing Tier One professionals – lower costs, supported by specialists, equipped with tools and templates and available on an hourly, daily, term or permanent basis.

For more information, visit www.resourcecentral.net.au

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Phase 4: Stewardship – Reducing the Value Chain Footprint continued

Victoria Police

The Issue Victoria Police – a 24 hour police service to the Victorian community – wanted to break the cycle of contact with emergency services and the criminal justice system for people with complex social, health and welfare problems.

The Key Challenge

To reduce repeat contact with emergency services and to coordinate support strategies for some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

The Desired Business Benefit

To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of how Victoria Police responds to incidents by connecting clients directly with relevant services in their local community.

The Solution

Victoria Police, in partnership with Southern Health, utilised the Web 2.0 Conekter IT Platform to launch PACT (Police and Community Triage), a 12 month pilot program that is designed to provide clients with an efficient pathway – following initial police contact – which leads to them receiving timely health and welfare intervention. The system features a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, ensuring that the right form of care / response is available at all times.

What was Achieved?

PACT provided a single point of reference between police and the service sectors for all matters that related to people with complex social, health and welfare problems. As soon as a client was registered by Victoria Police, they were then referred on to a team of professional clinicians who conducted ongoing assessments and reviewed the client’s needs. The professionals also coordinated specialist service referrals and monitored client progress and engagement.

Results

PACT provided a single point of reference for all partner services to engage with each other.

Economic and Environmental Benefits

As partner services were more informed on each client, they were able to be more proactive and coordinate required interventions in a more cost efficient and effective manner than otherwise possible.

Social Benefits

Clients were provided with better support that reduced the incidence of repeat contacts with emergency services.

How can this be applied to your business?

Maintaining effective and efficient collaboration between key stakeholders is a key component to increasing organisational efficiency and productivity. This is further emphasised when disparate multidisciplinary teams work in isolation with each other. Utilising a secure Web 2.0 platform is an efficient and effective method of providing this capability where information can be accessed remotely using a personal computer, tablet, notebook or mobile phone.

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Phase 4: Stewardship – Reducing the Value Chain Footprint continued

Victoria Police ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Minimise Investment in Technology

Web 2.0 solutions are cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that overcome the associated issues with alternative solutions. Pricing is based upon usage. There is no hardware required, no annual support fees and no upgrade charges. All service fees are charged on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly) and can be charged back to a business unit for cost allocation as an operational expense.

Integrated Mobility and Portability

Modern Web 2.0 systems support organisations that have a combination of either remote, mobile, or virtual teams that may collaborate using a variety of different accessibility options such as a personal computer, tablet, notebook or mobile phone.

Multi-stakeholder Collaboration

Web 2.0 solutions provide a central point for communicating and managing issues that are common to a number of key stakeholders. It provides a single point of truth in relation to key matters that increase transparency and facilitate better quality decision making in a more timely manner.

About PACT

PACT is a partnership between Victoria Police – a 24 hour police service to the Victorian community – and Southern Health, Victoria’s largest health service provider.

It was launched in 2010 and was conducted in the Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston Local Government Areas. PACT also involves many local community services.

For more information, visit www.police.vic.gov.au

About Knowledge Community

Knowledge Community is a web based software system designed to facilitate communication, collaboration and caring within communities, be they Government, membership, business or education.

Knowledge Community is used by numerous clients in Australia and the USA for Education, Workplace, Membership, Learning Management Systems, Case & Agency Management and Aged Care. It is designed to provide secure and online internet services to a range of different people and situations.

For more information, visit www.knowledgecommunity.com

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Page 44An AIIA publication prepared for Carbon Down, a climate change partnership between VECCI and the Victorian Government.Version 1.2 – September 2011.

Phase 4: Stewardship – Reducing the Value Chain Footprint continued

Solutions Property Service

The Issue Solutions Property Service – a Sydney based business specialising in commercial cleaning, inspections and property management consulting – wanted to reduce the costs and effort associated with managing a large pool of staff.

The Key Challenge

To effectively manage the growing demands from clients and the need to manage a large number of permanent, contract and casual staff across a number of locations.

The Desired Business Benefit

To simplify day-to-day operations, increase efficiency and effectiveness and streamline the recruitment of new staff members.

