Green IT Blowing In The Wind
An article
that appeared some time ago in Green Aviation & Logistics Group’s
Dubai-based newsletter revealed some startling statistics.
According to Green A&L, 87 percent
of Americans are seriously concerned about the environment and 79 percent
say a company’s environmental practices affect the products they
purchase.
If those numbers hold up, then this should
make CIOs worldwide sit up and identify IT changes that must be made
to conserve energy.
Green IT refers to environmentally sustainable
computing or IT.
In the article “Harnessing Green
IT: Principles and Practices,” San Murugesan defines the field
of green computing as "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing,
using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—
such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications
systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact
on the environment.”
While I agree that Green IT should be
environmentally sustainable, is sustainability really just related to
hardware?
I take a slightly different, but complementary
view on the subject.
Let’s begin by looking at the facts
relating to our rainforests.
This is really one of the problems we
are trying to solve through sustainability. According to http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm:
• We are
losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning
to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14 percent
of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6 percent and experts
estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less
than 40 years.
• One and
one-half acres of rainforest are lost every second, with tragic consequences
for both developing and industrial countries.
• Rainforests
are being destroyed because shortsighted governments, multi-national
logging companies, and land owners perceive timber as the only value
of rainforest land by .
• Nearly
half of the world's species of plants, animals, and microorganisms will
be destroyed or severely threatened over the next quarter century due
to rainforest deforestation.
Watch on the Main recalled as Greenpeace
activists in 2006 attached posters showing flames to trees on the
banks of the river Main in Frankfurt under the motto 'The Amazon
is Burning for our Food'… |
Is there
merit in implementing the long awaited paper-free office? Microsoft’s
Bill Gates has been predicting a world where magazines, textbooks, and
other paper forms will be redundant.
Gates believes we will all carry information
on tablet computers.
For instance, iPads can be held like a clipboard
with a flat screen on the front. Some would argue that this is rapidly
becoming the norm.
Furthermore, look at the growing popularity
in electronic books that can be downloaded from the Internet and read
on similar devices.
But how far is this noble cause in terms of
reality?
Should paperless (less paper) be the goal?
Despite the growth of electronic documents,
email, PDAs, iPads and PDFs, the human race still prefers to rely on
paper.
How many of us have the nerve to turn up at
an airport without a paper version of our electronic ticket?
How many authorities still insist on manually
stamping documents as proof of authenticity?
How many forwarders trust an e-AWB as an accepted
means to clear and deliver their shipment?
The widespread mistrust in the ability of IT
to perform adequate and regular back-ups of stored information and,
more importantly, in the ability to restore information on demand, forces
us to take hard copies of our documents, often storing them in filing
cabinets.
There are occasions when documents will be
misfiled, which merely adds to our misery.
The antiquated paper document storage systems
also increase the physical space and cost required to store documents
and records.
Many of us still embrace hybrid systems needed
to manage a combination of electronic and paper-based documents, which
is extremely difficult to control effectively.
A major part of the reason behind the desire
to retain these paper-based versions is that it is much easier for an
employee to work with documents or records in the same format, rather
than having to keep switching between looking at the screen and a document
on the desk.
And while electronic document management (EDM)
makes it easy to store, transmit, and share information within an organisation,
individual users still tend to run off a copy from their nearest printer
to read the content and work with it.
Nevertheless, for many businesses, moving to
such a system can prove a major advance in tackling the paper mountains,
with massive cost savings achievable.
So how do we stem the tide?
The benefits are clearly there. First, however,
it is best to set aside the mythological “paperless” dream
and embrace what is possible.
That way, even the smallest steps forward can
be taken as a victory, rather than a disappointing compromise.
One small step for mankind (sorry, Neil!) would
be to fully embrace IATA e-freight.
The IATA e-freight project aims to take the
paper out of air cargo. The plan may not be perfect, but as it is said:
“If you can’t do better, clap!”
If I look objectively at my small sphere of
influence, Calogi is electronically processing over 85 percent of the
dnata CTO shipments.
Enabling the industry to remove the paper air
waybill and accompanying documents from all shipments processed via
the dnata terminals will result in cost savings to the industry. To
move this forward, Calogi made a series of simple changes:
1. Update
the CTO system with the air waybill data electronically upon execution
2. Allow
the forwarder to view the Delivery Order online
3. Produce
online copies of the air waybill and make the same available to the
airline/destination forwarder/handler/shipper and consignee
4. Produce
online copies of the import and export CTO invoices
5. Automate
the process of charges correction advices
6. Send
2D bar codes to mobile devices to automate access to the Cargo terminals
The result is an environmentally friendly system
generating savings of around 1 million USD for the terminal handler.
There is also a positive impact on the environment
with not having to transport by air nearly 148 metric tonnes of paper
from Dubai every year. My calculations lead me to believe that this
would save the equivalent of over 44 acres of rain forest every year.
Not so obvious, in terms of their positive
impact on the environment, are our air waybill printing at the terminal
and dock booking initiatives.
A forwarder no longer needs to divert drivers
to their offices to collect the air waybill prior to delivering export
goods because the air waybill is already printed in the terminal operation’s
manifesting office.
Furthermore, by executing the air waybill and
booking the dock, drivers can deliver the goods directly to the terminal
at an allotted time and reduce the queuing. This means a more efficient
use of trucks and less mileage, which ultimately means less petrol burn
and fewer emissions.
It’s a win-win situation for the industry
and the environment.
While these are small initiatives in the big
scheme of things, I challenge every airport to further the cause by
identifying and implementing at least two initiatives that could contribute
to a cleaner and more sustainable environment.
Meanwhile, let us start by taking small steps
and make IATA e-freight a reality. A huge mindset change, but within
our grasp
I’m 100 percent behind e-freight and
have the technology to make the initiative a reality.
Join me and help save the planet.
Patrick Murray
 We
are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are
beginning to appreciate their true value.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the
earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6%.
Best to set aside the mythological
'paperless' dreams and embrace what is possible.
The IATA e-freight project aims to
take the paper out of air cargo.
The plan may not be perfect but as
it is said: If you can’t do better then applaud the effort!
Enabling the industry to remove the
paper air waybill and accompanying
documents from all shipments processed will result in cost savings
to the industry.
In Dubai alone, not having to transport
nearly 148 metric tons of paper by air every 12 months could save
the equivalent of over 44 acres of rain forest every year. |
Patrick Murray is Head
of Calogi.
The Calogi portal includes a number of dedicated seamless solutions
that also include an e-freight module supportive of IATA’s e-AWB,
e-CSD, and shipper-to-agent and agent-to-agent document transfer, and
the forwarder to Calogi shipment data transfer.
