Tag Archives: envirodigital

UK businesses are Europe’s dirtiest: what about digital and creative business?

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Along with the VAT rise, I was hoping that we’d see the introduction of a carbon tax: where polluting offenders (individual or companies) would have to pay for the damage they do to the environment. Although its not money that will solve the issue, raising awareness of what is considered “bad” business behaviour in relation to the environment would have been a useful exercise. Britain is officially the “dirty man of Europe”, after a review of Europe’s top 300 companies by ethical investment consultant Eiris found that the largest group causing a “a very high impact” on global warming were UK based. This is not a surprise, as a good number of FTSE 100 companies are mining or oil focused, and the UK has not yet succeeded in building up a low-carbon business sector.

The BP oil spill has also highlighted for the world the notion of “bad” business, and the idea that the polluter should pay, not all the rest of us, is something that the general public have latched onto. After a long period of “green hush”, post-a-failed-Copenhagen, climate impact is suddenly back on the agenda, but not in the same way as before. Then, we were looking to change our own individual understandings and lifestyles, now we’re being given the lazy opportunity to point the finger away from ourselves. Its easier to blame the big bully boy companies This week, the FTSE Group is launching new indices to help investors track the ability of companies to manage climate risks. This is a fine idea, as it helps us easily spot “good” companies (or those that pay for their pollution) in which to invest.

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Scotland wake up! Your CO2 footprint will soon be counted!

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hannahrudman northuist

North Uist: lets not let the climate affect it

Here at Envirodigital, we’ve been working to help businesses think of digital solutions that reduce their carbon emissions and spend on energy and travel and increase their sustainable ability. Most cultural and heritage sector businesses don’t fall under under the government’s current legislation (covering around 5000 of Scotland’s biggest public venues) around reducing carbon emissions. But we’ve been encouraging you to make small voluntary changes because we knew the legislation was coming. And some of you have been taking green footsteps on a journey towards smaller carbon/waste and water footprints.

The Scottish Government announced last month regulations which will build further on its Climate Change Act and its target of reducing carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2020. The (International) Committee on Climate Change has confirmed that the 42 per cent target represents an appropriate contribution to global emissions reductions in 2020 and would put Scotland on the path to meeting the target of an 80 per cent reduction by 2050. Progress on the target will be mapped by a series of annual targets, with the first batch, covering the period 2010-2022, having to be set by June 1 this year.

Stewart Stevenson, Minister for Climate Change in Scotland said:

“We know that legislation alone won’t deliver the targets. It needs to be translated into real changes in everyday actions: by businesses; the public sector; voluntary and community groups and individuals. Better public understanding is essential if people are to be motivated to act. The Scottish Government, its agencies and its non-government partners will need to work together to explain what’s needed and to incentivise action”.

{Source http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2010/04/21150827]

So the funders and bodies that run our sector are now being brought into the Holyrood fold to help the government achieve its targets. And that means they will need to set their own targets and that targets will be passed on to you [probably fairly soon]! So the driver for your business to change becomes less about corporate social responsibility (which we think is GREAT btw – well done everyone who’s made positive changes anyway), and more about lining up with legislation.

What does your organisation know about its current output levels, and do you have ideas for how you could reduce your business’ outputs? We’ve got some great ideas for services you can use at Envirodigital, and they all use digital technologies, which means you can count the benefits they’re bringing in.

Check out the services we can offer, and think about what might be your first green footstep:

  • could webcasting help you reduce travel to a training event? See our Envirodigital webcasting examples.
  • could cloud computing help you use less energy in the office? Or, if you can’t afford a new set-up, could a tiny device like Eco-button help? Lucy Conway of Island Going Green, Eigg says, “since I started using it last September I’ve saved £13 in electricity and 27kg of CO2″.
  • could you use websites like freecycle to ensure that things you are throwing out (old office equipment, theatre or exhibition sets) could get reused?
  • could you recycle more computer consumables like ink cartridges and paper?

    • These tiny green steps are all that’s needed to start the journey towards a lower carbon footprint. We can also give you really handy advice of how to find more help and assistance! Contact Envirodigital for more information.

    New theatre show webcasts to your home – and you get to party!

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    Black Country Touring, Kali Theatre Company and Birmingham Rep Theatre are using webcasting to realise their latest play – set in homes across the Black Country! Behna is a play based in a Punjabi household set the day before a family wedding. As the guests are busy eating, singing and dancing, tension is brewing in the kitchen. Truths are told and secrets unfold between two generations of sisters. Fast-paced, funny and moving, Behna looks through the keyhole of a family home to reveal secrets and lies.