The Solution

Solutions Property Service implemented a fully integrated, cloud-based eRecruitment and work force management platform offered by Skills Connect.

What was Achieved?

Solutions Property Service now has a single point of reference for all matters relating to both recruitment and workforce management.

Results

Solutions Property Service has virtualised all aspects of its talent acquisition and management to provide real-time intelligence and integrated workflow functionality, allowing multiple locations to be managed simultaneously. It also included timesheet functionality which was linked to cost centres for integration with payroll.

Economic Benefits

• Avoids the use of expensive external recruiters and outsourced staffing services.

• Enables greater visibility of the costs associated with staff management across multiple locations.

Evironmental and Social Benefits

• Eliminated the prior practice of faxing timesheets.

How can this be applied to your business?

Talent acquisition and management is an expensive activity for any organisation, especially smaller organisations with limited budgets. Utilising an eRecruitment platform is an efficient and effective alternative to help streamline workforce management activities and provide real-time intelligence in order to better manage associated costs.

Minimise Investment in Technology

A cloud based SaaS solution overcomes the associated issues with alternative solutions. There is no hardware required, no licensing costs, no annual support fees and no upgrade charges. All service charges are based upon the associated usage that is charged back to the Human Resources department for cost allocation.

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Solutions Property Service ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Direct Contact with Candidates

An eRecruitment portal provides organisations with the ability to search an online community of candidates against a powerful, predefined selection criterion search engine. All candidates can be reviewed online – including accessing a video profile if available – without the need to advertise and select using traditional methods. This provides organisations with much greater control and flexibility for the candidate selection process and allows for recruitment decisions to be made more efficiently and effectively.

About Solutions Property Service

Solutions Property Service is a Sydney based business specialising in commercial cleaning, inspections and property management consulting. The business provides services to over 30 different commercial buildings and schools throughout Sydney and has in excess of 200 staff and contractors.

For more information, visit www.solutionspropertyservice.com

About Skills Connect

Skills Connect (SC) is reinventing the recruiting and Human Resources (HR) landscape as a game-changing cloud solution. Spearheading this trend with an e-tender gateway, global database, integrated and customised Google Search Appliance and secure hosting with Rackspace®, SC delivers an easier and more cost effective business tool for companies and HR departments to interact with job seekers globally for their recruitment processes.

For more information, visit www.skillsconnect.com.au

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Phase 4: Stewardship – Reducing the Value Chain Footprint continued

PCA People

The Issue PCA People – a professional recruitment provider in Canberra and the ACT region – wanted to find the most effective way to develop sustainable business operations and communicate their achievements in a clear and transparent manner.

The Key Challenge

To show customers and staff that they were concerned with Climate Change and were making a real contribution to the environment.

The Desired Business Benefit

To align business operations with corporate social responsibility and sustainability values and principles, creating the best work environment possible.

The Solution

PCA People conducted an assessment of the organisation’s ‘footprint’ using the GreenBizCheck online self-certification sustainability office program.

What was Achieved?

PCA People utilised GreenBizCheck’s certification program to quickly identify the most suitable initiatives it could adopt in order to save money and help the environment. By focusing on quick wins and short terms initiatives, the initial certification program was completed within eight months.

The main areas covered through GreenBizCheck’s certification checklist include:

• Energy conservation.

• Water consumption reduction.

• Waste reduction.

• Transportation and travel.

• Purchasing.

• Supply chain sustainability.

• Carbon calculation, plus subsequent carbon offset purchase.

Results

PCA People is now the first Australian based business to have attained GreenBizCheck’s gold certification.

Economic Benefits

• Marketing opportunities – at no cost – in Australia wide industry expert and business publications promoting the benefits of being green.

• Staff and client retention due to green credentials.

• Green credentials add value to tender submissions.

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Solutions Property Service ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Environmental Benefits

• Savings of approximately 20% on in-house operational data centre costs.

• Now use 30% less energy and 80% less water than standard facilities.

Social Benefits

• Winner of the Telstra Business Social Responsibility Award.

• Career development opportunities through access to state-of-the-art technology.

How can this be applied to your business?

