10 green tech predictions for the new year
Hello and Happy New Year! Searching for some eco-inspiration in 2008? Here are my 10 totally random green tech predictions, based partially on the wide variety of briefings that I’ve taken in the past five months and partially on nothing more than gut, which is how you’ll choose to read them on your side anyway.
There is no order to these items unless you choose to ascribe one based on the fact that I’m writing them as they come into my head.
1. My job’s greener than your job. Companies will introduce green “perks” as a way of attracting and keeping the best employees. Can’t offer options to your employees? Health care too expensive? How about giving them carbon offset credits? Or breaks for carpooling in hybrid vehicles? Supporting eco-friendly onsite drycleaning. It’ll be a new way for potential employers to distinguish themselves with recruits and existing employees.
2. Time to pay for that midnight oil. Physical security systems, such as the magnetic ID cards people use to enter and exit buildings, will increasingly control things like lights, heat and other energy-related building functions. Soon, coming into work early or, conversely, burning the midnight oil may have ramifications for the individual facilities expenses associated with your department.
3. Corporate-sponsored alternative energy projects. Why build just another sports stadium when your company can construct a wind turbine or a solar installation or a wave-driven power generator? Hewlett-Packard last year moved to build out a major solar power installation in San Diego. Google is pouring millions into alternative energy development. Seriously, folks, if big companies with big money don’t build these things, who will? Sure, this may be a dilution of their core business, but it could make real sense from a tax and diversification standpoint.
4. Let’s get virtual. The power of virtualization as a technology that happens to have green benefits will further accelerate its adoption, at both the server and the desktop level.
5. Little things mean a lot. The server and data center guys get all the negative publicity, but smaller pieces of technology are big energy-sucking culprits. There’s been plenty of work done with power management of notebooks, now how about that BlackBerry. Or, better yet, what about that mobile phone!
6. Do you really want to print that? Could the green tech movement finally kickstart paperless office? Certainly, new managed print services could help companies better monitor their usage of both paper and ink. And, come to think of it, I have recycled dozens of ink cartridges for my own printer but I’ve never bought a recycled one to use. Or have I? Anyway, I’d be willing to bet my inkjet that corporate printer fleets will be the next wave of technology to come under green scrutiny.
7. Home, green home. I’d hate to be selling my house right now. But in a real-estate market where every little differentiation can make or break a contract, I think you’ll see sellers invest in improvements and renovations that are just as much focused on energy-efficiency as style. My energy bill this month alone was more than $500, and I use natural gas. I hate to think of where the price of home heating oil stands. The fact remains that there are more than 28,000 LEED projects under construction today, compared with about 300 just a couple of years ago. And that's the NEW stuff. It doesn't even take into account retrofits.
8. Please stand by. I mentioned power management for mobile devices as a development earlier on this list. Actually, make that a big trend for storage devices, too, and any other appliances or systems that could be considered energy vampires—ones that suck power in standby mode. The world of systems management products will get a charge out of work on power management this year.
9. Tech for managing green tech projects will get more sophisticated. Just as companies have whole departments that manage their investment portfolios, applications or third-party services for helping companies manage their green portfolios will multiply. But I wouldn’t expect major adoption for the same reason that many systems management products historically sat on the shelf before being deployed. The toughest thing about green tech in 2008 will remain that age-old IT problem: Who holds the budget and who is really responsible for making this happen? Anyway hoping to sell a green tech product or service will need to speak three languages: Tech-speak, Facilities-speak and Finance-speak.
10. Green tech will show up in very low-tech locations. You will hear much more this year about technology, especially imaging technology, field-optimized mobile devices and cataloging applications, that could be used in the field to help manage our ongoing analysis of whether or not there really is a global warming crisis. What better place to apply green tech than a place where there currently is next to no technology at all? Green slate, clean slate. Same difference.
What are your predictions? Send your e-mail and comments to hccollins@mac.com.