Dave Ferguson, principal consultant with the SAS Institute, said that the current economic climate is an ideal time for firms to improve their focus on becoming greener.

In an interview with Silicon Republic, Mr Ferguson explained that firms were finding ways of cutting costs by becoming more environmentally-friendly.

He cited Hibernian Health Insurance as an example.

“It looked at the forms being filled in by customers and decided to move these into a web format so customers could access them online.

“This has allowed the firm to enhance customer service, but also achieve savings in the amount of literature it needs to process.

“From a green point of view, by not producing too much literature, it has also prevented the waste of a lot of trees.”

He added that other companies have also cut back on posting and printing literature and turned off lights at certain times, which both have green benefits.

According to Sustainable Energy Ireland, in 2007 Ireland’s biggest companies saved a combined Euro 55m in energy costs.

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