As a major social issue, the effects of Global warming are plain for everyone to see and it has led to a lot of changes in numerous industries and their business processes. Being environmentally friendly is becoming more and more of a necessity in the ever-changing world and the IT industry is no exception. Computing companies and IT service providers are all emphasising ways they can make their products and services they provide more environmentally friendly. This includes removing environmentally harmful materials from the manufacturing process of their products, recycling used products and their materials properly, efficient energy utilization in the servers, CPUs and other peripheral devices as well as reduced paper consumption in everyday business processes. Additionally, the proper disposal of e-waste is also considered as part of being green. The term generally applied to this process and aims the companies set out to achieve by providing products and services that are environmentally friendly is known as Green Computing. (Rouse, 2014).
The first real strides towards saving the environment in IT came in 1992 when the US government, through the Environmental Protection Agency started Energy Star. Energy Star is a voluntary program where electronics manufacturers would get a label showing their efficiency. As time went on, the Energy Star logo was seen on monitors and laptops all over the US during the boot process.
A few years ago, an independent company called Greenpeace conducted a report on IT companies and how green the impacts of their business procedures and techniques were. Since then, IT industry powerhouses like Apple, Microsoft and Sony have all made giant strides and are leading by example when it comes to green computing.
Apple, who received poor grading for this social issue from Greenpeace in their report in 2011 because of their poor disposal of e-waste and energy efficiency at their facilities has since made commendable effort and has made drastic changes to its operations. They announced that each year their devices become more and more efficient. 
The change in energy usage of Apple’s Monitors(Apple.com)
Consequently, Apple recently announced that almost of all its corporate operations and its power-hungry datacentres are now powered completely by renewable energy; a majority of which comes from two massive solar energy farms in North Carolina and third biogas fuel plant. (Apple.com, 2014)
Apple’s Solar farms in North Carolina(Apple.com)
Additionally, The NGO centred on consumerism and energy efficiency blasted Apple for using two harmful substances in the manufacturing process of their devices and demanded they cease it immediately as they put the health of the staff involved in the process at great risk. The chemicals which include n-hexane, which is used to clean screens before packaging is known to cause nerve damage and sometimes, even paralysis; and benzene, which is used to coat outer layers of the devices, is a carcinogen. The chemicals are harmful but are not illegal in China, where Apple manufactures its devices and as such were under no legal obligation to not use them. Green America appealed to Apple to be socially conscious and ruse alternate, safer chemicals. These changes would cost Apple less than one dollar per device (Sparks, 2014)
Apple has since announced its concern about the materials used in the manufacturing process and conducted an investigation. It discovered the chemicals were used at only 4 of its factories and has since banned their use and mandated the use of safer chemicals in the manufacturing process.
Sony is another company that has made major progress going green and is setting the benchmark for other companies to follow. Firstly, they pioneered SoRPlas, a plastic made from 99% recycled plastics from older products of theirs, in their manufacturing process for televisions. Optical sheets from discarded LCD televisions and monitors are mixed with recycled plastics from old DVDs and CDs to make SoRPlas. Sony uses SoRPlas to manufacture earphones and the bezels of the televisions and monitors and the outer casing of some cameras and camcorders. (Sony.com, 2014)
Also, some eco-features on their devices such as WhiteMagic Display technology on their mobile phones and tablets and RapidWake Eco System on their laptops automatically adjust screen brightness depending on the surrounding area’s lighting or put the device to sleep simply by closing the lid. (Sony.net, 2014)
Apart from ensuring the manufacturing process and the usage lifetime of their products is environmentally friendly and efficient, Sony also strive to ensure the afterlife for their products is also Green. Regarding this, Sony has removed mercury and other environmentally harmful materials from their products to ensure their disposal/recycling is proper. The sizes of their televisions have also reduced due to use of LED technology. Small products mean small packaging, which means less waste.
Thirdly, Sony’s has successfully built the first multi-storey building with a “bioskin”. The Omaki Entertainment Headquarters in Tokyo uses has porous pipes running all round its exterior. Rainwater is collected in massive tanks and during hot days the water is pumped through the pipes and it forms a shield as it evaporates from the walls thus reducing the use of air conditioners in the building, much like how human beings sweat when it’s hot.
Just recently, Sony received an award for their efforts for material sustainability and electronic waste recycling to coincide with their announcement stating their additional success in reducing their emissions from their business sites.
From this, we can see Sony is well on their way achieving the aims and milestones of their “Road to Zero” initiative which was set out in 2010. Even though some were slightly exaggerated or overly-ambitious, we can see that they are taking the right steps.
The Omaki Building With Bioskin(Sony.net)
References
Apple.com, (1998). Apple – Environmental Responsibility. [online] Available at: http://www.apple.com/environment/ [Accessed 1 Jan. 2015].
Energystar.gov, (2015). About ENERGY STAR | ENERGY STAR. [online] Available at: http://www.energystar.gov/about [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015].
Levy, S. (2014). Apple Aims to Shrink Its Carbon Footprint With New Data Centers | WIRED. [online] WIRED. Available at: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/green-apple/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015].
Rivington, J. (2012). How Sony is trying to save the world. [online] TechRadar. Available at: http://www.techradar.com/news/television/tv/how-sony-is-trying-to-save-the-world-1063363 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2015].
Rouse, M. (2015). What is green computing? – Definition from WhatIs.com. [online] Searchdatacenter.techtarget.com. Available at: http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/green-computing [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015].
Sony.co.uk, (2015). Sustainability | Eco Innovation | Green Technology | Sony. [online] Available at: http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/eco/eco-initiatives [Accessed 10 Jan. 2015].
Sparkes, M. (2014). [online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/10694565/Cancer-and-nerve-damage-is-this-the-human-cost-of-an-iPhone.html/ [Accessed 1 Jan. 2015].
Staples.com, (2015). What Is Green Computing? | Business Hub | Staples.com®. [online] Available at: http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/tech-services/explore-tips-and-advice/tech-articles/what-is-green-computing.html [Accessed 1 Jan. 2015].
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