Environmentally sound technology and initiatives help to drive down costs for both vendors and the enterprises they serve, according to industry experts.

Speaking at the Intellect Annual Regent Conference in London this week, Peter Rowell, executive chairman of IT industry advisor Regent, echoed this perspective, saying that green IT was “a convenient truth”, as emerging technologies such as cloud computing and smartphones were by their nature less damaging to the environment.

He added that enablers such as high-speed broadband, unified communications and mobile technology would help to further advance the green agenda within the enterprise.

Earlier this month, a survey by green technology website Greenbang on behalf of Cisco found that 46% of UK businesses believe efficient IT is key to reducing their carbon footprints.

And while some thought that the poor economic climate would cause the ‘green agenda’ to be de-prioritised, a report published by Frost & Sullivan states that the opposite is in fact true. According to the research group, environmental technology helps to drive down costs, enforce brand loyalty and boost competitive differentiation, leading vendors to pour more resources into this area.

Additionally, Information Age’s recent Effective IT Report showed that 65.8% of enterprises that had deployed energy management strategies or software found the strategy to be either ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’.