Saving the environment and cash in five easy steps March 20, 2008
Posted by Meg Sewell in Analytics and Business Intelligence.Tags: go green, IT industry
trackback
Image Credit: http://www.va.gov
We here at the Inovis blog have written several different articles about the importance and benefits of going green. I was thrilled to find this post entitled Go Green Now: Save Energy Through Smart IT. In this article, two top technology executives provide five solid steps that will help any IT company become greener. Here are the tips Thomas Russo provided:
- “Use motion-sensor lighting on building automation systems for stairwells, parking garages, bathrooms, common areas, and elevators.” Also consider using “daylight harvesting sensors” that will adjust the lighting according to the amount of daylight. One last thing to consider with lighting is dimming areas where the lights cannot be turned off.
- Talk to your building’s management about replacing current light bulbs with CFLs, LED lighting, or more efficient bulbs.
- “Use variable speed drives on motors where possible,” like using motion sensors with escalators so they don’t run all the time and using these variable speed drives with water pumps so that only the necessary amount is pumped rather than always being full speed.
- Design new buildings to be eco-friendly so that the new location where your business resides will already save energy and be environmentally efficient.
- “Monitor electrical savings to prove return on investment.” Prove to your CEO and CFO why this effort is worth their time.
Here are James Whalen’s tips:
- “Virtualization—You can dramatically cut the number of servers while also investing in the latest ‘efficiency’ servers, thereby eliminating legacy and inefficient servers. In one case, Boston Properties virtualized 24 existing servers down to four.
- “Power settings—This is a practical suggestion enabled by enforcing policy level standards across all desktops, laptops and printers.”
- “Data center redesign—This is usually only prompted during life-cycle rollover or a required move. Jim noted that his group recently built a new center and proactively re-engineered elements to reduce energy consumption and heat output.
- “Cut paper—A practical suggestion enforced by proactively reducing paper output through imaging and marketing best practices on printer usage.”
- “Recycle—Again, a practical suggestion enforced by a policy requiring proper recycling of older computers.”
