VoIP solutions equal carbon solutions

Natural England has announced it is to utilise IP telephony solutions to reduce its carbon footprint.

The organisation is to use VoIP solutions across 44 sites and 2,500 users in an effort to bring all its phone systems together.

The move will not only see carbon emissions cut, but costs cut as well.

Head of knowledge management and information services at Natural England, Barney Smith, said: "We estimate that the cost of this installation will be approximately £1 million, with a potential return of £3.2 million over the next five years."

"Most of this will come from reduced travel expenditures, while videoconferencing will yield savings of 20,000 man-days and two million miles of car journeys."

Natural England is a public body which seeks to conserve and enhance England's natural environment.

It was created in January 2007 under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill, and replaced English Nature, the Countryside Agency and the Forestry Commission.