There is much talk about ‘green’ computing and the importance of recognising how housing associations’ technology infrastructures affect their energy consumption and carbon footprint, including two articles in this edition. That’s all very well, but local needs should come first.
This means that green computing initiatives should only be implemented once tenants receive the services they expect, in-house staff have access to the right tools and systems, and the organisation is financially stable and is on-track to meet regulations such as the Decent Homes standard.
If green computing can be delivered as natural by-product of these things, then all well and good, but it shouldn’t be a distraction from an IT department’s main goals.
