Today is World Environment Day, a day for the world to come together and consider what still has to be done to protect the environment. It’s clear that much of this work will come from partnerships. CBR has rounded up some of the main green partnerships in the tech sector.
1. Panasonic and the National Trust
Panasonic and the National Trust have worked together on a number of initiatives, including 4K photo walks around heritage sites. Last year they announced a partnership which will bring green technology to old buildings. This might include LED light installations, solar panels and air source heat pumps. These should help the Trust hit its target of reducing energy consumption 20 percent by 2020 and halving its use of fossil fuels.
2. The Green Power Partnership
The Environmental Protection Agency now boasts 1300 members in its the Green Power Partnership, including government agencies, small businesses and enterprises. Every quarter it releases rankings on who is using the most green energy. It’s fair to say the tech sector is pulling its weight, with tech giants making up five of the top ten companies on the list. Intel and Microsoft both use 100 percent green energy while Apple uses 92 percent. Google and Cisco use 34 and 44 percent each.
3. Sustainable Silicon Valley
Working with heavyweights such as Cisco, AMD, ebay, Google, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Yahoo!, Sustainable Silicon Valley was first founded in 2000 as a multi-stakeholder initiative to improve the environment and conserve resources. It became a non-profit in 2004. Since 2010, its main focus has been on the EcoCloud innovation platform, an online community which aims to help enterprises exchange and implement sustainable solutions.
4. GSMA and Bharti Infratel
The GSM Association signed its deal with Bharti Infratel Limited in 2012 to use green technologies in telecom tower infrastructure. The two partners work to convert Infratel towers in India into green sites with an overall plan to cut 11,000 tonnes of carbon emissions due to reduced diesel usage. The telecom tower infrastructure provider has a strong pedigree for green initiatives, winning the GSMA’s green award in 2011.
5. Ayla and Regen
Toronto startup Regen’s business used to focus on retro-fitting rooftop air conditioners with wirelessly linked control units, interacting with each other to squeeze energy savings through its ‘swarm logic’. This helps the ACs to manage duty cycles and fine-tune their operations. Regen has now partnered with the IoT startup Ayla to virtualise the ‘swarm logic’, allowing it to be uploaded or activated on devices linked Ayla’s software, meaning the hardware fit is no longer necessary.
