The tech industry is all about forward-thinking, modernism, and pushing the envelope of what we can do as a society. However, this innovation can be damaging to the environment, and that needs to change.
The EU has recently backed its ambitious green policy reforms, despite heavy backlash from industry professionals. This is how the world is shifting, and tech industries need to take note and action; if they are smart, they need to get ahead of the curve. Electronic waste and the damage caused by mining (particularly cobalt) cause massive environmental scars that lead to severe consequences.
Non-hardware tech companies also share the blame. Data companies require an extensive amount of water and electricity in order to function. The cloud, for example, now produces more carbon dioxide than the entire airline industry. A single data center has been estimated to consume the same amount of energy that 50,000 homes use on a year-to-year basis.
In short, the tech industry must bridge the gap between its success, and its environmental impact. It must also do this while remaining profitable. How? Here are just a few tips to showcase the approaches your tech company can take.
Market Every Effort to Stand Out
The one singular and irrefutable fact when it comes to any tech company – any company at all – is that it must be successful enough to survive and, ideally, thrive. Implementing environmental policies is costly and can inhibit production, which is why you need to market your efforts from day one. Be the leader of the pack, and the one who gets the bulk of attention since you are the one talking about it and you are the one doing something about it. To get your message across to the general populace and other businesses, you need a sustainable marketing specialist like Eleven Agency, who can take your environmental policy efforts and changes and use them to bring attention, commendation, and business to your brand.
Switch To Renewable Energy
Energy consumption is one of the biggest costs when it comes to running a tech company, and it’s this consumption that makes environmental policy so challenging. If you create software, and don’t offer it as a service, then your footprint will immediately be less, and you can likely swap over to a renewable energy provider and be done with it. If you manage data centers or large servers, however, you will need to ideally:
- Build your own renewable energy solutions (solar panels, wind farms)
- Upgrade the setup (for example, recycling the water you use to cool your data center)
- Use innovative design (natural design elements to cool hot rooms instead of using air conditioning)
Create a Circular Product Design
The concept of customer dissatisfaction has been around since the early 1900s. It has evolved into planned obsolesce. While you will want to continue offering device and software upgrades, it doesn’t have to be in a linear system. Offer a takeback program if you sell devices where customers can get money back. Sell that device on if it’s in good enough condition; if not, recycle the rest. To recycle the materials properly, however, you will need to design with circularity in mind.
