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Cisco green tech factors big in Vancouver's environmental mission

There are probably more than a dozen cities that I know of competing to be known as the world's greenest or more energy-efficient or cleanest. I don't really care which one of them wins, because any focus on recalibrating community programs and development with an eye toward being kinder to the earth is a good thing in my mind.
Written by Heather Clancy, Contributor

There are probably more than a dozen cities that I know of competing to be known as the world's greenest or more energy-efficient or cleanest. I don't really care which one of them wins, because any focus on recalibrating community programs and development with an eye toward being kinder to the earth is a good thing in my mind. Understandably, the high-tech companies focused most on green tech -- notably Cisco and IBM -- have been rallying around these communities with the hope that their tools for better energy management, water conservation, smart transportation and such are the ones adopted by some of the highest profile projects.

So, in that spirit, chalk one up for Cisco, which has cozied up to Canada's fair city of Vancouver, which has a declared goal of becoming the greenest city in the world by 2020.

Cisco, along with Pulse Energy, are about to start working on several different green tech pilot projects in Vancouver, including an initiative to improve energy efficiency in commercial and government buildings, an effort to provide residents with home energy management technologies, and a plan to build out a green data center at the University of British Columbia.

The parties involved are still working through who will lead what when it comes to pilot project accountability. Or, frankly, what it will cost. But you can bet this will be high-profile as things unfold.

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