An estimated eight million new computers are sold in Britain every year, adding to the millions already in operation. Government figures show that computers generate an estimated 35 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, a level comparable to the amount produced by the UK airline industry.

Under the proposals, small business and home users will access office applications, email and internet via communal data hubs instead of through individual computers, using 98 per cent less energy. Pilot tests will be carried out on the technology next year, and if they prove successful, it will be rolled out across ten cities across the UK in 2009.

“This is the first time a national IT project has focused on climate change in this way and [it] has the potential to be critical in helping us reach our sustainability targets,” local government minister Phil Woolas told the Independent.

August 2007