The certification process is suitable for a wide range of businesses but is mainly focused on assisting SMEs to gain a better understanding of what their current environmental footprint is and how this then rates against a number or predetermined criteria. It is relevant to any organisation, both large and small, because it enables you to conduct an assessment of your organisation’s ‘footprint’ using the comprehensive GreenBizCheck checklist.

Sustainability Leadership

Disclosing your environmental credentials in a meaningful and transparent manner is a great way to demonstrate your commitment towards a sustainable future. It helps your organisation differentiate in the market and puts you in a leadership position by raising the awareness of environmentally friendly practices in your dealings with customers, suppliers and partners.

About PCA People

PCA People specialises in professional recruitment in Canberra and the ACT region. The organisation has been established in Canberra for 25 years and is proud of the long and successful relationships that have been developed with the wide range of government and private clients who use the company’s services. It is the goal of PCA People to provide clients and candidates with personal, efficient, relevant and professional recruitment and human resource services.

For more information, visit www.pcapeople.com

About GreenBizCheck

GreenBizCheck provides world-leading action-oriented environmental certification programs that help businesses improve their bottom line and increase their market share. The programs are verified and audited by Bureau Veritas (BV), the world’s largest certification provider (44,000 staff and 400,000+ corporate clients).

For more information, visit www.greenbizcheck.com

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy

Creating Value in a Low Carbon Economy

The Australian Government’s comprehensive plan for tackling climate change, ‘Securing a clean energy future’, was announced on 10 July 2011. The intention of this long term plan is to reshape the Australian economy, cut carbon pollution, drive innovation and help avoid the increased costs of delaying action on climate change. In summary, subject to the policy being formed into legislation, the plan consists of:34

• Putting a carbon on price.

• Promoting innovation and investment in renewable energy.

• Improving energy efficiency.

• Creating opportunities in the land sector to cut pollution.

Providing a market driven mechanism for reducing Australia’s carbon emissions, businesses will have a new mechasim to manage what will ultimately drive a change towards increasing energy efficiency and reducing emissions. As a result, new opportunities for innovation will present, creating a market that provides new products and services which can be used to help organisations with this challenge.

Key sectors which will provide the greatest contribution towards reducing emissions and increasing efficiency include:

• Energy (smart grid technology).

• Transport (eFreight, navigation, routing and real-time monitoring technology).

• Buildings (building management and information systems).

• Manufacturing (advanced process control and simulation technology).

• ICT (more efficient use of ICT).

In total, the use of ICT to assist these key sectors is able to make the following contributions:35

• Growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $35 to $80 billion.

• Reduction in CO2e emissions by up to 116 Mt.

• Creation of up to 70,000 jobs.

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy continued

Overview of the Opportunities

Capability Overview

SmartGrid Currently, electricity consumption accounts for 37% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions where 84% is produced by coal power generators (2006-2007).36 & 37

The implementation of a carbon price will increase the demand for renewable energy as Australians look to source their electricity from environmentally friendly producers like wind and solar.

The government has set a Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) where 20% of Australia’s electricity supply will come from renewable sources by 2020. The MRET was designed to encourage additional renewable electricity generation and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses in Australia.38

When an accredited renewable generation source produces electricity it creates a tradeable certificate called a Renewable Energy Credit (REC). These certificates provide financial incentive for investment in renewable generation as they can be traded for their market value at that particular time.

As a customer buys accredited renewable power from a retailer they are in effect buying RECs but generally there is no specific source guaranteed.

A Smart Grid will enable the consumer to manage their impact on the environment by controlling consumption patterns. It will also provide the tools to manage and mitigate usage in peak periods to reduce costs.

Carbon price modelling The introduction of a carbon price means that the profitability and viability of organisations will become dependent upon their ability to manage this new liability. A new focus will be required in order to look for new ways to operate business functions that minimise carbon emissions. This will involve a focus on carbon emissions and the carbon price.

New financial modelling tools will be required to assist organisations to balance investments in a multi-dimension way (cost, carbon and carbon price).

This will mean that while a specific project may not necessarily be financially viable based simply on Return on Investment (ROI), it may become a high priority if the cost of carbon exceeds a pre-determined level.

Organisations will need to become more adaptable and agile in order to respond to new market demands.

