Green IT Certification To Help Companies Tackle Emissions

Tech industry body CompTIA has launched a green IT certification, which it believes will help businesses to meet the emission cuts proposed by governments around the world in 2010.

Announced this week, the Strata Green IT certificate is aimed at IT professionals charged with helping to cut the carbon footprint of their organisations. The qualification will help develop environmental management skills to tackle issues such as disposal of hazardous materials, energy efficiency and virtualisation.

“The certificate launches at the start of 2010 in recognition of an increasing need for organisations to cut emissions across the board,” said Matthew Poyiadgi, CompTIA European Vice President. “The recent Copenhagen Climate Conference highlighted how everyone needs to be doing their bit, and ongoing economic concerns are a constant reminder of the need to cut costs wherever possible.”

Growing range of green IT qualifications

The launch of the CompTIA certificate was welcomed by the The Chartered Institute for IT (previously the BCS), which recently launched its own Foundation Certificate in IT covering carbon energy accounting and green IT strategies. “As global IT organisations, we feel it is our duty to address key issues like green IT and support the industry to overcome them,” said Richard French, product Manager for green IT at the institute. “Between us, we are meeting the challenge at all levels, to help ensure it is dealt with in the most effective way possible.”

The institute’s Foundation Certificate is being run in conjunction with IT training specialist QA and will cover specific legislation and policies including the European Union Code of Conduct, The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), BSi PAS 2050, Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), Ecma International, and the Kyoto Protocol.

Last year, IBM put its weight behind what it claims is a first-of-its-kind degree in green data centre management in the US, taking advantage of funding offered by the Obama administration to help community colleges and universities to modernise their facilities. The Associate Degree in Information Technology – Data Center Management, was made available in December 2009 and includes modules such as virtualisation, remote access and monitoring.

CompTIA recommends that candidates taking the exam for Strata Green IT have a minimum of 18 months of technical experience with CompTIA A+, CompTIA Server+ or other IT credential.