ICT firms must go green: panellists

Manoj Leelanivas, senior executive vice president of US computer-networking equipment-supplier Juniper Networks, said last week that if the industry did not do anything, it would become the biggest polluter in the next decade in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions.

By 2025, ICT network equipment across the globe would consume a whopping 10 billion kilowatt hours, according to a 2007 forecast by industry research house IDC.

"The ICT industry will release CO2 as the biggest polluter within 10-15 years, if we all don't do anything about it," Leelanivas said on the sidelines of ITU Telecom Asia 2008, which ended last Friday in Bangkok.

He was one of the speakers for the ITU Asia panel discussion on the topic "Going green - feel good or good business".

It is business wisdom to be eco-friendly, he said. By delivering products with minimal energy use, network vendors could show social responsibility and attract energy-aware customers.

"This makes sense from the dollar point of view," he said.

The ICT industry is being

driven to go green by the at-tempts of many governments around the world to cut CO2 emissions, while telcos are looking for networks with lower power consumption to cut their fuel costs.

One example of Juniper's eco-friendly practices is its focus on developing products with energy efficiency built in right from the start.

The California firm also promotes green consciousness at its offices worldwide. For example, it has leveraged its technology to let its employees work at home or anywhere else to reduce commuter pollution.

Another panellist, True Internet chief technical officer Viriya Upatising, said his firm had piloted the use of free-flow cooling or the combined use of water and electric-fans to cool some of its 700 Internet data centres (IDCs), in place of air-conditioners. That saved it Bt2.3 million per month in electricity bills at IDC sites.

Local cellular operators have already caught on to the green trend in response to the rising cost of energy.

One of their energy-reduction measures is the trial installation of solar-powered cellular base stations.