Table 8 – Overview of the opportunities to operate in a low-carbon economy

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy continued

Overview of the Opportunities continued

Capability Overview

Carbon offsetting Though still voluntary, the Australian Government has released a National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) which governs the process for those organisations that want to be certified as being ‘carbon neutral’ under the NCOS carbon neutral program.

This standard governs the process for:39

• Measuring the carbon footprint of an organisation.

• Monitoring and reducing emissions where possible.

• The purchasing and cancelling of sufficient carbon credits to offset the remaining emissions associated with the organisation.

Aligned with best practice, NCOS requires organisations to publicly disclose the steps taken to measure, reduce and offset emissions so that any carbon neutral claims can be objectively assessed.

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy continued

Case Studies

The following case studies highlight how organisations have benefited from implementing initiatives that transform operations for a low carbon economy.

Carbon Trade eXchange

The Issue Carbon Trade eXchange – the world’s most inclusive carbon trading platform – wanted to improve the efficiency and transparency associated with trading carbon credits.

The Key Challenge

To reduce the administrative overheads and processing delays associated with trading carbon credits.

The Desired Business Benefit

To provide the voluntary carbon market with a trusted low cost global platform for trading carbon credits internationally in 24x7 real time.

The Solution

Carbon Trade eXchange used Tradeslot’s long standing expertise in auction/trading platforms, in conjunction with 20 years of Bartercard Exchange platform experience, to develop a unique ‘bespoke’ solution for the Global Carbon Markets. They chose to deploy a web-based online trading portal, utilising Microsoft Cloud technology, which is fully integrated with market leading registries and major banks.

What was Achieved?

Carbon Trade eXchange now has an online portal that offers members a low cost end-to-end system for companies to sell and purchase carbon credits globally in real time.

Results

Carbon Trade eXchange has streamlined all its due diligence and legal requirements for selling and purchasing carbon credits, thereby allowing buyers to search for credits based on vintage, credit standard, project type and country of origin.

The system provides full price transparency by tracking an offset from its generation and verification through to its transfer and eventual retirement, via a partnership with global environmental registries such as Markit, CDC Climat and the American Carbon Registry. Carbon Trade eXchange has a direct interface with Westpac Bank to provide full bank clearance to Westpac customers.

It provides real time integration with Registries and Banks and is aligned with leading carbon standard organisations that define the rules and criteria for voluntary emissions reduction. Moreover, the system allows the following considerations to evaluate the quality of different offsets – Additionality, Permanence, Leakage, Double Counting, Accounting and Co-benefits.

Economic and Environmental Benefits

• Faster, cheaper and better way of purchasing carbon credits for organisations to become carbon neutral.

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy continued

Carbon Trade eXchange continued

How can this be applied to your business?

A growing number of organisations want to purchase carbon credits to become carbon neutral. This is made easy for SMEs, large and corporate businesses, by offering a low cost method to access a global carbon market for purchasing carbon credits in an efficient and transparent manner, thereby complying with all due diligence and legal requirements.

Self-Manage the Purchase of Carbon Credits

Carbon Trade eXchange puts organisations that want to purchase carbon credits back in the driving seat, providing a trusted platform to easily identify carbon offset programs that match their criteria in a transparent, timely and cost effective manner.

About Carbon Trade Exchange

Carbon Trade eXchange has been established to aid the growth and transparency of the global voluntary carbon market and become the world’s most inclusive trading platform. Carbon Trade eXchange aims to maximise the environmental benefits of carbon trading by bringing unrivalled liquidity and reach to the market.

Carbon Trade eXchange engages with brokers and intermediaries, enables major corporations to satisfy carbon neutrality obligations and helps credit originators to sell their credits faster. Carbon Trade eXchange runs its Headquarters in Sydney, Australia with offices in London to service the European markets.

For more information, visit www.carbontradexchange.com

About Tradeslot

Tradeslot is a provider of trading software, such as allocation mechanisms and secondary exchanges. Tradeslot operates across a range of commodities, including carbon.

For more information, visit www.tradeslot.com

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy continued

Interactive

The Issue Interactive – a premier supplier of system availability services in Australia – wanted to develop and implement a carbon offset policy in a voluntary carbon market.

The Key Challenge

To achieve 100% carbon neutral operations across the organisation.

