06 Nov 2008

Green firms 'will beat the crunch'

Firms with greener credentials will be better equipped to tackle the effects of the credit crunch, an expert has said.

Mary Leonard, marketing director at Envirowise, suggested that green office practices will help firms cut their energy bills and improve their economic performance.

Her comments come after a survey of more than 1,800 UK-based office workers found that a third do not make any effort to reduce the amount of resources they use.

The findings indicate that while firms' IT managers might be investing in energy-efficient virtualisation software and cutting bills by switching to hosted IT solutions, office workers are not pulling their weight on green issues.

Ms Leonard urged bosses to show their workers the company's gas, electricity, water and recycling bills to encourage them to take more responsibility for their actions.

"Those businesses that make positive changes to reduce their environmental impact and reduce costs now will be better equipped to survive and thrive during the current downturn," she added.

Because of its cost-cutting benefits and the broader, global problem of climate change, industry expert Martha Young writing at ITWorld last month tipped green computing to be the "next major wave in technology".