Y2E-Facilities and IT Unite!

In a recent New York Times column, Thomas Friedmand coined the acronym Y2E; or the follow on technology crisis after Y2K. Friedman argues that the "green revolution" will drive a whole new demand for IT services and software to address the need for sustainability. Friedman predicts that such a global demand will further accelerate India's IT industry.

I have a different slant on Y2E. If enterprises truly expect to estimate and track their carbon footrrprint; they will need a tight collaboration between the IT organization and the facilities (workplace organization) The enetrprise's fixed assets...principally its building portfolio represents the highest energy use in the enterprise. I wrote earlier about how data centers are becoming enormous "energy hogs," consuming energy at a rate of 150-200 watts per square foot; nearly 20 to 30 times more than a typical office building. Workplace organizations will be compelled to adopt sophisticated information technology tools to track building energy trends and their corresponding "carbon footprint," particularly when "cap and trade" legislation emerges from the US Congress later next year. Thus, workplace organizations need to become tech saavy about sophisticated systems such as Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) which represent the state of the art of facilities and real estate management software. These systems provide robust tracking of building costs; especially energy costs; and can identify opportunities for energy efficiency and conservation. These systems also support worker mobility and telecommuting whcih also impact an enterprise carbon footprint by reducing employee commuting mileage.

Intelligent building systems represent another key "green" technology; the systems automate such things as temperature and humidity regulation; lighting levels; and can integrate such systems as solar; wind; photovoltaic, and other renewable energy sources.

Y2E will demand new levels of collaboration between IT and Facilities (workplace) management. While Y2K was primarily an IT priority; Y2E is a facilities management priority, but as Thomas Friedmand predicts, it will take an enormous amount of technology to make happen.