June 30, 2008 - Enterprise Rent-A-Car wants the world to know that its latest IT upgrade will not only streamline rental processes but also shave the company's carbon footprint by an estimated 6.5 million pounds each year.

The car rental giant will this summer complete a new computerized transaction system based on emerging “thin client” technology, which consolidates processing activities for many networked machines on a central server. The system will connect the reservations, billing, and reporting operations of more than 7,000 Enterprise rental offices on a network of 45,000 energy-saving thin client terminals, the company says.

"This system produces tremendous operational efficiencies, but it was important to us to maximize environmental efficiencies as well," according to Craig Kennedy, Enterprise's chief information officer. "Going with thin client terminals...is a choice that will soon provide a big payoff by increasing our energy efficiency and reducing our company's overall environmental footprint."

A recent study estimates that thin clients can slash energy costs per workstation by as much as 81%.

Enterprise’s IT upgrade is another plank in its climate management platform, which includes carbon offsetting for customers and funding renewable energy research.

“Today, we don't undertake any IT project without factoring in the energy and environmental impact of our decisions,” Kennedy says. “The thin client project is one great example of how that...approach can pay dividends for the company and the environment.”

Business appears to be waking up to the efficiency and cost-cutting benefits of greener IT. A study published last week finds that smarter technology use could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 15% and save global industry $800 billion in annual energy costs by 2020.