Environmental Policy

last updated: 07 June 2021

TeamKinetic Ltd recognises that it has a responsibility to the environment beyond legal and regulatory requirements. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods. We will encourage customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to do the same.

Responsibility

Chris Martin, Director, is responsible for ensuring that this environmental policy is implemented, however, all employees have a responsibility in their area to ensure that the aims and objectives of this policy are met.

Policy aims

We endeavour to:

• Comply with all relevant regulatory requirements.
• Continually improve and monitor environmental performance.
• Continually improve and reduce environmental impacts.
• Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions.
• Increase employee awareness and training.

Computing, Technology and Development

TeamKinetic runs at hosting provider Rapid Switch, which in turn runs a data center that is LEED Gold Certified. Rapid Switch’s Cloud's infrastructure is based on VMWare, which provides for an additional level of green computing.

While no green computing solution is 100% perfect, TeamKinetic feels that it is taking a balanced approach for the level of feature, functionality and cost associated with a "Green Volunteer Management Solution".

TeamKinetic Green Architecture

The TeamKinetic solution is architected from the ground up to be as green as possible. Two main features enable this: 1) The solution is multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, and 2) The solution is designed for clustered computing. With these two features, the TeamKinetic team can maximize the number of individual sites that are being hosted on a single set of servers. While many servers may run at 10 to 20% utilization, our servers run at 70 to 80%. In general, a server running at 20% consumes nearly the same amount of power as one running at 80%, so less power is wasted in our model. This is similar to the idea of carpooling. It is far more efficient for 4 people to share 1 car than it is for each person to drive their own car. 

The TeamKinetic solution is also architected to run in a cloud model on a cluster of virtual machines. This allows us to scale the load handling capability as required. For instance, a given cluster may require 4 server virtual machines during peak daytime hours, but only 2 in the off-peak hours.

With the cloud model, we can dynamically scale up and down the number of server instances required to run a given cluster with acceptable performance. Similarly, if you have key "spike" events, we can enable additional server instances in the cluster for those periods of time and then release them when they are no longer needed.

TeamKinetic Green Development

Our development management centre is powered by a combination of Green Power. As such, our office is 100% renewable energy powered. Additionally, there are other energy-saving features such as a reflective metal roof and spray-foam insulation on the interior attic spaces to reduce the heating and cooling loss, use of natural light wherever possible, and on-demand hot water heating.

Our Team operates primarily in a virtual mode from several cities. As such, we have eliminated the need for offices in these cities as well as the need for commuting to and from an office in these cities. This saves in terms of CO2 emissions, office space energy usage and loss of productivity.

Also, we use software as a service-based solutions for things like email, source code control and issue tracking, which means we are not running dedicated servers ourselves for those business functions. We truly believe that SaaS-based solutions are more environmentally friendly than dedicated solutions and that they should be used whenever possible.

Paper

We will:

• Minimise the use of paper in the office.
• Reduce packaging as much as possible.
• Seek to buy recycled and recyclable paper products.
• Reuse and recycle all paper where possible.

Energy and water

We will seek to:

• Reduce the amount of energy used as much as possible.
• Switch off lights and electrical equipment when not in use.
• Adjust heating with energy consumption in mind.
• Take energy consumption and efficiency of new products into account when purchasing them.

Office supplies

We will:

• Evaluate if the need can be met in another way.
• Evaluate if renting or sharing is an option before purchasing equipment.
• Evaluate the environmental impact of any new products we intend to purchase.
• Favour more environmentally friendly and efficient products wherever possible.
• Reuse and recycle everything we are able to.

Transportation

We will:

• Reduce the need to travel, restricting to necessity trips only.
• Promote the use of travel alternatives such as e-mail or video/phone conferencing.
• Make additional efforts to accommodate the needs of those using public transport or bicycles.
• Favour 'green' vehicles and maintain them rigorously to ensure ongoing efficiency.

Maintenance and cleaning

We will:

• Use cleaning materials that are as environmentally friendly as possible.
• Use materials in any office refurbishment that are as environmentally friendly as possible.
• Only use licensed and appropriate organisations to dispose of waste.

Monitoring and improvement

We will:

• Comply with all relevant regulatory requirements.
• Continually improve and monitor environmental performance.
• Continually improve and reduce environmental impacts.
• Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions.
• Increase employee awareness through training.
• Review this policy and any related business issues at monthly management meetings.

Culture

We will:

• Update this policy at least once annually in consultation with staff and other stakeholders where necessary.
• Involve staff in the implementation of this policy, for greater commitment and improved performance.
• Provide staff with relevant environmental training.
• Work with suppliers, contractors and subcontractors to improve their environmental performance.
• Use local labour and materials where available to reduce CO2 and help the community.