“We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency – a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst – though not all – of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.” – Al Gore, Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2007

When Al Gore presented his Nobel lecture, he talked about Alfred Nobel and the inventor’s choice to serve the cause of peace after reading a mistaken publication of his obituary and being unfairly labeled “The Merchant of Death.” Reflecting on his own premature political obituary, Al Gore decided to focus on our global environment and to do whatever he could to awaken us to the crisis we face today. He did this by chastising the United States in front of the world and taking full responsibility for both the mess and the cleanup.

Embracing Green is a Smart Business Decision

Nice lecture, Mr. Gore, but can we change the station back to “WIIFM (What’s in it For Me)?” After all, this is the information age, not the industrial revolution. On second thought, was there really a 64-cent per gallon increase in gas prices in the past 12 months? Isn’t energy use and CO₂ emissions skyrocketing? With the severe drought in the South, will we have the green we’ve been hoping for after this harsh winter? Still, that’s only minor belly aching as one recalls the San Diego fires of 2007, and the recent brownouts and blackouts.

Our information age is delivering as designed – a wealth of information on this subject. One piece of news is coming from service companies such as Robinson Lerer & Montgomery LLC, a strategic communications company, who reports in ComputerWorld (Feb. 28) that IT is one of the biggest energy consumers in our firms and businesses.

The social pressure, market pressure and government push for businesses to conserve are reasons enough to “think green.” The fact remains, however, that there will continue to be the economic pressures, felt by each of us, to do something about conserving energy.  This only makes good business sense.

It’s time for a green makeover! Indeed, it’s time to evaluate the legacy this 100+- year-old accounting profession will leave our future generations.

Even with the hype regarding “everything green,” the fact remains that we are in crisis. As CPAs, we can do what we do best – deliver the message by creating ways to more effectively measure the impact of our energy consumption on the carbon footprint, and report on the benefit of “going green.” We can help to mitigate the negative effects of our ever-increasing energy use by recommending green initiatives that translate to cost savings over the long run. We can be the conscience of business by preparing transparent information that reflects a move toward greater social responsibility, including efforts by Starbucks.

The purpose of this article, however, is far more practical. This is a kick start – ideas for picking the low-hanging fruit or easy ways to become more IT efficient. And, for any reader who thinks this is someone else’s responsibility, you can look at these ideas as making good business sense, spilling green onto our bottom lines that suddenly turns black when our financial positions improve.

Purchasing products from companies that have a green initiative and using data centers that build their sites to be energy efficient and use alternative sources of energy (e.g. financial institutions such as First National Bank of Nebraska) are primary examples of how we can exhibit our social consciousness. We set an example for our clients and can recommend vendors who “think green.” What’s good for the Earth is good for its people.

Walk the Talk: Get Going with Green at Your Company

To get started, here’s a seven-step plan to help your business commit to working toward a cleaner, less energy-dependent environment, as well as realize potential savings to the bottom line.

1. Set the tone from the top. Develop an environmental policy statement revolved around “Reducing our carbon footprint, protecting our resources and bettering our individual health.”
2. Incorporate strategies to meet corporate environmental goals into the strategic and financial plan. Develop an environmental action plan.
3. Identify an IT executive or other environmental champion and a task force of IT-related employees. Develop a list of “green makeover” items.
4. Brainstorm ideas to reduce energy consumption. Identify short-term, mid-range and long-term initiatives, and make recommendations to senior management through the champion. Brainstorming can get to the heart of what the business and employees are willing to commit to during any of these phases.
5. Modify purchasing practices, lifecycle programs, recycling programs for PCs and consumables, review individual practices and invest in behavior changes. Review vendor environmental initiatives and select those concerned about their environmental impact. Establish an audit program. Recycle, manage waste, and use eco-efficient products and services. Take an inventory of servers and workstations, identify those not “Energy Star” compliant, and plan a lifecycle and disposition/replacement program. There are numerous sources on the Internet to recycle, for example, cell phones. Two sites are Collective Good and Cell Phones for Soldiers.
6. Identify performance measures, establish baselines, monitor utility bills, paper usage and copier usage, and report progress to top management. Measure in terms of percentage changes in energy usage as the cost of energy continues to rise.
7. Make an annual investment in environmentally responsible systems, including video conferencing, server virtualization and consolidation, new facilities, and more efficient heating and cooling systems.

What’s Being Done

The February 18, 2008 issue of Computerworld is devoted to exploring how “The 12 Top Green-IT Companies” are saving money and the environment. Here are only a few ways they operate green:

ü       Top executives make an explicit vigorous commitment to energy efficiency.

ü       Facilities are built with recycled building materials and use next-generation air and equipment cooling processes.

ü       Attention is paid to energy consumption, the energy is measured and ways to save are identified.

ü       The number of servers used is reduced through virtualization and consolidation, blade technology, disk virtualization, and use of disk-to-disk backups rather than tapes.

ü       Equipment audits are conducted, lifecycle plans created and equipment is fully used.

ü       Disaster recovery sites are located in underground tunnels – mines that were formerly the repositories of the fossil fuels maintain ambient air temperatures perfectly suited for data centers.  

ü       Videoconferencing systems are used to reduce the amount of business travel. For example, World Wildlife Fund’s CIO Greg Smith opted for eight-hour videoconferences instead of flying to the company’s Geneva office five times a year. As one of Computerworld’s Top 12 Green-IT Companies, Smith reports he saves about $700 on plane tickets, 15 hours of travel time and $3,000 in expenses on each trip.

The Computerworld article also lists the “Top Green-IT Vendors”. On the list are IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Verizon Wireless.

