A few years ago, Voscur ran a Green Computing Initiative aimed at helping members reduce their ICT carbon footprint as part of Connecting Bristol and the Carbon Trust's project to reduce the total ICT carbon footprint in the City.

We put together a pack of resources for organistions to inform themselves, aid in planning a green ICT stategy and reduce their carbon emmisions and cut cost energy costs - to download the pack click here

In Oct/Nov 2009 we also ran a survey on the use of ICT in the Voluntary sector and how that effected the environment, the results and analysis have been published in February 2010 edition of Thrive - you can read the article  on our Forums

Some useful first steps in reducing the environmental harm of ICT Use:

• Reuses and repair ICT equipment before replacing
• Safe disposal and recycling of ICT equipment
• Turn off equipment when it's not being used
• Encourage awareness-raising activities amaongst staff, volunteers and clients about the benefits of saving energy and recycling
• Reduce unecessary printing and re-use paper
• Monitor power consumption and look for ways to reduce it
• When purchasing choose energy-saving devices that have been manufactured in an environmentally-concious fashion
• Consider switching to online services that use green energy sources
• Dispose of old hardware responsibly; send old PCs to be reconditioned and recycled