The Desired Business Benefit

To minimise the impact business operations leave upon the environment and encourage environmentally aware practices in the organisation’s dealings with its customers, suppliers and partners.

The Solution

Interactive implemented a carbon disclosure policy in alignment with the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS).

What was Achieved?

Interactive conducted an internal carbon assessment and offset emissions using carbon credits. Carbon credits were purchased through ‘Climate Friendly’ which were sourced from the Kadamane Small Hydro Power Project – verified by accredited auditor SGS – and follow the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), globally recognised as a leading carbon offset standard.

Results

Interactive has developed and implemented a carbon disclosure policy that communicates its green credentials in a meaningful and transparent manner.

Environmental Benefits

Interactive’s business operations are now 100% carbon neutral.

Interactive’s business operations are defined as all activities performed directly by Interactive in the running and delivery of day-to-day business including electricity generation, heating, cooling, the running of all Interactive owned and operated IT systems and environmentals, staff travel and all other related emissions.

NB: Customer owned computer systems housed within Interactive’s data centres and associated environs are not included.

How can this be applied to your business?

All organisations are eligible to utilise the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) to promote their green credentials in a clear and transparent way. This also provides a great starting point for organisations to better manage their carbon emissions and prepare for a low carbon economy future.

Sustainability Leadership

Disclosing your environmental credentials in a meaningful and transparent manner is a great way to demonstrate your commitment towards a sustainable future. It helps your organisation differentiate itself in the market and puts you in a leadership position by raising the awareness of environmentally friendly practices in your dealings with your customers, suppliers and partners.

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy continued

Interactive ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Carbon Risk Profile

Conducting an internal carbon audit in alignment with NCOS is an efficient and effective way to quantify the carbon liability of your organisation. It provides a standard framework to measure and report on the source of greenhouse emissions which can then be reviewed to identify key areas where improvements need to be made and where continuous improvement programs can be incorporated across the organisation.

About Interactive

Established in 1988, Interactive is one of Australia’s most respected IT service providers. With a focus on systems availability and customer service, Interactive and its team of over 350 dedicated service staff is the supplier of choice for more than 1,800 of Australia’s most successful corporations.

Interactive has offices nationally and runs five state-of-the-art data centres which provide services across the Asia Pacific Region.

For more information, visit www.interactive.com.au

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Phase 5: Transformation – Operating in a Low Carbon Economy continued

Elgo Estate

The Issue Elgo Estate – a local producer of high quality Australian wines – wanted to minimise carbon emissions associated with the winery’s operations.

The Key Challenge

To meet the winery’s energy demands by utilising a renewable energy source.

The Desired Business Benefit

To operate a carbon neutral winery that embraces sustainability principles.

The Solution

Elgo Estate commissioned a 150kW wind turbine and used the services of Diamond Energy to manage the market interface with the grid.

What was Achieved?

Elgo Estate has eliminated monthly power bills, is recognised as an industry leader and now successfully operates a carbon neutral, sustainably focused business.

Results

Elgo Estate now generates over 200% of its electricity requirements and has MRET accreditation to supply excess power into the grid.

Economic Benefits

• Saved costs in power previously sourced from the grid.

• Commercially viable by exporting excess power to the grid.

Environmental Benefits

Saved 400 tonnes CO2e per year and 146 kilolitres per day of water by avoiding the use of coal generated power.

Social Benefits

Excess power is exported back to the grid, providing other local residents with the opportunity to source locally generated renewable power (up to 34 houses).

How can this be applied to your business?

As SmartGrid technologies enable power generated locally to be fed back into the grid (i.e. to become more distributed), new opportunities are opening up for organisations that want to invest in renewable power. This provides organisations with the ability to both be self-sufficient and create new revenue streams by feeding excess power into the grid for others to use. It also provides access to new financial benefits and offers carbon credits to help other organisations offset their carbon emissions.

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Elgo Estate ‘How can this be applied to your business’ continued

Renewable Energy Provider

Investing in renewable energy generators, like wind turbines, provides organisations with the ability to supply 100% of their own energy needs and export excess back to the grid. By becoming accredited under the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) scheme, it also provides organisations with the ability to issue renewable energy certificates for rewable power supplied to the grid. This allows organisations to go beyond carbon neutral and become carbon negative by providing a means for others to also reduce their own carbon emissions.

