Business Info - Issue 140

Design THE HIDDEN COST OF DIGITAL SERVICES The University of Bristol is calling on technology and media companies to rethink the design of digital services, following research highlighting the impact that Sustainable Interaction Design (SID) can have on carbon emissions ( Evaluating Sustainable Interaction Design of Digital Services: The Case of YouTube ). Chris Preist, Professor of Sustainability and Computer Systems at Bristol’s Faculty of Engineering, said: “Digital services require significant energy to deliver globally – not only in data centres, but also in networks, mobile networks and end devices – and overall can have a big carbon footprint.” Human-computer interaction researchers calculated that in 2016 the energy used to stream 1 billion hours of YouTube videos every day had a carbon footprint of 10Mt CO2e (million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent), the same as a city the size of Glasgow. They worked out that redesigning services to avoid sending images to users who only use YouTube to listen to audio could reduce carbon emissions by between 100 and 500Kt CO2e annually, equivalent to the annual footprint of 30,000 UK homes. Sustainability GREEN TO THE CORE Rittal and its partners SICP and WestfalenWIND IT have won first prize in the Ideas and research in relation to data centres category at the German Data Centre Awards 2019 for their WindCORES++ project. This reduces the environmental impact of data centres by locating them where there is a direct supply of green energy, in this case within wind turbines.WindCORES++ can accommodate 50 IT racks, plus security rooms, air conditioning, UPS and monitoring, in just one wind turbine. Over 90% of the data centre’s power requirements are met by wind, while the use of existing buildings and infrastructure saves resources. Sustainability BACK IN BLACK KI is now making Jet Black versions of its Postura+ chairs from 100% post-consumer and post-industrial recycled polypropylene, helping schools and colleges meet their sustainability objectives. The chairs cost the same as those made from virgin polypropylene and, according to KI, have the same strength and colour consistency. They are certified to BS EN 1729 for strength and stability and are backed by the same 20-year warranty as all Postura+ products. The recycled option is available across the entire Postura+ range. All Postura+ products are 100% recyclable. www. kieurope.com Office Furniture DESIGN GUILD MARKS ANNOUNCED Office filing specialist Bisley is one of 22 companies to have been awarded a 2019 Design Guild Mark by The Furniture Makers’ Company, the City of London livery company for the furnishing industry. Now in its 11th year, the Mark recognises the best domestic and contract furniture in volume production created by designers working in Britain or by British designers working abroad. Bisley was honoured in the Furniture category (domestic and office) for its BOB cabinet designed by Paul Kelley, alongside designs from Allermuir, Gloster Furniture, Capdell, Knoll international, The Conran Shop and OPM Furniture, amongst others. www.furnituremakers.org.uk Human Resources TIME TO SMASH THE SKILLS CEILING The Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) is calling on businesses to shatter the ‘skills ceiling’ by extending training to all employees, instead of prioritising training for workers who are already in highly paid jobs. It warns that lack of access to training has created a ‘skills ceiling’ that is costing lower paid employees as much as £12,000 a year and depriving businesses of untapped talent within their own organisations. According to the Social Mobility Commission’s 2019 Adult Skills Report , the UK spends two thirds of the European average on adult training, with most opportunities prioritised for workers in highly paid or highly skilled roles. The Centre for Social Justice report, THE FUTURE OFWORK: A VISION FOR THE NATIONAL RETRAINING SCHEME Part III: Building a workforce for the future , reveals that employer investment in skills has dropped by 25% in the past decade. Today, just one in 10 workers is studying for a nationally recognised qualification. www.aat.org.uk BULLETIN 01732 759725 magazine 07 Lighting CHELSEA SHOW HUELIGHTS Visitors to the 2019 RHS Chelsea Flower Show were able to enjoy the RHS Back to Nature garden long after the sun went down, thanks to Philips Hue Outdoor lighting. The garden co-created by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge and RHS Gold Medal Award-winning landscape architects Andrèe Davies and AdamWhite was designed as a natural woodland space for families to play, dig, grow plants and connect with nature. Hue lighting was switched on during the evening to highlight individual trees and design elements like the tree house, stream and waterfall. Three colour temperatures, from cool white to warm white, were used to complement the garden’s blue and green colour palette. www.signify.com