    Six homes are hosting the play across the Black Country for their own private guests: of friends, family, neighbours and colleagues. Audiences will cram into the kitchens and hallways of the homes. A great blog reveals the rehearsal process – for the actors and those who have offered their homes up as sets.

    A live webcast will be broadcast from a kitchen in Wolverhampton at 7pm on Saturday 20 March 2010. But its being made even more participative than just the different viewing opportunity offered by webcasting – you can watch it in your own kitchen, do henna tattooing and munch Asian delights with friends and family – get party ideas from a downloadable party pack.

    I think this is a great way of increasing the scale of this event, which would otherwise be restricted to the amount of audience you could fit into six homes! Its also a really interesting way of achieving greater access and reach with the show: as the research around the impact of NTLive! has proven – there is new audience out there for new forms of artistic work that blend digital and traditional methods of production. And this method improves reach with very little carbon impact!

    If you’re interested in using webcasting in your work creatively, then do get in touch with me at Envirodigital.

    Cloud computing: gearing up for enterprises?

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    If you’re looking to create organisational efficiencies and reduce costs around IT, now is the time to start looking at and trialling enterprise cloud computing. Running a company IT set-up demands office applications, storage for your data, a network, a computer each, back-up, upgrades and IT support if the IT set-up is business critical (which increasingly it is!). All of these elements have to work together; cost money; and use significant amounts of energy. Cloud computing services are services like Google Apps/Docs/Wave, Microsoft Azure, Apple’s MobileMe, Amazon’s EC2 and many more.

    Cloud computing is a different way of running your IT set-up. Applications run in “the cloud”, which means on a shared data centre, on the internet – think of the difference between Gmail (run in the cloud) and Microsoft Exchange (run locally). You plug into cloud computing by going online, logging in, customising it and using it like a utility.

    Benefits:
    • Faster to get started
    • Costs less – you don’t need to pay for people, products and facilities to run the applications
    • Don’t need a tech team to keep it up and running and updated
    • Don’t need servers and storage and back up (Google’s back up systems for example, are likely to be far better than a cultural organisation can deliver itself)
    • More scaleable and secure
    • Reliable – based on the architecture of multi-tenancy: there is not a copy of the application for each business using it, there is just one application, shared by everyone. This is customisable and will benefit from new features, that will get added automatically.
    Risks:
    • Not all apps work in the cloud yet (but they will soon), so you’ll need to run a mixture of apps on local computers and on the cloud. This means that the processing power of the local machine can be reduced significantly though, so you will be able to use cheaper, smaller, less power-hungry devices – a long-term benefit.
    • You don’t buy items (servers, software) once. Rather, you pay a predictable monthly subscription. This will mean a change in accounting systems.
    • You need a good broadband bandwidth: upstream and downstream. This may mean investing in a 1:1 uncontended ADSL connection. Although a standard 8mb connection sounds a lot, it will be contended, so factors including the time of day, number people/other businesses using an exchange at a given time, the distance of your office from the exchange and other technical issues mean that it is likely that you will get significantly less than 8Mb broadband. Your ISP may also throttle your speed at certain times of day – this applying to broadband services marketed as “unlimited subject to a fair usage policy”.

    So my advice for now is: think about all of these issues, and begin to research and run trials: most services allow a trial period, and this does not tie you into making changes. Check your broadband’s real capability out using an online speedtester. Moving to cloud computing will demand a significant amount of commitment and energy (read AmbITion’s How To… ensure your IT project doesn’t fail for top tips!). Cloud computing will also create significant cost and sustainability benefits.

    For resources on cloud computing, including everything referenced in this article, click here.

    National Theatre Wales’ wider webpresence grows

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    more about "NTW: First year’s programme launch on…", posted with vodpod


    Envirodigital client National Theatre Wales launched their programme last week via webcast!

    They have also been increasingly busy establishing their wider webpresence – today they have 1058 Facebook fans, over 100 Twitter followers @NTWtweets, a YouTube Channel and of course the ever-growing membership of the online social network.

    The depth of the participation and interaction and the quality digital assets are excellent: a real best practice exemplar: well done NTW team, social network gurus Native, top web developers Hoffi, stellar film makers wideload, pithy Communications Consultants Stop The Pigeon, and elegant branding and graphic designerss, Elfen. Its been a pleasure working with you all :-) )