When corporations go green it isn’t as good for the planet as environmentalists like to claim, according to a new study by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
The study surveyed 118 corporate information technology officers on how they planned to help their companies go green, and concluded doing so was much more difficult than initially thought.
“The conundrum is that businesses might be greener than they were before but they are still not really green in the sense of being truly sustainable,” Jan Recker, a professor at QUT’s business school, said in a press statement.
One of the primary benefits of “going green” is it “offers reputational benefits,” according to the study. Other benefits included potential cost reductions and the hope that it could drive innovation. Going green often required significant shifts in how companies do business.
Trying to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by using green energy often does more harm to the environment than good, according to other research.
Green mandates to build solar panels have actually temporarily increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions due to how much energy is used in their construction, a study by Utrecht University concluded.
Storing solar energy in batteries for nighttime use actually increases both energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to a study by the University of Texas Energy Institute. Researchers concluded that homes that used battery storage ended up consuming between 8 percent and 14 percent more electricity than homes that didn’t.
