UK Companies Offered Carbon Management Widget

A software tool designed to allow businesses to monitor the carbon emissions attributable to their desktops or laptops has been launched this week with the developer claiming it could cut energy usage from PCs by up to 75 percent in some companies.

Developed by UK software makers Ecosoft, the littleFoot product is being backed by IT services company Redstone managed solutions as part of wider drive to help companies improve the energy efficiency of their IT systems. The software consists of a web portal which allows managers to view information on employee energy usage which can be used for audit trails for compliance with legislation such as the UK’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), Redstone states.

The littleFoot software also includes an on-screen widget so that employees can monitor their energy usage directly and allows for PCs to be shut-down or put in sleep mode more easily, the companies state.

“Organisations are under pressure to save money and reduce carbon emissions at the same time but so many initiatives in this area are slow moving and time is of the essence. littleFOOT can start saving money and carbon from day one and should be sitting on every office PC globally. Our strategic partnership with Ecosoft allows Redstone Managed Solutions to add sustainability to our managed IT services and provides organisations with a joined up cost saving and carbon reduction initiative,” said Robert Cavan, managing director, Redstone Managed Solutions.

According to Redstone, a PC using littleFOOT can reduce its energy consumption by 20 percent and up to 75 percent in some organisations, which could provide a typical large organisation with a financial saving of £250,000 in reduced energy costs and over 2,500 tonnes of carbon emissions saved annually.

The UK Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) will affect about 5000 large companies, and will come into force in 2010. The legislation has been described as the the world’s first legally binding carbon budget, which aims at achieving an 80 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2050.

Last month IT analyst Gartner said that the financial downturn is driving the current interest in green IT – but from next year environmental legislation will be the key catalyst for greener computing.

Tesco is using CA’s ecoSoftware to manage and reduce its carbon emissions worldwide, and meet the UK’s requirements for carbon accounting under CRC.