Video conferencing is a friend of the environment. It helps reduce the
volume of CO2 emissions from cars and reduces traffic congestion on our
roads (as well as improving company productivity and reducing costs!). 

As governments throughout the world look to cut their CO2 emissions to meet
global treaties, such as Kyoto, companies can use video conferencing as an
easy means of achieving just that. Many leading companies now use video
conferencing both as a key component of their business strategy and a vital
cog in their environmental plans as well. 

Lex Vehicle Leasing, part of the RAC group, has been using video
conferencing between its Manchester, Marlow and Stirling offices and since
the beginning of 2004 estimates that it has saved over 80 tonnes of CO2 from
being emitted into the atmosphere. In addition to this environmental benefit
the company also reported time savings of almost 6,000 hours from employees
not travelling to meetings and getting bogged down in congestion. To put
this into perspective this figure equates to over 150 working weeks when Lex
employees were at their desks helping customers and not stuck in their cars
travelling too and fro. 

There are also several important steps to take when setting things up at
your end to ensure that the videoconference runs smoothly. 

If you have offices overseas or deal with overseas clients the cost and
environmental savings can be even larger. No longer do you have to travel
abroad to meet with customers, colleagues or suppliers. Conduct your
meetings over the web from the comfort of your office and save thousands of
pounds and do your bit for the environment! 

About The Author


Adi Gaskell is the founder of www.WebVideo4U.co.uk, a leading developer of
Flash based streaming video solutions.