About Elgo Estate

Elgo Estate offers two distinct wine portfolios via its Allira and Elgo Estate labels. All Elgo Estate wines are 100% sustainably estate grown and are made from fruit which is sourced solely from the winery’s three vineyards, all of which are located within the region. The winery’s vine plantings date as far back as the early 1970s.

Elgo Estate goes well beyond being carbon neutral and is truly committed to producing high quality wines that ‘don’t cost the earth’.

For more information, visit www.elgoestate.com.au

About Diamond Energy

Diamond Energy develops and delivers customised, innovative business models to reduce its client’s carbon footprint. Diamond Energy’s extensive knowledge of renewable energy and low carbon energy models plus the unique combination of electricity generation and retail electricity licensing, enables the company to develop the most commercially viable solution for each client.

For more information, visit www.diamond-energy.com

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Case Study Acknowledgments

Access the world’s carbon markets

Contributers

Supporting Vendors

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Glossary

AIIA Australian Information Industry Association

AIMIA Australian Interactive Media Industry Association

Carbon Down Carbon Down is a partnership between the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) and the Victorian government.

CO2e Carbon Dioxide equivalent – includes: CO2, SF6, CH4, N2O, HFCs, and PFCs

CSR Corporate Social Responsibility

eWaste End-of-life ICT equipment that is unable to be refurbished or redeployed.

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GreenIT GreenIT refers to ICT that both reduces the environmental footprint of the ICT industry (Green in ICT) and reduces the environmental footprint of other industry sectors (Green through ICT).

KPI Key Performance Indicator

MRET Mandatory Renewable Energy Target

NABERS National Australian Built Environment Rating System, http://www.nabers.com.au/

NCOS National Carbon Offset Standard

NGO Non Government Organisation

PMO Project Management Office

PUE Power Usage Effectiveness

REC Renewable Energy Certificate

ROI Return on Investment

Scope 1 Direct carbon emissions emitted from fuel combustion

Scope 2 Indirect carbon emissions associated with the usage of electricity

Scope 3 All indirect emissions other than Scope 2 (i.e. paper, personal travel, embedded carbon in purchases, and waste disposal)

SME Small to Medium Enterprise

VECCI Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry

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Endnotes

1 Philipson, G. (ed) September 2010, ‘ICT’s Role in the Low Carbon Economy: The Role of Information and Communications Technology in Enabling Australia’s Transition to a More Sustainable Future’, Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA). <http://www.aiia.com.au/?page=greenit_whitepaper>

2 Philipson, G. (ed) September 2010. op cit.

3 Energy Efficiency Council. (2010). ‘Energy Efficiency – Australia’s Low Carbon Future: Boost Profits, Cut Emissions, Create Jobs’, <http://www.eec.org.au/UserFiles/File/EnergyEfficiencyCouncilPlatform.pdf>

4 Business Council of Australia. (2010). ‘Working in Parallel – Large and Small Business Succeeding Side by Side’, <http://www.bca.com.au/Content/101749.aspx>

5 McKinsey. (2010). ‘How companies manage sustainability: McKinsey Global Survey results’, <http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_companies_manage_sustainability_McKinsey_Global_Survey_results__2558>

6 Philipson, G. April 2010, ‘Carbon and Computers in Australia: The Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint of ICT Usage in Australia’, Australian Computer Society (ACS). <http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=show&conID=carbonandcomputers>

7 Australian Energy Market Operator. (2010). ‘2010 Electricity Statement of Opportunities for the National Electricity Market ’, <http://www.aemo.com.au/planning/esoo2010.html>

8 Fujitsu. (2010). ‘GreenIT: The Global Benchmark - A report on sustainable IT in the US, UK, Australia and India’, <http://www.aemo.com.au/planning/esoo2010.html>

9 – 12 Philipson, G. April 2010. op cit.

