ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Workspace IT / Desktop Hardware

MIPS: Measuring environmental impact of IT

By Matt Loney, ZDNet.co.uk, 16 September, 2002 13:46

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

HP, emi, MIPS, Barclays Bank, environmental, material input per service unit, Recycling

NEWS
MIPS is a widely recognised measurement of computing power; it refers to how many low-level machine code instructions a processor can execute in one second. But now a small group of big companies are using a different interpretation of the acronym to indicate the environmental impact of computers and e-business generally. Firms as diverse as HP, EMI and Barclays are among those attempting to use the Material Input Per Service unit rating to discover how much impact their products and services have on the environment. In contrast to the computing-power MIPS rating, with the environmental MIPS rating, smaller is better. Working out the MIPS for a particular 'service unit' -- which can be anything from paying a bill and downloading music to building a computer -- is not easy. It involves looking at all the materials and components used to deliver the service unit, and at the materials and components used to deliver those, and so on. The project is being coordinated by Digital Europe, a pan-European study into the social and environmental effects of e-business and IT, supported by the EU. In the UK, it is coordinated by the not-for-profit organisation Forum for the Future. Barclays, which is one of the biggest online banks in the UK with 3.5 million registered online users, is actively trying to move customers online. Doing so allows the bank to free up front-office staff to do more value-added work, according to Phil Case, group environmental director for Barclays. Through its partnership with Digital Europe, Barclays was also interested to learn how online banking affected the environment. "We were trying to find out how much more environmentally friendly online banking is compared to traditional banking," said Case. The bank took the simple process of paying a bill as its service unit. Paying a bill by cheque, said Case, required the movement of 2.87kg of materials. Paying online required the movement of 0.26kg -- making the MIPS rating for bills paid online a tenth that of the MIPS rating for bills paid in the traditional way. However, Case said, these figures are still preliminary: for instance, the figure for online payment does not include the environment impact of the servers required to process the transactions, or the electricity required to run those servers. A similar process was undertaken at EMI, where the distribution of 56 minutes of music was chosen as the service unit. Kate Dunning, vice president of environmental affairs at EMI, said that to press a music CD and get it to a retail outlet required the movement of 2.39kg of materials. Buying a CD online appears to be more environmentally friendly, said Dunning, with a MIPS rating of 1.45kg. Downloading 56 minutes of music over the Internet has a MIPS rating of 0.75kg for the download itself, or 1.32kg if it is then burnt onto a CD. All three methods are environmentally preferable to buying CDs in a shop, said Dunning, although, she added: "There were many assumptions we had to make -- these are still preliminary, incomplete results." The difficulties in working out a MIPS rating are illustrated by HP, which, although involved in the initiative, has been unable to produce what it feels are satisfactory figures for even the humble PDA -- let alone a PC or a server. Following its acquisition of Compaq earlier this year, HP is now the biggest computer manufacturer in the world. Zoe McMahon, environmental officer at HP, said: "Only a section of the life cycle for a handheld PC has been mapped. There is a very complex upwards supply chain. We have looked at the materials used, but for calculating MIPs for the energy used it is difficult to know where to start." Nevertheless, said McMahon, HP is looking at how products can be designed to be more environmentally friendly. Initiatives include making IT equipment more energy efficient, and cutting down on the bill of materials used to build them. The company's printer toner recycling programme, which has been running for ten years, is now online, noted McMahon: customers can order packaging that can be used to return spent cartridges.
See the Hardware News Section for the latest update on everything from MP3 players and PDAs to supercomputing. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Related stories

Recycling special report: Designing PCs for the environment

EU recycling directive to hit PC retailers

DTI urges businesses to go green

Apple bucks a falling PC trend in UK and France

Apple takes top PC spot from HP

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

14 minutes ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

4 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

5 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

5 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

6 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

6 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Moley

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

7 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
ramwellian

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

7 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?
BugStalker

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

7 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB
whs001

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

7 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Moley

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

8 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
45283

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

11 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA
Burn-IT

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

12 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs
ewallace

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

12 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
fgvrg56

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

13 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?
Ben Woods

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

14 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
Marcus Karlsson

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

15 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
apexwm

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

24 hours ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Latest in Desktop Hardware

Apple bucks a falling PC trend in UK and France

Apple takes top PC spot from HP

Featured white papers

Tech breakthroughs to watch in 2012

ZDNet UK

Tech breakthroughs to watch in 2012

From invisibility cloaks to virtual atom smashing, from Cern to Nasa, this ZDNet UK guide presents the discoveries to watch in... Read more

10 must-read silicon.com Cheat Sheets

silicon.com

10 must-read silicon.com Cheat Sheets

This exclusive e-book covers 10 of the most important issues facing business and technology professionals today, from cloud computing to... Read more

The virtual presenter's handbook

Citrix Online

The virtual presenter's handbook

Web seminars or webinars can be interactive and engaging, just like having every person in the same room, and this white paper outlines how they can benefit your... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault