U.K. IT Group Launches Green IT Certification

Brits plan to take their three-day course in green IT around the world.

BCS a British association of IT professionals and companies with 70,000 members, has launched a new Green IT certification program designed to help IT professionals and corporations better understand the environmental issues associated with IT.

The group has just completed a three-month pilot in the U.K. with QA, a learning services provider, and plans to deliver its program around the globe. Today it announced it has signed a contract with iSQI to deliver a number of BCS qualifications including Green IT in German, English and Spanish.

In addition, BCS announced the intention to pilot its latest qualification for IT professionals, the EU Code of Conduct for Data Center Operators Practitioner Certificate. This qualification from the BCS will set an international standard for IT professionals in understanding energy efficiency irrespective of what discipline they practice within the industry, the group says.

The Foundation Certificate in Green IT is a three day course that helps candidates understand the importance of IT when trying to achieve an organization's green objective, identify their own green IT requirements and address them. It provides an understanding of the regulations, legislation and policies, carbon energy accounting and how to create a green IT strategy. It will also cover business benefits, end-to-end costing, emissions and energy efficiencies, procurement, lifecycle and disposal planning as well as managing stakeholder relationships and behaviors.

The EU Code of Conduct for Data Centre Operators, launched last November, arose as the result of voluntary collaboration between worldwide industry representatives, academics and government bodies, including BCS.

The Code aims to provide an independent, effective and trusted standard to help data centre operators and owners reduce energy consumption and the related environmental impact of carbon emissions through the adoption of best practices. BCS was the first not-for-profit organization to sign as an endorser to the code.