Four reasons to cultivate greener IT pastures

I do have new kitchen appliances, though they’re currently looming largely and uselessly off to the side of the future kitchen. They’re quite shiny, which is nice, and they’re Energy Star certified, of course

I say “Of course,” because in this day and age, Energy Starred fridges and stoves and the like are incredibly easy to come by. Plus, they come with little tags that tell you how much you’ll save in energy bills per year. Oh, and the local utility will give me money for buying them. So how could I go wrong investing in a green kitchen?

Alas, for IT, it’s not nearly so easy being green. Swapping out a fridge isn’t as quick, straight-forward, or nondisruptive as swapping out a server rack or farm. Determining the potential long-term savings for a bunch of new laptops isn’t as simple of figuring out how much you’ll save with a new stove (it’s right there on the tag). Deciding where to place the dishwasher is pretty much a no-brainer whereas figuring out how to set up your server racks to maximize energy efficiency can be quite complex.

In fact, it’s quite likely that you, or whoever runs your business, has seemingly more important things on the brain than developing a strategy for a greener, more energy-efficient operation: boosting sales; keeping the network secure and running; and figuring out who’s been stealing Hot Pockets from the Energy Star fridge in the break room. Perhaps you’re not sure where to begin. Or perhaps you’re not even convinced that going green — or greener — is a worthwhile endeavor, or something you can really afford.

Thus, I welcome you to this new blog, Sustainable IT. My objective: to provide you some guidance toward cultivating a green approach to IT and business, or at least point in the right directions.

But today, let’s start with the question — or rather some answers to the question — of why going green should matter to you in the first place.

1. Going green really can save you money. For many organizations, that may very well be the foremost argument for adopting more eco-friendly practices. Less energy consumption means lower bills — and make no mistake: You’re very likely burning (or cooling) away thousands of dollars each year paying for energy that’s really not contributing to your bottom line.

One of the biggest culprits: cooling costs for the datacenter. In fact, by 2010 IDC predicts that companies will be spending an additional $.70 per dollar invested in a new server. That’s up from $.50 on the dollar in 2005 and $.21 per buck in 2000. You’ll certainly want to prepare as those costs creep up.

Fortunately, there are cost-saving strategies out there, and I’ll explore more of those down the road. Among them is re-thinking the kind of equipment you can buy (and more energy-efficient hardware and standards are coming out) and the way you lay out your datacenter.

2. Going green will help reduce the impact of the imminent energy crisis. Yes, I know: Crisis is often one of those words that media types throw around to cause panic and sell magazines or newspapers or drive Web site traffic. Nevertheless, based on the research I’ve seen, crisis is an apt word.

Right now, energy supply looks to be struggling to keep up with demand. A recent study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concludes, thanks to the industry shift to low-end servers, global power consumption has doubled since 2000 to more than 123 million kw/hours. Power demands are expected to increase by 40 percent come 2010 — and that’s assuming that per-server power consumption remains at 2005 rates.

Or consider what Gartner proclaimed at the end of 2006: Half of datacenters will run out of power by 2008. As explained by Timothy Morgan at ITJungle:

“Gartner did not, by the way, literally mean that data centers would go dark in two years after blowing some fuses or melting under their own heat. What Gartner did say was that by the end of 2008, 50 percent of the data centers in the world would not have enough power to meet the power and cooling requirements of the high-density computing gear that vendors are increasingly peddling.”

Although this doesn’t mean it’s time to get hysterical, nor is it time start gathering and training an army of hamsters to power your server farm, it should certainly be a compelling reason to start looking at ways to conserve energy.

Want more information? Check out this Webcast from The Uptime Institute about “The Invisible Crisis in the Data Center.” (Registration is required for viewing.) And again, tune in to this blog; I’ll keep you abreast of developments.

3. Going green is good PR. Both environmentally- and economically-conscious people like a good news article about the ways companies are leveraging green technology, be it simply investing in more energy-efficient gear, or putting solar panels on top of their datacenter. That kind of positive publicity is good advertising, which also can help offset some of the cost of investing in green IT. (These kinds of case studies can also provide useful guides for other companies looking for ways to cut energy costs.)

To that end, I want to know about, and share with readers, what your company is doing to reduce energy costs and become more eco-friendly. (And it needn’t just be success stories.)

4. Going green is good for the environment. Ah yes, the environment. Trees. Oceans. Fresh air. Turtles. I’m personally in favor of all of those things (even those vicious snapping turtles that would bite off a toe without a second thought). And IT commerce in general has a huge impact on the environment, such as landfills piled up with improperly discarded computers and servers, as well carbon dioxides contributing to global warming.

Yes, I do realize that some people remain skeptical as to whether or not global warming is real and a concern. (Some people also remain skeptical whether the Earth is flat and whether it revolves around the Sun.)

Too flippant? Perhaps. Let’s just say that even the previously skeptical political leaders of the world are acknowledging that global warming warrants consideration, and among other things, that entails reducing the carbon dioxides and toxins we spew into environment (and later inhale).

And even if you disagree with those who proclaim global warming a concern, you’d best prepare for forthcoming regulations on reducing energy waste. Yes, there may be a significant up-front cost required to switch to leaner, greener machines — but there are also incentives out there (federal and local) to help you get the job done. I’ll help keep you abreast of those in coming days and weeks.

So there you have it. Some pretty simple reasons to consider green IT, plus a bit of homework for those of you who want to share information, stories, questions, or general rants. (Please keep them limited to issues of green IT, though.) I do want to hear from you. Please comment below, or send me an e-mail at /ted_samson@infoworld.com.