Green Britain Day falls on deaf ears

EDF's Green Britain Day has been dismissed by some as a marketing stunt

The annual Green Britain Day event has kicked off with the aim of encouraging individuals and businesses to act in a more environmentally friendly manner, but experts believe there is a long way to go before the green agenda is given the precedence it deserves.

Green Britain Day is the brain child of electricity firm EDF, and seeks to encourage people and corporates to cut their carbon emissions.

However, Chris Davies, UK general manager at networking firm D-Link, argued that there is still a lack of education around green technology.

"Organisations have to be educated that adopting green technology isn't a case of making a virtuous sacrifice of productivity in order to appeal to an environmental agenda," he said.

"It is a case of taking steps and making a business more efficient and more competitive in the future."

Mark Nutt, general manager at IT consultancy Morse, added that 'going green' by increasing efficiency and reducing energy use and carbon emissions does not need to involve large-scale changes.

"For example, IT departments can make large energy savings by optimising their IT infrastructure. This could be as complex as consolidating a datacentre, or as simple as rearranging servers so that they are cooled more effectively," he explained.

"Any IT department worth its salt should be monitoring exactly how much energy it uses. Only in this way can any push towards greener IT actually be measured."

However, there is still a long way to go, according to Nutt. Around two-thirds of organisations are still uncertain of whether they can comply with carbon emissions legislation.

Green Britain Day has been the subject of controversy in the past. Greenpeace and energy rival Ecotricity have attacked the event as a cynical marketing exercise by a company which they claim is one of the country's biggest polluters.