Open Computing Alliance

Green IT

The Computer and Telecommunications Industry and the Environment

The role of IT in combating climate change is well known, however this is not yet fully reflected in the policy of either governments or companies. Increased use of the new technologies can also lead to substantial financial savings. A solution which saves the planet and improves the balance sheets at the same time, is certainly something governments and companies cannot overlook when developing their policies.

Information and communications technology (ICT) is a critical component in helping the world to meet the energy challenges of the 21st Century. The ICT industry is committed to achieving even greater energy efficiency in our products. Perhaps more importantly, innovation in ICT enables greater energy savings throughout all sectors of the global economy.

The Open Computing Alliance recognizes sound environment policies benefit society as a whole and that IT equipment should play its role in energy conservation for the benefit of the environment. Energy efficiency though industry driven, voluntary initiatives and tech-neutral standards (e.g. the U.S. EPA's Energy Star program and energy saving programs in Europe and elsewhere) and innovative "cradle-to-cradle" eco-design and manufacturing with strong "green software patent" protection and special e-skills training and certifications for wind power and other alternative energy providers, is addressing this. The disposal of unused computer equipment is a key element of a larger issue of general end of life waste disposal faced by all communities.　

More importantly, most estimates are that the IT industry is only responsible for about 3 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – making the case for using technology to reduce environmental impact across broader business operations compelling, indeed some analysts have said that the application of ICT may lead to an overall reduction of 15%. A major innovation is large scale next generation utility computing, often described as ‘Cloud Computing’ which appears to be more environmentally friendly compared to traditional data centre operational / deployment models, due to greater asset utilization. Industry consensus indicates that by reducing the number of local hardware components and replacing them with remote cloud computing software/hardware systems reduces energy costs for running hardware and cooling as well, thus reducing both the carbon footprint while higher data centre consolidation / optimization will also save energy, overall reducing costs.

The ICT industries are willing to play a key role a green and economic friendly policy, in cooperation with end users that have realized the benefits of the products they have bought, will do their part to address this issue.

For a list of all Green IT articles, click here.

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Thursday

Jun242010

Can IT Contribute to Saving the Environment?

June 24, 2010

(IT Expert) By Mike Mudd

As we enter the coming decade there seems to be a nagging question, a question that I have to say I frequently answer without any concrete proof. The question is simple, yet profound in its implications as a global citizen: ‘Is IT part of the problem or part of the solution to Climate Change?’

Click here to read the article in IT Expert (Thailand).

Click here to read the article on page 7 in The President Post (Indonesia).

Click here to read the FutureGov article.

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Wednesday

May192010

IT users are turning to IT vendors for 'green' advice, but should they be looking further afield?

May 19, 2010

(The Green IT Review) Blog by Pete Foster

The results of Greenpeace Cool IT and ConnectionResearch studies are summarised in a recent update by Green IT Review. The two pieces of research are different in terms of their focus but both tell the story.

Click here to read The Green IT Review post.

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Wednesday

May052010

Green IT Report 2010 Released

May 5, 2010

(Press Release)

Australian IT users are less than halfway down the path to effective Green IT. Connection Research’s second annual Green IT survey shows that Australian organisations have become considerably greener in their usage of IT in the last 12 months, but that the rate of improvement varies considerably in different areas of Green IT.

The biggest areas of improvement are in enterprise IT, especially in the data centre, but Green IT practices in procurement and disposal have not improved at all, and even declined in many cases.

The level of maturity in different areas of Green IT is measured by Connection Research’s Green IT Readiness Index, which quantifies five different areas of Green IT: Lifecycle, End User, Enterprise, Enablement and Metrics. The Index is based on the Connection Research-RMIT Green IT Framework, which classifies the various components of Green IT.

Click here to read the press release.

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Tuesday

Mar302010

Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and its Contribution to Climate Change

March 30, 2010

This report by Greenpeace highlights the Green potential of the cloud.

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Friday

Sep252009

Moving Into the Cloud - Significant Energy Savings

September 25, 2009

Two separate papers from MIT and Rutgers suggest energy savings as much as 45% by moving to the cloud and moving jobs from site to site within the cloud depending on the availability of the lowest cost energy.