The Manchester City Council plans to drastically reduce CO2 emissions and it's targeting the desktop PC. The goal of the Green Shift taskforce is to usher in machines that consume 98 percent less energy (no snickering). An ambitious goal, to say the least, but one way they plan on hitting that number smells of thin client computing.

To achieve this, applications will be shifted from the desktop PC, to more energy efficient data centres. As well as cutting the power requirements of the PC, the programme will also bid to make the 'green' desktop smaller. This should help the taskforce achieve its target of a 75 per cent reduction in the resources required to produce computers, the government believes.

At least the idea seems to have some momentum behind it. A pilot program is set for next year with widespread deployments to take place in '09.