VESK Datacentre 100% Carbon Neutral
On March 23rd 2012 VESK became the UK’s first hosted desktop provider to take a crucial step to make our operations more environmentally friendly. On behalf of all clients, VESK is voluntarily offsetting all the CO2 emissions caused by our primary data centre.
‘Thin clients’ do a great job in reducing CO2 emissions and power consumption at the client’s end, but it’s a well known fact that datacentre power consumption is extremely high.
Overall, this equates to a 30% increase in our overall datacentre costs, but a highly strategic move in increasing our overall business efficiency.
VESK contributions have been used to help purchase the Rodas property, a 45 hectare extension to the Buenaventura Reserve managed by Fundación Jocotoco in the foothills of the Andes in south-western Ecuador. This area was once covered by low-altitude cloud forest with exceptional biodiversity including many species found nowhere else in the world but the tree cover has now been reduced to scattered patches in pasture. Buenaventura is the only conservation area in this habitat and is one of the richest ornithological sites in the country. It is also important for amphibians (a new species has recently been discovered) and orchids. But the flagship species is the endangered El Oro Parakeet Aratinga orcesii – only discovered in 1980 and reduced to 180 birds.
The Rodas property was targeted because it is an important breeding site for the parakeets. It also lies at the headwaters of the streams serving the Municipality of Piñas, so conserving the watershed and the water supply for the town.
Some 75% of the land parcel has been cleared of forest by reforesting this land through a combination of natural regeneration by removing grazing pressure and by planting a range of native species. It will take 20 years before this forest is well-grown. The 3 acres of protected forest have been secured in the remaining 25% of the parcel – here the benefit is swift as the imminent threat of clearance (and release of Carbon stocked in the wood) has now been removed. Incorporating the land in the Buenaventura Reserve means that these benefits are permanent.
The entire Rodas project is expected to sequester some 4500 tonnes of CO2 while making an important contribution to wildlife conservation. Local community benefits include the clean water supply and also local jobs – the planting programme uses seedlings produced in family nurseries while the regenerating forest needs long-term maintenance.
 Endangered El Oro parakeet Flagshipspecies of Buenaventura. © M.Dietrich . |
………… |  The edge of the Buenaventura reserve, near the Rodas Property. |
VESK’s clients can further help the environment by using thin clients instead of PC’s and laptops. VESK supply Wyse, Dell, HP, iGel and 10Zig thin clients all of which reduce power consumption by 95% when compared to a standard specification Dell PC. On average, around 50% of a businesses power consumption originates from computers, servers and network peripherals, therefore an overall, business-wide power reduction of almost 50% can be achieved through thin client technology implementation.
Please contact VESK for further advice on thin client technology.
