IT company Cobweb launches green business community with PC Switch Off Evening

Fareham, 20 August 2008:   Cobweb Solutions, which provides outsourced IT services to fast-growing businesses, has joined together with 58 customers to produce a total energy saving equivalent to a tonne of carbon, in just one night on 14th August.  The CO2 saving is equivalent to the emissions generated by ten passengers on a return flight from London to Paris.

Cobweb persuaded over 58 customers to turn off approximately 700 PCs as part of their PC Switch Off Evening.  If these companies switch of their PCs every evening from now on, that would produce an annual saving of around  438 tonnes of carbon – equivalent to over 21 full flights making the round trip from London to Paris!

The PC Switch Off Evening marks the launch of a new national green business community by Cobweb, who recently achieved the ISO 14001 accreditation which recognises that a company is managing its operational impacts on the environment.  Now, the green community aims to encourage small and medium-sized businesses across the country to join together to reduce their carbon footprint, with many more initiatives planned for the future.

Sarah Hildyard from Cobweb Solutions, who organised the PC Switch Off Evening comments:

“The manufacture, distribution and use of IT equipment is responsible for around 2% of total global carbon emissions – that’s on a par with the airline industry.  However, there are some real opportunities to limit the environmental impact of IT.  For example, industry sources show that up to 60% of PCs are left on overnight.  If we all turned off our PCs overnight we could slash IT’s carbon emissions in a single stroke.

“As an IT company, Cobweb believes it has a responsibility to lead the way by reducing our own environmental impact.  And by working with our customers we can achieve even more. That is what our new green community is about – collective action that makes a difference.   

“With over one third of IT departments likely to have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria in 2010, it makes good business sense too.”

The inspiration provided by Cobweb comes in the form of many environmental initiatives, and it starts from the inside. For example, to celebrate its ISO 14001 accreditation, Cobweb’s staff were involved in a “Green Day” which took place on the 15th of August. On this day, there were green activities, such as no printing being allowed for the entire day, and contributions like “grow your own greens” to raise internal awareness for their staff to continue lowering their carbon footprint.

Mark Davies, Information Security/ Quality Manager for Cobweb commented on the success achieved: “As a hosted IT services provider, Cobweb works hard to keep our environmental impact to a minimum.  We also help our customers to reduce their own environmental footprint by reducing the need to maintain energy-hungry servers on their premises.

“We were extremely pleased to receive our ISO 14001 accreditation, but we do not intend to rest on our laurels.  We will continue to look at reducing our own carbon footprint and encouraging our customers to join us in a variety of green community initiatives.”

Participating Cobweb customers include J J Browne & Son (Jewellers) Ltd, Whisky Castle Ltd, European Nickel Plc, Rentokil Pest Control, Yellowtail Financial Planning Limited, Max Resourcing Ltd, Thompsons Quantity Surveyors, Tanglewood Clinic and the Down's Syndrome Association.