What We Can Do

Replace IT Equipment with Energy Star Compliant Products and CRTs with LCDs. Thanks to what has become known as Moore’s Law, that semiconductor power would double every 18 months to two years, we know the average life span of a computer is about three years. We can certainly estimate cell phones at only two years. On the one hand, we want to replace, and on the other, replacement leads to waste – often, toxic waste.

We must be cognizant of how responsible high-tech product vendors are in their manufacturing process, the energy efficiency of the products, and how products are packaged and delivered. We must take responsibility for how they function by creating lifecycle programs at our companies that include recycling and proper disposal when the useful life is over.

Paperless Solutions. Paperless is an important solution for any accounting office, yet a monitor accounts for about 65 percent of the system’s energy use. Dual monitors are the standard now, but the design of some paperless systems and research engines force accountants to demand three or even four monitors.

Al Anderson, managing principal for Accounting and Assurance Services at LarsonAllen, LLP, a firm of 1,200 where everyone is issued a laptop, is on the forefront of high-tech techniques, and an obvious paperless advocate. He suggests a solution to the proliferation of monitors.

“For paperless to succeed, the pages of our stored files must mimic the intuitive nature of a Web page with hyperlinks and a common screen format,” says Anderson. “Otherwise, we will continue to print paper and add monitors, doing nothing to save energy or increase efficiency.”

Like any change, especially when it may be met with resistance, paperless solutions need a thorough requirements analysis and plan where the users have input into the solution. The staff must be trained and the process well-defined, especially when it comes to how data and information is presented, filed and retrieved.

Take advantage of what vendors provide. Go to Dell’s site for its “Latest Environment Conversations” where there are blogs, videos, ideas and forums that allow users to interact with others who share similar interests in environmental issues. The video on “Maximizing Battery Life” is a must-see and provides great ideas on how to manage power on a laptop. The “Plant a Tree for Me Program” program provides customers (and non-customers) a way to offset the amount of carbon generated by the energy used by the computer through a donation that is provided to not-for-profit partners that focus on conservation.

A Laundry List of Ideas: Transforming White Collars to Green Collars

Here’s a short list to help you get your first cycle in the wash and start your own business’s IT “green makeover.”

ü       Use alternatives to meeting with clients face-to-face, including Skype, videoconferencing and remote support using terminal services.

ü       Include disposition status on all fixed asset retirement forms.

ü       Create a hardware lifecycle program.

ü       Use online manuals and research tools.

ü       Recycle or reclaim laser toner cartridges.

ü       PDF Brochures – Create formats to read online and e-mail to clients and prospects.

ü       Eliminate magazine and newspaper subscriptions; go online for information.

ü       Use smarter printers that ask if you want to print that 100-page document, send it to a PDF or just view it on the screen. Ask software publishers to code this into their software.

ü       Pull the battery if the laptop is plugged in, and disable wireless and any peripherals not being used.

ü       For CPE, bring speakers to the firm, use video conferencing and participate in Web seminars. Limit sending staff to live seminars and conferences only where there is true benefit to face-to-face networking. Have the staff justify why they need to be there in person.

ü       Assign a “Green Champion.”

ü       Use green paper and other green consumables.

ü       Use online banking, convert to all ACH transactions and help clients implement these at their offices. E-file tax returns. Go paperless with tax, audit and consulting.

ü       Invest in Adobe Professional and train staff to maximize use of PDF files. Make all forms and brochures electronic.

ü       Use double-sided copies and recycle office paper.

ü       Buy from vendors with asset recovery programs.

ü       Move users to thin clients.

ü       Use only LCD monitors.

ü       Use solar powered battery adapters for BlackBerry devices and Razr phones.

ü       Configure Microsoft Active Directory to automatically power down users’ PCs and monitors.

ü       Unplug equipment for the weekend.

ü       Look for new ways to measure reduction in the impact our firms and businesses have on the carbon footprint, including Kilowatt-hours of energy used, pounds of papers recycled, reduction in paper used and bags of trash disposed of each week.

The following ideas are not strictly IT related, but should be considered in the overall green initiative:

ü       Provide incentives to staff to purchase hybrid cars when they are used to drive to client offices.

ü       Stress business wash-and-wear attire. Avoid dry cleaning.

ü       Replace as many incandescent bulbs as you can with halogen par lamps, low mercury, compact fluorescents and low voltage track lighting.

ü       Install ceiling fans.

ü       Install programmable thermostats and motion sensing light switches.

ü       Create an “organic office.”

ü       Make social responsibility a part of the company’s Code of Ethics.

ü       Put a box in the coffee room for staff to put newspapers and magazines for recycling. Provide ceramic cups and avoid bottled water.

ü       Get rid of Styrofoam cups.

ü       Eat lunch from vendors where packaging materials are minimized, and provide logo labeled lunch packs and plenty of refrigerator space in the Energy Star fridge.

ü       When building office space or looking for a new office location, work with firms who are LEED certified.

Finally, continuously educate employees on environmental actions. This is a personal, social mindset.

The Bottom Line

We spend a lot of time reading about health, nutrition, the importance of exercise and not smoking. The concepts are simple, yes? So why do we need to be constantly reminded?

So goes it for green – and the matter is complicated by the fact that what we have that translates to higher energy use is all about entitlements: gas-guzzling luxury cars and SUVs, expensive business trips, meetings at client offices, onsite support, individual printers, magazine subscriptions and business suits.

Transforming firms and businesses from this mentality to one that is green takes consensus from senior leadership and a constant reminder as to why this is important.

Bottom line: It is important because it’s mandatory to regain and maintain the health of our Earth! It’s still about the bottom line … it’s about a green bottom line, but even more important, it’s about our future generations, the ones knocking on our doors asking, “Is there anything left here for us?”

Contact Mary MacBain at mary@marymacbain.com. Note that the opinions expressed here do not reflect an endorsement or recommendation from the AICPA. 

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