Accelerating moves toward sustainability and efficiency in the business community prompted the University of Washington's MBA program to offer courses in how students can best use the technology available to them to save both money and the environment.
Dan Turner, an associate dean at the university's Foster School of Business, told the Seattle Times that "the class focuses on the interaction between ecological issues, societal issues, profit and the interest of shareholders. It's important for students to be able to successfully incorporate sustainability into business operations, and that's what this class aims to do."
The Times reports that other educational institutions in the area - like Seattle University - are moving to add similar sustainability options for their business students.
Emergent technology has the potential to provide both business advantages and ecological benefits, experts say. Business equipment such as low-voltage CPUs for laptop computers and business projectors that draw less energy can cut power bills and reduce an enterprise's carbon footprint. Additionally, cloud computing technologies can reduce a business' reliance on maintenance-intensive and power-thirsty server farms.