13 Kuehr, R.; Williams, Eric (eds.) 2003, ‘Computers and the Environment: Understanding and Managing their Impacts’. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, Vol. 14. http://www.it-environment.org/compenv.html

14 Bournay, E. (2008). ‘Life cycle emissions of a computer ’, UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library, <http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/life-cycle-emissions-of-a-computer> (Accessed 19 July 2011)

15 Warnken ISE. (September 2007). ‘Potential for Greenhouse Gas Abatement from Waste Management and Resource Recovery in Australia’ SITA Environmental Solutions, <http://www.wmaa.asn.au/uploads/documents/Final_PGGAWMRRAA.pdf>

16 Philipson, G. April 2010. op cit.

17 Johnson, P.; Marker, Tony. (April 2009). ‘Data Centre Energy Efficiency Product Profile’. Equipment Energy Efficiency Committee (E3), Report No 2009/05, <http://www.energyrating.gov.au/library/pubs/200905-data-centre-efficiency.pdf>

18 –198 Johnson, P.; Marker, Tony. April 2009. op cit.

20 Accenture. (July 2008). ‘Data Centre Energy Forecast ’. Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SLVG), http://svlg.org/campaigns/datacenter/docs/DCEFR_report.pdf

21 Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO). (January 2011). ‘Cloud Computing Strategic Direction Paper: Opportunities and applicability for use by the Australian Government’, Department of Finance and Deregulation <http://www.finance.gov.au/e-government/strategy-and-governance/docs/draft_cloud_computing_strategy.pdf>

22 AGIMO. January 2011. op. cit.

23 Australian Government: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. (10 July 2011). ‘MPCCC releases Clean Energy Agreement ’, <http://www.climatechange.gov.au/media/whats-new/mpccc-cleanenergy-agreement.aspx>

24 Australian Government: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency – Clean Energy Future. (July 2011). ‘Securing a Clean Energy Future: Chapter 3 – Putting a price on carbon pollution’. <http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au/clean-energy-future/securing-a-clean-energy-future/#content04>

25 Australian Government: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency – Clean Energy Future. (July 2011). ‘Helping small business’. <http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au/helping-business/business-and-a-clean-energy-future>

26 Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD), <http://www.cbd.gov.au>

27 Centre for International Economics (CIE). (September 2007). ‘Capitalising on the building sector’s potential to lessen the costs of a broad based GHG emissions cut ’. ASBEC Climate Change Task Group, <http://www.asbec.asn.au/files/Building-sector-potential_Sept13.pdf>

28 Wikipedia contributors. (Accessed 26 July 2011). ‘Value Chain’ Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_chain>

29 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (June 2008). ‘The future of the internet economy – a statistical profile’, <http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/44/56/40827598.pdf>.

30 Australian Government: Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE). (2009). ‘Australia’s Digital Economy: Future Directions, Final Report ’, <http://www.dbcde. gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/117681/DIGITAL_ECONOMY_FUTURE_DIRECTIONS_FINAL_REPORT.pdf>

31 Lee, J. (10th December 2010). ‘10 million Aussies in love with Facebook ’. The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), <http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/smallbiz-marketing/10-million-aussies-in-love-with-facebook-20101210-18s05.html>

32 Bull, T. (13th May 2010). ‘How many Australian twitter users are there? And where are they from? ’, Tribalytic, <http://blog.tribalytic.com/how-many-australian-twitter-users-are-there-and-where-are-they-from/>

33 Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA). (May 2009). ‘AIMIA Digital Services Index™: Measuring the Australian Digital Services Industry – Online Survey ’. <http://www.aimia.com.au/enews/newsletter/Industry%20Roundup/2011/AIMIA_DSI_2009.pdf>

34 Australian Government: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. (10 July 2011). ‘MPCCC releases Clean Energy Agreement ’, <http://www.climatechange.gov.au/media/whats-new/mpccc-cleanenergy-agreement.aspx>

35 Philipson, G. (ed) September 2010. op cit.

36 Australian Government: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. (2010). ‘Australia’s emissions’, <http://www.climatechange.gov.au/climate-change/emissions.aspx>

37 Australian Government: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARE). (2009). ‘Energy in Australia – 2009’, Australian Government: Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (RET), <http://www.abareconomics.com/publications_html/energy/energy_09/auEnergy09.pdf>

38 Australian Government: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. (2011). ‘Renewable Energy Target ’, <http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/renewable-target.aspx>

39 Australian Government: Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. (2011). ‘National Carbon Offset Standard’, <http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/national-carbon-offset-standard.aspx>