Eight resolutions for a greener 2010

So the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference was kind of a bust. Sure, I’m disappointed that the countries of the world can’t come together to set targets to stave off the global threat of climate change — though like InfoWorld Editor in Chief Eric Knorr, I can’t say I’m too surprised. There are too many cooks in the kitchen with their own self-serving — and arguably shortsighted — interests. If aliens ever invade, humanity will be enslaved long before the world’s political leaders even decide whether the entrée at the Alien Threat Containment Summit opening-night banquet should be chicken or beef.

The world leaders’ inability to settle on any kind of GHG-reduction targets is shortsighted for a couple of reasons. First, given the consensus in the global scientific community that GHGs pose a threat to the environment and to human health, one would hope nations of the world could forge some kind of plan for the benefit of the planet and humankind.

Second, setting global sights on reducing the planet’s carbon footprint generates a wealth of opportunity in the business world, motivating companies to save through conservation and profit from developing and selling new (as well as existing) products and services. The latter can include clean energy innovations, certainly, and the use of sustainable materials — but if you’ve been following my blog, you know it also means information technology innovations, which will play a significant role in helping companies and countries alike conserve resources while combating GHGs.

On that note — and in the spirit of the season — I’d like to suggest a list of green IT new year’s resolutions for your organization to consider adopting in 2010.

1. Deploy PC power management. I’ve long advocated PC power management, as I consider it one the simplest, most sensible measures to reduce energy waste; plus, it has an easy-to-calculate ROI, especially if your local utility will help foot the bill.

The PC power management option that’s best for you depends largely on the size and needs of your organization. Options run the gamut from free open source software and features built into Windows to enterprise-oriented software packages that do only power management or also a range of other tasks such as patch management.

2. Look for the EPEAT label. Hardware refreshes are pretty much inevitable in the business world, especially if you’re contemplating moving to Windows 7. If that’s your situation, consider machines that have earned at least a Bronze EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) — or better yet, Silver or Gold. If you’re not familiar with EPEAT, it’s a system in which manufacturers declare their products’ conformance to various environmental criteria, including energy efficiency, compliance with ROHS, and design for long-term use and safe end-of-life disposal. The energy efficiency and extended life of the machines should offset any upfront “green premiums.”

3. Unplug unused machines. Machines sit powered on yet idle for days, weeks, or months on end on desktops, at print stations, and in server rooms and datacenters. They serve no purpose but to take up space and drain power. IT could be well served to set aside some time in 2010 to do a walkthrough of the office to see what machines aren’t being used. At the very least, unplug them — or better yet, you may find a perfectly usable PC and monitor in a vacant office that will serve the needs of another employee. Similarly, in the datacenter or server room, do a walkthrough to determine if you have any forgotten servers running at zero utilization (a common scenario in today’s datacenter). Those, too, are candidates for unplugging or reassignment.

[ Learn how GlaxoSmithKline reaped significant energy savings by retiring nearly six tons of e-waste. ]

4. Retire hardware responsibly. Related to the previous resolution, 2010 would be a mighty fine year to free up storage space by finally getting rid of all those old computers, peripherals, and other IT gear. There are some smart, environmentally friendly approaches to freeing yourself of those items. One option is to sell them, either back to the company from which you bought them (perhaps for credit toward new machines) or on the secondhand market. A second option: Donate them to a worthy cause for a tax break. The final option is to recycle them. No matter which route you take, make sure the machines end up purged of any sensitive data. If they’re going to be recycled, ensure the provider has a good reputation, lest your machines end up in a landfill and your company ends up on the news.

5. Turn up the heat in the datacenter. You’re likely familiar with the statistic that for every dollar you use to power a server, you pay another dollar to cool the machine. There’s a simple way to reduce those cooling costs: Tweak the thermostat. Earlier this year, ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers) changed the maximum recommended temperature for a datacenter from 77 degrees to 80.6. That doesn’t mean all datacenter CRAC units can or should run at 80.6, but if, for example, you can see your breath as you walk the aisles of your facility, a temperature adjustment is likely in order.

If you want to go a step further, consider enlisting a third party to create a thermal map of your datacenter to identify problem areas such as hot spots. You may find that some inexpensive adjustments, such as plugging leaks, can make a big difference.

6. Apply greener printer settings. Print waste remains an overlooked problem in the business world. Unclaimed single-sided, full-color documents pile up in copier and printer trays before being tossed in the recycling bin. The practice is both wasteful and, over time, quite costly. (Printer ink costs thousands of dollars per gallon.)

2010 would be a great year for IT to tackle the problem of print waste by configuring print settings to default at double-sided, black-and-white copies. You could take conservation a step further by investing in a product such as GreenPrint, which further helps eliminate printing of superfluous full pages or specific print elements (text or images). At the high end, there are full hardware and software print solutions from companies such as Equitrac that can help reduce machine count by combining print and copy functions, as well as reduce wasted paper by requiring users to key in a code at a machine before it will spit out their documents.

7. Identify one significant opportunity for change. These aforementioned resolutions should prove fairly easy to carry out — and hopefully they’ll prove successful and worthwhile enough to tackle larger projects. To get that ball rolling, how about starting with the smaller step of identifying an opportunity for savings through a green-tech implementation? For example, if you have a large datacenter, assess how much it’s costing you to power and cool the setup, and perhaps measure your PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness). If it’s a high number, you might have motivation to consider, say, virtualization.

Similarly, if your organization has a large fleet of vehicles, take some time to assess the efficiency of your delivery routes or how much you’ve spent on fuel year over year. If you see opportunities for improvements, look into IT solutions for streamlining routes and managing vehicle fuel consumption.

A final example: If your organization has offices or customers spread out across the country or around the globe, and you’re spending exorbitant amounts of money and time on airfare and hotel stays, consider supplementing some of that wasteful (and environmentally unfriendly) travel with videoconferencing or telepresence.

[ The InfoWorld Test Center took a close look at telepresence offerings earlier this year. ]

8. Share your green-tech success story. Two years ago, InfoWorld launched its Green 15 awards, recognizing organizations of all sizes for successfully implementing technology projects with eco-friendly results. Multinational corporations, SMBs, schools, and public institutions alike have demonstrated how they can reap environmental and economic benefits from green IT — and inspire other organizations to follow suit. Thus, I’d like to take this opportunity to invite readers to nominate organizations for the 2010 Green 15 awards.

[ Read the success stories of the 2008 and 2009 InfoWorld Green 15 winners. ]

I hope this list of resolutions inspires you to take a step or two further down the green path. Even low-hanging green fruit can hold significant benefits, both environmental and economical. On that note, I’d also like to bid my readers season’s greetings and a very happy, healthy, and green 2010.