Microsoft offers tool to calculate carbon footprint
A new environmental toolset for Microsoft's Dynamics AX enterprise resource management software lets businesses find out the carbon footprint of various aspects of their operations.
The free toolset, called the Environmental Sustainability Dashboard, is aimed at letting small to medium-size businesses figure out their environmental impact without having to pay for outside consultants, according to Microsoft.
The software covers four metrics: direct energy consumption, such as of usage of natural gas on site; indirect energy consumption, such as electricity purchased from a third party; greenhouse gas emissions from an organization's total energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from commuting and business travel.
The metrics are based on guidelines from the Global Reporting Initiative, which develops ways to measure environmental sustainability.
Microsoft said the dashboard will let businesses choose good environmental practices as well as let them make adjustments to reduce exposure to fluctuating energy prices.
The dashboard has been designed to work with SharePoint, Microsoft's collaboration and portal software. The dashboard's components also integrate into so-called "role centers" in Dynamics, which are customized views used to manage different kinds of information for different jobs.
IDG News Service
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
On Twitter now
environment
Powered by Twitter
Esther Schindler
If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly
claird
SVG a graphics format for 21st century
pasmith
Take Chrome OS for a test spin
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Solaris Tip: Have Your Files Changed Since Installation?
jfruh
Android fragments vs. the iPhone monolith
mikelgan
What Gizmodo missed about the Pro WX Wireless USB disk drive
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.













