UK Gov acts to combat "cyber warming"

Stirred by the revelation that the world's PCs are responsible for as much carbon-pumping as the airline industry, it has ordered civil servants to set up a taskforce to oversee the piloting of a "green PC" inititative.

Offcials want to promote machines that cut energy use by 98 per cent compared to standard PCs.

The public-private "Green Shift" taskforce will be led by Manchester City Council. It will offer a "green PC" service by hosting functions such as office applications, email and web surfing on data centres rather than on individual computers.

Local Government Minister Phil Woolas described cyber-warming is a "massive issue". He said the taskforce was the first of its kind in the world and a sign of how serious the UK is about tackling this threat to human life on Earth.

"Only if all of our communities are engaged in action to tackle climate change will we be successful," he proclaimed.

Trials of the scheme are to begin in early 2008 and are should be in use by late 2009. µ