Microsoft expects technology to aid resource efficiency in 2014

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Use of resources will be transformed by the use of technology in 2014, according to major software company Microsoft.

Writing on the Microsoft Green Blog, its chief environmental strategist Robert Bernard said that information and communication technology (ICT) will become more mainstream as a sustainability strategy for companies.

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He wrote: “The biggest impact areas that ICT will drive will be the result of markets where the corporate, government and citizen interests combined with the capabilities of advances in cloud computing and reduction in information gathering naturally will combine to transform resource use around the world.”

In the blog, he argued that major companies will begin pilots at developing resource efficient solutions in food production that will be heavily reliant on ICT.

He predicts that 2014 will see shifts in thinking on natural capital and resource use with the beginnings of new ways found to measure whether decisions will be both economically and environmentally damaging.

In addition, he also believes that 2014 will see buildings and cities become increasingly smart, using ICT to work more resource efficiently.

Finally, he believes procurement departments in major companies are increasingly procuring renewable energy as it is primarily seen as a way to control costs with the added environmental benefit. Therefore, he wrote that sustainability is becoming increasingly mainstream.