A Guide to Greener IT Culture

The IT world has suffered a bit of an image problem in the past couple of years in regards to its eco-friendliness. Some reports claimed that the internet technology industry was responsible for a big chunk of global warming, while others maintained that IT’s contribution is minimal compared to other industries. Regardless, all of this has eco-minded techies wondering how they can make changes that will add up, and the 451 Group of New York has a few ideas to offer.

Greener Computing has it:

• Measure or estimate IT power use. Energy use lies at the heart of eco-efficiency, and the most successful organizations in establishing a green culture will be those that can set a baseline of energy use and efficiency and then map progress against targets.
• Buy low-energy or Energy Star products, and publicize this policy.
• Turn computers off when not used, either centrally, or encouraging users to do so (through labeling, etc.). Discourage wasteful printing.
• Recycle IT-related waste (toner cartridges, old PCs, batteries, etc.).
• Publicize successful use of IT that results in a lower carbon footprint — for example, use of videoconferencing to replace air travel.
• Accept some tactical increased risk where appropriate, through the use of less redundancy.
• Adopt and publicize policies of organizations such as Carbon Trust, Energy Trust and EU Code of Conduct (for IT).
• Specify in contracts that suppliers should conform to high environmental standards. Use the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool to assess these.
• Buy renewable energy or renewable energy certificates. Publicize this to staff and stakeholders.
• Seek to understand the relationship between organizational energy use and CO2 production, and create a policy that links any low-CO2 program to IT use.

Videoconferencing, sharing computers, managing the use of power more efficiently and stopping over-provisioning are a few more of the suggestions that can help companies lower their carbon footprint. Taking steps like these can help technophiles feel a lot better about how their daily operations affect the environment, and with as many large IT companies as there are in the US, it could really make a big impact overall.

Link [Greener Computing]

Photo credit: Flickr user exfordy

Related Posts:

High-Flying Kites Could Produce Enough Energy for a City
What Can Save the Floundering U.S. Economy? Green Technology!
Blacktop Roads About to Get Greener
Google Considering Wave-Powered ‘Data Barges’
Fujitsu’s Zero Watt Computer Monitor Uses No Power in Standby Mode