This post was written by Melissa Chang
Videoconferencing is commonly considered to be a green technology - because it lets people replace traveling for face-to-face meetings (heavy on the CO2 emissions) with computer-based conferencing. According to this recent article from Silicon.com, these claims are most commonly made for expensive, high-end videoconferencing systems - such as Cisco’s TelePresence or HP’s Halo. But two multinational companies who put their faith in videoconferencing are telling a very different story. Companies are frequently replacing trips to the company headquarters with videoconferencing, but are replacing those local trips with more international and strategic travel. So the “green” effects of videoconferencing are often being erased.
