Tube maintenance company hopes for a 60 per cent reduction on power consumption

Tube Lines is undertaking a green IT project to help reduce its CO2 emissions by 5,000 tonnes by the end of 2008.

The firm, which maintains the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern underground lines, is hoping the project will deliver a 60 per cent reduction on power consumption, saving £130,000 per year.

The key to green projects is to make sure business goals and environmental goals are well aligned, said Adrian Davey, head of IT at Tube Lines.

“It is about good business and being economic and efficient, but it is also about regulation,” he said.

Improvements are being made in three main areas:

-The company is refreshing 2,500 PCs, as well as rolling out 600 mobile devices to employees ­ but only the absolute necessities will be purchased. Surplus manuals, power cables and packaging will be excluded from the refresh.

-The firm’s Microsoft Vista operating system shuts down unused PCs automatically as well as allowing individual machines to be “woken up” at night to perform maintenance duties, saving power. Datacentre servers have been consolidated by 60 per cent and will use central power management and virtualisation to reduce energy consumption.

-The IT department is ensuring that contracts include a supplier responsibility to reuse equipment wherever possible, as well as a compliance with the WEEE directive which specifies that no electrical waste must go to landfill.

A high level of demand from IT buyers will encourage suppliers to develop greener products, said Laurence Harrison, director of trade body Intellect’s energy and environment work.

“Putting the green agenda at the heart of any technology procurement is good business and should now be the norm for any organisation,” he said.