While sketching ideas for this article, Im using paper produced by a pulp industry that works only with reforested wood. Im using a blue Bic pen, which should run out in a few days. The pen as well as the paper have the same finality: recycling. Their life cycle ends, and soon they will be part of another productwho knows, maybe a wastebasket or a school notebook.

Its easier to see sustainability in something thats tangible and within our view. But, what will be the environmental impact of your broadband Internet, of that investment you made through Internet banking, using your cell phone and your nice little gnome on Second Life? With regard to the latter, business writer Nicholas Carr points out in his Rough Type blog that a virtual character on Second Life consumes 1,752 kWh per year, almost as much as a flesh and blood Brazilian at an average of 1,884 kWh annually. This virtual reality usage comes from the energy demand of the servers of the company hosting the virtual community in San Francisco (USA) and from the Internet users computer.

The above services are possible because there is a technological and communication infrastructure available 24 hours per day. In thesis, the greater the demand, the larger the infrastructure tends to be, to supply the greatest number of clients with the solicited information. However, there is no doubt: electrical consumption is directly related to the way the infrastructure is organized.

In this way, the environmental account of an individual is not limited to the electrical expenditure of a TV, notebook, and computer at home, but also of the infrastructure of the services that take and bring information. Our consumption goes beyond what we see close to us.

So, then, how can information technology be green, be sustainable? There are many initiatives that support this concept: manufacturers are eliminating lead from their products; LCD monitors have been taking the place of tube ones, some reducing energy consumption by more than 50%; and companies are adopting more intelligent approaches to break down the more demand, more infrastructure, more energy paradigm mentioned above.

The corporative milieu has a fundamental responsibility because every company is a nucleus that invests heavily in technology and communication and establishes work-flow processes.

It is not merely a question of environmental responsibility, but also the search for greater productivity and competitiveness, thereby reducing waste and increasing efficiency. By identifying that the most relevant aspect of business are people and the value created by them through following work processes and using technology such as computer programs, the entrepreneur then looks for partners that will offer a more adequate infrastructure to serve this less costly and more flexible new scenario.

This approach makes it possible to attend to more people with the same number of servers and maintain the same light bill, whether they are navigating through the virtual community or soliciting a bank statement; to prolong the life cycle of personal computers from three to six years, cutting in half the production of this type of digital garbage; to reduce airline travel because training can be done through long distance teaching; and other advantages. Reflecting on the subject and practicing a more streamlined paradigm results in a reduction of everyones environmental account. If not, sustainability is limited merely to a discussion that's pleasant, but hollow and fragile like a garden gnome. And, considering recent news about the environment, society needs more concrete, not virtual, actions.

Souma Das
The author is area vice president of Citrix India
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in

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