An increasing number of scientists and politicians believe that the fact and threat of global warming is real, and an increasing number of countries are looking to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Worldwide legislation that will mandate carbon neutral strategies from organizations and their suppliers is highly likely.
Within the IT industry, Wikibon believes that Hitachi has the most comprehensive and fully implemented corporate plan in place, with IBM a close second. Much of the U.S. IT industry has not progressed much further than marketing department “green washing” whatever green features can be found in products. In a Computerworld article published in the first quarter of 2008, a panel comprised of industry experts and independent observers chose IBM as the most green vendor. Wikibon evaluated Hitachi and several other vendors against the criteria published by Computerworld and believes Hitachi's programs are more aggressive and the company has demonstrated more progress than others, including IBM. Hitachi wasn't on CW's list which leads us to believe that either Hitachi is not considered by the CW panel as an IT supplier or Hitachi simply missed the boat on the application process.
Of particular consideration to the Wikibon community is the notion of carbon neutrality, which is not explicity identified in the CW criteria (although it could be generally inferred as included). Specifically, Hitachi defines carbon neutrality as an end-to-end process, to include the manufacture of its products including its supply chain. This definition is far more impactful than other criteria often cited as critical. As a point of comparison, Sun, which ranked #12 on CW's top 12 list didn't even include the manufacturing process of its products in its quantification of energy reductions when asked by Wikibon. Hitachi is far more rigorous in its commitment to energy efficiency than Sun which is considered a leader in the U.S. and is clearly ahead of many IT suppliers.
Hitachi’s progress on its environmental strategy to be emission neutral by 2015 is very impressive. The strategy started in 2001 looks at the total life cycle of all products including storage, from design, manufacturing, usage (especially power) and disposal. A key aspect is that the plan includes the qualification of key suppliers as carbon neutral. Currently, 70% of Hitachi's suppliers are carbon neutral with a plan for 100% by 2015. Further, initiatives such as the collaboration of various Hitachi groups for a new datacenter design in Yokohama underscore Hitachi's commitment and are great drivers for change. Within storage the USP V controller redesign and the implementation of virtualization, thin provisioning and the support for external devices that spin down, has helped improve utilization and reduce power consumption by 63% over previous generations, demonstrating leadership for the industry.
The key point is that suppliers such as Hitachi and IBM are setting an example for Global IT buyers and sellers alike. Increasingly, IT organizations will use more strict criteria in evaluating suppliers of equipment and choose those that set trends and live up to the substantial hype gripping the industry today.
Action Item: The key question for corporate leaders is “if half of my top 100 customers worldwide implemented a purchasing policy that mandated purchasing from qualified carbon neutral companies within 5 years, how much business would be lost and how much time and treasure would it take to be qualified as carbon neutral?” Funding a comprehensive and actionable carbon neutral plan is a corporate imperative.
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