Green IT: Have you considered the impact of your IT operations on the environment?

Consider these statistics. A United States Environmental Protection Agency study found that U.S. data centers used 61 billion kilowatt hours of energy in 2006, equal to 1.5 percent of total power consumption in the country. In another study by Gartner, CO2 emissions from information and communication technology account for approximately two percent of global CO2 emissions, an amount equivalent to that of an entire airline industry. The top two contributors were PC computing and servers.

Findings such as these have caused a variety of organizations to begin considering—and in some cases mandating—the concept of “green IT.” Green IT is the practice of quantitatively measuring IT contributions to an enterprise’s environmental impact, and then setting goals and targets for defined measurements and taking action to reduce environmental impact.

In fact, a presidential executive order and law now requires federal agencies to reduce energy per square foot in facilities as well as the procurement of only Energy Star-compliant equipment where available. Subsequently, interest in green IT practices has begun spreading to regulated industries and, more and more, to environmentally conscious organizations.

If your stakeholders are not asking about your organization’s commitment to the environment, they may soon be. Green IT initiatives can help tell a compelling story.

Impact felt beyond the IT department

Green IT strategies start in the IT department but can have impact throughout the enterprise at several levels:

• Intra-departmental efforts to improve environmental impact
• Initiatives to help achieve environmental goals in other facets of operations and/or the supply chain
• Initiatives that have an impact on consumption of an organization’s products or services; for example, Dell Computer’s program to provide free shipping for old computer equipment to ensure proper disposal

Even within the first area—the IT department, itself—it is possible to take meaningful steps by focusing on data centers and desktop hardware.

Some organizations are turning to server virtualization not only as a means of managing IT costs more effectively, but because of its impact on the environment. Server virtualization is the strategy of consolidating vital business applications from dedicated physical servers to fewer "virtual" servers. Other environmentally conscious data center practices include:

• Adopting cooling strategies, such as rack cooling systems
• Replacing computer room air conditioning systems with newer, more efficient models
• Configuring physical space, for example to improve air flow

Positive environmental impact, with no affect on user productivity

Developing a power-management plan for an organization’s desktop computing environment also can produce benefits. A Gartner study of the impact of power management in a 2,500-computer organization found that total PC power consumption was 50-percent lower than in an unmanaged organization. Moreover, the managed environment saved nearly $43,000 per year, with no impact on user productivity.

The study defined characteristics of a well-managed environment to include:

• Power management features activated on all devices
• Desktop devices are not switched off or unplugged after hours, enabling remote updates
• Notebook devices are switched off/put in suspend 50% of the time after hours
• Notebook devices are unplugged after hours 25% of the time

Some green IT steps that your organization can take to manage its desktop environment include:

• Utilizing the power management features available in Microsoft operating systems, allowing you to monitor and maintain power management based on usage
• Working with procurement to establish policies and to buy technologies with an improved environmental impact, such as Energy Star-compliant products and products with environmentally conscious packaging
• Considering your electronic waste disposition practices

Where does your organization stand?

A green IT strategy not only can impact the bottom line; it can produce intangible benefits in the form of goodwill and brand preference by providing your organization with a positive message about its efforts to protect and preserve the environment.

A good first step toward a green IT strategy is to assess where your organization stands today. With that information in hand, you can begin to articulate and address environmental costs, benefits, and risks in your IT environment.

West Monroe Partners helps organizations design and implement IT strategies that are aligned with organizational goals. For more information about green IT, please contact Scott Klein, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  or Jim Marofske, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

In this issue:

• Business process management: Does your bank have opportunities to improve branch or back-office operations?
• Addressing supply chain risks can yield top-line growth
• Demystifying business process re-engineering