The executive board of imbus AG placed the issue of environmental compatibility and sustainability in the forefront of a workshop-weekend in autumn 2013. “All employees were asked to contribute their wishes and ideas for the implementation – this marked the birth of “green imbus””, explains executive board member Thomas Roßner. A catalogue of measures was developed which still grows dynamically.
Many minor environmental measures and a few major ones constitute “green imbus”. Some of them have already been realised, others are going to be implemented in the near future. imbus
endeavours to take measures which are not only environment-sparing but also economically viable in the medium run.
Self-produced electricity and mini computers for an even better energy footprint
The core businesses of imbus are consulting, services and advanced training in the field of software quality assurance and testing. That is why the circa 230 employees spend a great deal of their working days at the PC. So it is no wonder that the computers represent a major factor of the company’s electricity demand.
A start has now been made to progressively replace the altogether 300 desktop PCs and tower PCs at the workstations by highly integrated mini-computers. The quadratic boxes with a side length of 15 centimetres only need one fifth of the energy of desktop PCs – for the same computing power. Each computer saves circa 80 kWh per year. That means fewer emissions, less costs for electricity and a clear reduction of electronics scrap when the computers have to be discarded.
Energy-saving “green IT” components in 19 inch technology are used for the server IT from now on. Owing to virtualisation, the rack-based hosts are able to take on the functions of several stand-alone computers respectively and are thus able to reduce energy consumption.
Yet, imbus does not only rely on environmentally friendly technology for its IT but also for its infrastructure. Halogen lamps at the desks are successively replaced by LED lights, for example. Every LED consumes about 60 kWH less per year than the previous illuminants.
This spring, a photovoltaic system will be installed at the company’s head quarter in Moehrendorf. 160 solar modules on the roof of the main building should cover a large portion of the house’s electricity consumption. With a total output of some 40kWp the plant is expected to produce more than 30,000 kWh electrical power per year.
Reduction in CO2 emissions thanks to a fleet of hybrid cars and electric cars
The electricity produced by the photovoltaic system will also be used to regularly recharge the first hybrid car in the company’s fleet. Many of the imbus testing experts work directly in the customers’ project teams or they are in action as consultants there. That is why a high level of mobility is necessary. With the newly purchased Opel Ampera they can from now on drive journeys in the greater Nuremberg/Fuerth/Erlangen area emission-free. The Ampera is the first hybrid car of a planned future hybrid and electric fleet. When it is fully charged the 150 HP strong car can drive between 60 and 80 kilometres in pure electric mode.
As a further measure, imbus provides its employees on request with bicycles and e-bikes for an ecologically friendly mobility. The bikes can be used for the distance between home and the work place as well as for rides during the work day.
With locations in Munich, Möhrendorf near Erlangen, Hofheim near Frankfurt, Cologne and
Norderstedt near Hamburg, imbus is represented throughout Germany. By expanding and increasingly using IT infrastructure employees can reduce journeys between the locations and partly also journeys to meetings with customers to a necessary minimum. Video conferences, web meetings and virtual teams make it possible to swap information across sites in a flexible way.
In order to reduce the company’s carbon emission even more significantly, infrared panel heating systems were brought into service at the head quarter in Moehrendorf. In the first place, two rooms of the more than 300 years old half-timber house on the company premises were furnished with the electric heating systems. The aim is to cover the heating requirements from now on by means of green electricity/ the photovoltaic system electricity instead of fossil energy sources.
Sustainable and local resource consumption
A further component of „green imbus“: an even more sound resource management. Digital information carriers – e.g. tablet-PCs and digital notepads – are increasingly used in order to reduce dispensable paper consumption. In addition to that, there is a buying list of sustainably produced products. It tells which items come from eco-friendly and – as far as practicable – regional production. The list contains common consumables of the infrastructure, e.g. groceries and soft drinks.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login