Wednesday, 5 December 2007

Singapore Showcases Eco- Friendly Technology in new “Green Office”

Underscoring the growing awareness in Singapore to be more environmentally friendlier, three organisations have come together to promote a “green office” environment concept for the corporate sector. Working in unison are...

Underscoring the growing awareness in Singapore to be more environmentally friendlier, three organisations have come together to promote a “green office” environment concept for the corporate sector.

Working in unison are global provider of telepresence, high-definition videoconferencing and mobile video solutions, TANDBERG, the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and City Development Limited (CDL).

The “Green Office” project, which was initiated last week, features a fully functional model of a work station equipped with videoconferencing products and eco-friendly features demonstrating simple tips and technologies businesses can leverage to deliver measurable savings.

According to Lars Ronning, President of TANDBERG for the Asia Pacific region excluding China and Japan, technology has the capability to bridge the gap between companies who want to be socially responsible and those that want to gain competitive advantage.

Ronnings told journalist at the formal launch of the “Green Office” initiative that video is a workable green solution because as long as global meetings are able to take place via video conferencing it reduces the need to travel which translates to a reduction in carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

“Responsible environmental behaviour is fast becoming a strategic tool for businesses. As more and more consumers and employees make a conscious choice in favour of an environmentally ethical organisation, the need to go green has never been greater,” Ronnings said in a prepared statement.

“For enterprises, one of the keys to successful engagement in the environmental movement is to identify and integrate workplace solutions that deliver measurable savings and increased competitive advantage.”

Besides the availability of green technology, Ronnings believes the stage has been set for such initiatives to take off today with government policies and incentives in place to encourage organisations to be more environmentally friendly and also because organisations are more aware that going green will allow them to stay competitive and keep them away from bad publicity.

A recent survey that was done by TANDBERG highlighted that more than half of global consumers interviewed said they would prefer to purchase products and services from a company with a good environment reputation and also 80 percent of global workers believe that working for environmentally ethical organisations is important.

“Through initiatives such as the Green office and Project Eco-Office, we want to demonstrate the viability of and ease with which organisations can stay clean, green and lean as they shave operational costs while curtailing carbon emission at the same time,” said Howard Shaw, Executive Director of SEC.

The Green Office project will start on scheduled tours at different office buildings next year. This ongoing project is expected to open its doors to more vendors interested in showcasing their green technologies as its presence increases.