The 2010 Business Challenge: CO2 Reduction & SMS Gateways

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2010 is kicking into effect in April of 2010, an ideal time to reduce those carbon emissions through connectivity to SMS gateways.

So where are we now in terms of emissions? According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), UK emissions of the six greenhouse gases were more than 8.5% lower than 2008 figures, with carbon dioxide (CO2) accounting for 85% of the United Kingdom’s greenhouse gas emissions at 480.0 tonnes, 51.9 million tonnes lower than in 2008. We’ve succeeded to cut emissions by 12.5% as per the Kyoto climate treaty requirements. But that’s where the good news ends. Unfortunately the United Kingdom won’t reach its own target of a 20% reduction in CO2 levels this year.

Greater Energy Efficiency, Greater Profits

In last week’s post we examined how an SMS service can be used to save trees, focussing specifically on the reduction of paper and the increased use of SMS through SMS gateways to get in touch with clients. After all, more than half of the earth’s forests are gone, with slightly more than 20% of ‘original’ forests remaining in tact. If that’s not enough, keep in mind that one day’s deforestation is equal to roughly 8 million individuals flying to New York on any given day.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order has been put in place to encourage businesses to lower carbon emissions through energy-saving projects. More specifically, it seeks to identify businesses that use more than 6,000 MWh through half-hourly meters each year. Or, in terms of GBP, businesses who pay more than £500,000 per annum on their electricity bills. Said businesses will have to invest in carbon credits, of which the remainder (where applicable) can be converted to profit at the end of the financial year.

Energy-saving initiatives that can be implemented by businesses to reduce their carbon emissions include thermal insulation to save on heating costs, low-energy lighting and controlled equipment use. However, while in itself it may serve to cut electricity costs and thereby aid compliance with The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, businesses are required to show initiative to make a true impact, on their energy savings. One such an alternative is to not only use SMS gateways to cut down reliance on paper to communicate with customers, but to optimise those systems that connect and communicate with the SMS gateways.

System Optimisation

The key to optimal usage of SMS gateways lie in the ideal functioning of the software environment. This means eliminating resource intensive hardware and software that can, through optimisation, be done without or at least downscaled. Aspects that should be considered in the optimisation of connection and communication with SMS gateways include:

Hardware

• Ensure that hardware complies to energy-efficiency standards, and are capable of entering ‘sleep’ mode when not used for a certain period of time.

Operating System

• It is important to consider how an operating system deals with request sent through from applications, especially where connections to SMS gateways are concerned. Operating systems that are resource intensive should be eliminated as much as is possible without causing stress to business-relevant procedures. The more work an operating system has to perform, the more resources it will consume.

Software

• As with the operating system, applications should be carefully chosen. These not only pertain to those installed on client machines, but also on server machines. These include software daemons, web browsers, antivirus programs, games, utilities, etc.

Application Programming Interface (API)

• Your choice of application programming interface matters a great deal, especially in terms of the other software you are using. The wrong API used to connect to SMS gateways may require more resource intensive programming, which could serve to add to the electricity usage of the company as a whole.

An optimised system combined with a strategy to reduce paper usage will ensure that the enterprise has the best chance, in terms of computing technology, to reduce its overall carbon footprint to a minimum, and thereby being able to convert those emission credits to profit at the end of the financial year. Communicating with your clients through SMS gateways can help your business achieve its environmental requirements.

For more information on which application programming interfaces to use for best business environmental efficiency, read more on our SMS gateways page.

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Tags: Application Programming Interface (API), environmental SMS, sms gateway, sms gateways, SMS system optimisation