European survey: Eco friendliness is major influencer in technology purchases

This is according to a survey from the IFAK Institut commissioned by Kyocera Mita, which looked at how employees in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK perceive environmental issues impacting their own working practices and the actions of their companies.

Around 90% of respondents indicated that they had adopted some popular practices for minimising their own environmental impact when at work. 55% switch off equipment at night; 52% use digital documents; 43% favour duplex photocopying and printing; and around 34% print less. Only 9.7% admit to not doing any of these.

The survey also revealed that – according to their employees – many European companies are making efforts to drive down the use of printing consumables. 44.8% recycle used cartridges and toner cassettes, 40.8% encourage the use of digital documents; 36.5% try to save paper by printing less; 32.5% encourage double-sided printing and copying. This is in stark contrast to initiatives to encourage greener transportation, with only 3% of respondents saying that their company was attempting to encourage the use of hybrid vehicles.

Despite positive moves in areas like printing, 77% of the respondents believe that their company could do more to optimise its energy consumption in general, and 69% believe that their company could recycle more. Moreover, 64% feel that companies intending to behave in a more environmentally friendly manner could act to make their employees aware of environmental issues.

The survey also found that many employees believe that green initiatives are being driven by a need to cut costs. When asked why they thought companies were implementing green IT initiatives, the majority (38.1%) thought that the objective for changes was cost savings. Fewer (24.9%) believe that companies are aiming to save the environment. 21% saw green IT as a means to boosting a company’s image.

The survey was based on interviews with 627 respondents from a broad range of industry sectors in February 2008.