Green IT for everyone

Green IT has become a trend. Preceded by households and individuals, it is now up to the world of IT to become environmentally conscious. Every year, the IT sector is responsible for twenty million kilograms of waste material and produces as much CO2 as the aviation industry. However, a lot of good can be achieved with cooling systems, virtualization and recycling. The question is whether IT managers are actually willing to reduce the size of their organizations ecological footprint? Is green IT just hype or are green ideals beginning to influence our decisions?
TEXT: JOHANNA KIRN & HENRIEKE KORTEN

Current situation
Green IT has been all over the media for two years now. At the Cebit 2008 exhibition in Hannover, Germany, Green IT was the central theme. Companies are currently interested in green IT mainly because of cost savings; toxic substances are only given minor attention. Companies with an

active green IT policy focus on server and data centre cooling. Green IT revolves around two things: reducing CO2 emissions in IT (consider emissions produced from manufacturing and power consumption) and decreasing the amount of toxic substances in hardware components. It is

estimated that two percent of all global CO2 emissions are caused by the IT sector. Two-thirds of these emissions arise from the actual use of IT, while 25 percent of them are the result of data centres. The remaining emissions are generated during the actual production of hardware and the processing of IT waste materials.

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Profits for companies that choose green IT

IBM estimated a 40 percent decrease of power consumption in data centres that utilize green measures. Replacing 50 old computers with more efficient PCs, printers and screens in a company with 200 work stations amounts to around 6000 euros in savings. By building a large data centre in the vicinity of a cost-effective, durable power plant, such as a hydroelectric power station, companies can save money on IT. After all, transferring data is more efficient than transferring electricity. However, this saving measure is only of interest to big IT service providers. Green measures not only affect the electricity bill, but also the image of the company. Indeed, IT companies can use green IT as a marketing tool. A good example of this is Strato, a large European hosting provider that has recently gained more publicity by winning the Berliner Umweltpreis (Berlin Award for Environmentalism). However, growing attention for green IT can also have a negative impact on some companies. Every year, Greenpeace publishes its Guide to Greener Electronics, which contains a list of IT companies, ranked according to their eco-friendly policies. And every year, Apple - typically a company with an innovative image - ranks low on that list. In 2006, Greenpeace kicked-off their Green my Apple, to the core campaign to encourage Apple to use fewer toxins in their product line. This appears to have had an effect on the company as Apple has promised to make amends and has been communicating more openly

about its environmental policy ever since.

additional peripherals are required, power consumption is reduced. Cooling systems Free cooling means that a super cooling device is installed on the roof of the office building, which uses external air to control the temperature of the computer room. With a capacity of 600 kW on the roof, it can sufficiently cool down a computer room of 2000 m2 if outdoor temperatures remain at or below 9C . Above 9C, a compressor is activated to provide additional cooling power. Because the heat exchange is always pre-cooled, less electricity is needed. Another cooling method is cold corridor, in which servers are lined-up and cold air is drawn from a cold corridor. The heat exchange takes place via a warm corridor directly above the cold corridor. The two air currents are closed off from one another using wind shields, preventing the warm and cold air streams from coming into contact. This method reduces power consumption by 20%.

Quick wins
What is the best way for a company to make a green profit? Popular methods, which have been used many times already, include thin clients, virtualization and improved cooling systems. Thin clients Thin clients are advanced terminals that do not have any processing power; their sole purpose is to transfer data from one server to another. By using thin clients instead of desktops, a company with 175 work stations can save 660 euros per work station in energy consumption and administrative costs over a period of five years (Frauenhofer Institut UMSICHT). Furthermore, CO2 emissions are reduced by 54 percent per work station, because thin clients require less power during the production, assembly and distribution phases.

Virtualization The already popularised use of server visualization is another way to reduce the electricity bill. In this process, the hard drive is partitioned. Because every virtual hard drive has its own operating system and since no

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Why no green IT (yet)?

There are certainly enough energysaving measures for IT available, and it seems so easy to put these measures into practise: why not buy a more power-efficient PC if the old one needs to be replaced anyway? Still, only a few companies have become involved with green IT. There must be a good explanation. Hesitant IT managers German IT magazine Computerwoche has surveyed 264 IT managers about energy conservation. More than 50 percent have noticed an increase in their energy costs. Despite this, only 7 percent consider these rising costs to play an important role in their investments. 35 percent of these IT managers are aware that there are ways to cut down costs but have not taken the next step. It appears that there is too little energy invested in green IT. Forrester Research, an American research company, is another bearer of bad news: many American IT companies are still on the fence when it comes to green IT investments. Researchers have also detected a noticeable rise in power consumption caused by IT departments: from 1 percent of all company energy costs to 7 percent. Only one-third of all interviewees considered conservation of energy a part of their future plans. Such companies are reluctant to invest if they cannot make a profit immediately, and would rather stick to their old ways. Dirty green Some green solutions are subject to criticism. Transporting recycled computers is anything but clean

and reusing them is powerconsuming all the same. In many cases, processing unserviceable hardware is environmentally harmful. In particular, environmental pollution is a problem in China and other Asian countries, where western countries often dump their used hardware.

Go Green with TOPdesk

TOPdesk can help your company to go green. In Object cards, the Attention field can be used to indicate toxic substances in objects (which is the case with most hardware items). You can then create an event for archiving toxic objects, followed by an email stating that the object needs to be delivered to the recycling company. Both the telephone number and the address of the nearest recycling company can be included in the message. The Operations management module allows you to create checklists. A checklist for air conditioner maintenance can make a significant contribution to the inside temperature, ensuring that a relatively even temperature is maintained throughout the building. Energy is wasted when the building becomes too warm or too cold. The same goes for cooling system maintenance in server rooms. Regular inspections of these systems can lead to considerably lower power consumption. Such measures will help you to reduce the amount of energy being used and save you money. Use the memo field on the Supplier cards to make notes on the ecofriendliness of your supplier. Try to find out what steps your suppliers are taking to reduce the size of their ecological footprint. For example, what are their production methods? How do they process waste materials? Do they supply non-polluting cleaning agents? Do they offer any catering options with organic food? These green considerations can be kept in mind when choosing a supplier.

Greening your office

Green IT is not as widespread as it could be. There are plenty of reasons for this, from lack of drive or interest to anxiety to invest more. And many green solutions leave a lot to be desired. But does green IT really deserve all this attention? Since many green measures go hand in hand with cost savings, IT managers will eventually reconsider and make more of an effort to cut back on power consumption. Not every IT department will run on durable energy, but a super cooling device here and there should be possible.

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