Lumison 

Lumison is a highly successful, privately owned business broadband supplier specialising in internet access and hosting solutions for the business market in Scotland, and more recently SE England with the acquisition of a 11,000 sf ft datacentre in London.

Problem

Lumison prides itself on delivering excellence to its customers and partners, and wished to extend this to integrate a more ethical and greener approach to doing business across the company's activities.

Project

In 2006 Osbert Lancaster supervised Zelah Senior, a participant on his University of Strathclyde Ethical Enterprise course to carry out a sustainability review of Lumison. This was followed by research in 2007, by Zelah and Osbert, into the potential market advantage from greater environmental and social performance. Footprint is currently, 2008, assessing Lumison's carbon footprint.

Benefits

The initial phases of the project have stimulated a range of activity building on existing good practice within the company. Notable actions include switching the 2MW of electricity powering their Edinburgh datacentre to renewable supplies, and introducing energy efficient cooling systems as part of a £1m datacentre upgrade.

Once the carbon footprint has been assessed, this will inform (a) the prioritisation of investment in projects to minimise greenhouse gas emissions, and (b) marketing communications that demonstrate Lumison's commitment and performance.

Project Leader

Osbert Lancaster, Director, Footprint Consulting Ltd. The early phases of the project were managed and delivered by Osbert while executive director of the Centre for Human Ecology.

See also: Lumison's ethical approach