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It doesn't matter whether you are a large council or a small household, these days, everyone is trying to cut their carbon footprint. Councils throughout the country have been working with a variety of organisations, including the Carbon Trust, to go green and reduce their emissions. And, as a recent LGA poll proved, the environment is a big issue for the electorate. Wakefield MDC has been working with IT giant Microsoft to improve its support service delivery, create more flexible ways of working for its staff, and slash the local authority's carbon emissions at the same time. By using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and the IT firm's Worksmart programme for 8,000 staff, the council will save more than £4m and cut carbon emissions by 35 tons. ‘Worksmart is delivering real benefits for citizens, employees and the council,' says system and technical manager, Michael O'Malley. ‘The integrated programme is rationalising the council's property portfolio, improving staff productivity, and providing a modern, fit-for-purpose workspace.' Council employees now have improved access to e-mail through the Internet, either at home or in remote locations. ‘Helped by Microsoft Services Support, Worksmart will help save the authority more than £4m in revenue savings, and produce £7.3m of capital receipts from asset disposals,' adds Mr O'Malley. ‘The authority will reduce the number of its administrative buildings from 34 to six, including a new civic building, and better support service delivery to citizens and flexible ways of working for council officers. ‘Employees working from home or in remote locations can log on to their critical systems through the Internet,' he adds. ‘We are shifting to a clear desk and minimum paper environment. ‘As part of the relocation, 81% of e-Services employees have adopted some level of home working.' The new 64-bit system went live in January, and some departments have already seen productivity gains of 15% through home working. The e-Services department has cut the number of fixed workstations from 79 to 52, and reduced landlines from 42 to 19. Office space has been cut by 32%, from 811sq m to 551sq m, and office occupancy has increased by 156%. The amount of office space per person has dropped from 9.9sq m to 4.33sq m. The e-Services department has also reduced the amount of copier paper it uses by 70%. Says technical support manager, Lee Whitehouse: ‘A total of 127,000 annual commuting miles will be saved as a result of home working by e-Services alone, with a reduction of carbon emissions of 35 tons of carbon dioxide a year. ‘Flexible working has cut the amount of petrol we consume,' he adds. ‘We've saved square footage, in terms of space, making the operation more sustainable, and the new data centres have new energy-efficient power units.' The council also benefited from its involvement in the Microsoft Shared Learning Group. The organisation has 11 members, all of which are councils. Microsoft UK's head of local and regional government, Manoj Shetty, says: ‘We've worked closely with Wakefield to enable employees to gain access to critical e-mail and other systems far more easily, and with greater convenience, as part of their Worksmart programme.' ‘Within e-Services, they have seen a reduction in carbon emissions of 35 tons. ‘Throughout the process, we were conscious of developing a solution that would not only provide efficiency savings to the council, but when successfully achieved, would deliver real environmental benefits, helping Wakefield reduce its carbon footprint in the region. ‘Building these environmental benefits is becoming an increasing priority for us in providing technology solutions to local government throughout the UK.'

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Cutting the carbon

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