Technology's carbon footprint

Tech means Business

This episode looks at one of technology's less-regarded aspects, but one that needs quickly to be given a whole lot more attention: the sustainability of the tech we use, and our approaches and attitudes to achieve a greener, yet more technologically advanced future.

When your organization starts its next procurement round for a desktop or data center hardware refresh, how high up on the agenda are sustainability factors like the use of rare or heavy metals in components? Is the supply chain used driving up the carbon footprint of the solution? What about retirement options when the new equipment reaches end-of-life?

We're joined by Gunnar Menzel, whose day job is at Cap Gemini, but whose passion, 24/7 is for a sustainable technology future.

We discuss how and why our seeming addiction to technology is consuming more and more resources, and what we can do to stem the inexorable tide of carbon emmissions, pollution and our own throw-away culture. Do we really need five-nines reliability? Are we willing to pay the cost for failover and always-on, or should we be scaling back our expectations?

This episode of the Tech Means Business podcast hopes to bring some of the concerns about the human race's future on the planet firmly into the technologist's sights, and provides a few answers as to what we can all do to ensure there is a future to enjoy.

Gunnar on LinkedIn can be found here:

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gunnarmenzel

Joe's page is here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/