Information technology, data centers, laptops, desktops, mobile technology has all had a profound effect on the world – until the present green movement gained momentum, the impact has seemingly been good.
Technology has been found to be an energy hog, one of the largest landfill contributors, and too many companies have too much technology.
As with all things green and all things technology, industry experts in both fields are finding ways to green up IT departments.
Hewlett Packard (HP) is offering a free special e-book edition of Green IT for Dummies (John Wiley and Sons, 2009, David Tebbutt, Martin Atherton, and Tony Lock) that provides easy to implement green tips.
Green IT – Three Life Cycles
Any type of product’s – especially technology products - life cycle includes three phases:
- Before purchase.
- During use.
- Disposal.
According to the authors, each product also has:
- An intrinsic environmental impact.
- An operational impact
- An end of life impact.
Green IT – Before Purchasing
Before purchasing IT equipment companies can follow a checklist for buying green IT by including lifecycle questions in requests for proposals, requesting only energy efficient products, recycling used IT hardware, reducing redundant equipment by using central print stations or reducing the amount of mobile technology employees carry.
The authors stress that before a company buys new computer equipment, it is important to look at the “whole life implications".
Green IT – During Use
Greening IT during use involves turning off unused equipment, putting computers and monitors in sleep mode when not used for a specific amount of time, use more web based meetings versus traveling, or print on both sides of paper.
One suggestion the authors make for data centers is to increase the efficiency of the computers, data storage devices, and the air conditioning in the centers by using special sensing and localized air conditioning controls. Much of the new equipment on the market is able to run at much higher temperature so that there is less electricity that has to be used to cool the equipment in the data center.
Replacing old cathode ray tube monitors (that constantly consume power and are much harder to recycle) with the new energy efficient flat screens can also make big impact.
Green IT – After Use or Delaying Disposal
The green tips for this phase focus on delaying disposal by:
- Reduce – extend the use or the life of a equipment by upgrading less often and this will reduce the manufacturing, shipping, packaging and disposal of IT equipment.
- Reuse – can a piece of equipment be upgraded versus being completely replaced?
- Recycle - if replacing a piece of equipment with new, can the old be used elsewhere in the company? If not, donate to a local charity.
Green IT
This helpful little book – only 28 pages long – provides easy to understand and easy to implement green tips for information technology departments. HP followed its own advice by providing the book for free in digital form on its web site.
The book is easily read on the computer screen. If printed, selecting to print on both sides of the paper will help support the message of greening IT.
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