My adventures in the world of Green IT are continuing and keep throwing up some interesting, surprising, and at times counter-intuitive recommendations on how to run an environmentally responsible IT department.

The latest comes from Richard Barrington, head of public policy at Sun Microsystems, the IT vendor that has committed serious marketing dollars to presenting itself as the environment's new best friend.

According to Barrington, current demands for IT directors to deliver a more energy efficient department could be answered by none other than the good old Thin Client.

Advocates of thin clients have spent decades asking why you need a wieldy, expensive PC when many workers only use them for just one or two simple functions. But as intelligent as this argument is it has often had as much success as those worthy people who ask why Henrietta of Hampstead requires a Land Rover Discovery to drive the kids half a mile to school when a nice little Fiat will perform the same function at a fraction of the cost.

But just as soaring petrol costs and environmental concerns may finally begin to make fuel efficient cars look more appealing the same could be happening with the thin client.

As Barrington explains thin clients can be 4 watt per hour (w/h) devices compared to PCs which can run at up to 250w/h and still idle along at around 8w/h when they are turned off but not unplugged.

"Thin clients do not have the functionality PCs have," Barrington admits. "But you have to consider that at the moment a PC requires 2 tonnes of raw materials and 25 tonnes of CO2 during manufacturing, it then uses a tones of CO2 if it is being run in an air conditioned environment, and then after about three years it is thrown out, which often means it is shipped to a Third World country where it is dumped."

It will require a huge change in attitude for workers to accept their trusty PCs being replaced by unglamorous and limited Thin Clients, just as the last urban tractor will only be traded in when London is neck deep in melted ice cap.

But as energy efficiency continues to climb up the corporate agenda Thin Clients may become an increasingly popular solution for more enlightened firms.

11 Aug 2006