With the central role played by technology in the modern workplace, greening your IT operations is a fundamental part of improving office efficiency and reducing environmental impact. Take this quick quiz excerpted from the Wall Street Journal to test your awareness of green IT issues:
1) Which of these roles for information and communications technology has the potential to yield the biggest reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030?
A. Retrofitting existing buildings
B. Designing new buildings for reduced emissions
C. Telecommuting and virtual meetings
D. E-commerce and replacing paper
Answer: D. According to a study by the World Wildlife Fund, a big increase in online shopping and in the use of electronic transactions and documents to replace paper bills and publications could eliminate nearly a billion tons of greenhouse gases a year from the environment. That’s about twice the reduction estimated to result from either making existing buildings more efficient or designing new buildings that constantly monitor and adjust air conditioning and heating to minimize waste. More telecommuting and virtual meetings would save about 160 million tons of emissions a year, it estimated.
9) What percentage of corporate PC users leave their computers on nights and weekends when they aren’t in use?
A. About half
B. Hardly anyone
C. About 25%
D. Almost everyone
Answer: A. According to the nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy, less than half of corporate PC users shut their computers down overnight, even though they aren’t using them. Turning them off would save an estimated 20 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions a year—roughly equivalent to the impact of four million cars.
10) What makes Windows 7 greener than Vista and other older Windows operating systems?
A. Microsoft prints the product manual on recycled paper.
B. It won’t run on high-energy microprocessors.
C. It reduces processor activity while the computer is idle.
D. It adjusts for intermittent power from wind turbines and solar panels.
Answer: C. It reduces background activity by electronically checking all connected devices at once and then going to sleep, rather than checking them at random times, which requires a central processor to be in operation almost constantly. It also reduces power consumption in other ways: It can be configured to stop searching for a network connection when a network cable isn’t plugged in. It suspends Bluetooth radio connectivity when it senses the Bluetooth device is in low-power mode. And it dims displays after shorter periods of inactivity than previous models.
How well did you know these green IT facts? Green Irene’s Ask Green Irene database can provide you with much more information about energy conservation in your IT operations, which can translate into cost savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions for your business. A 3-month membership to Ask Green Irene is included in the Green Office Makeover service offered by Green Irene.
Commentary: Green Irene’s Ask Green Irene service provides more information about optimizing data centers to reduce energy use, which can translate into cost savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Ask Green Irene is a service included in the Green Home or Office Makeover service offered by Green Irene.
Excerpted from USA Today on March 25th, 2009:
SAN FRANCISCO — Even during an economic meltdown, when companies are scrambling to cut costs, businesses are wasting billions of dollars by leaving their PCs on at night.
U.S. organizations squander $2.8 billion a year to power unused machines, emitting about 20 million tons of carbon dioxide — roughly the equivalent of 4 million cars — according to a report to be released today.
About half of 108 million office PCs in the USA are not properly shut down at night, says the 2009 PC Energy Report, produced by 1E, an energy-management software company, and the non-profit Alliance to Save Energy. The report analyzed workplace PC power consumption in the USA, United Kingdom and Germany.
Wastefulness does not just affect a company’s bottom line, it creates environmental concerns, the report says. If the world’s 1 billion PCs were powered down just one night, it would save enough energy to light the Empire State Building — inside and out — for over 30 years, it says.
“Workers do not feel responsible for electricity bills at work, and some companies insist PCs remain on at night so they can be patched with software updates,” says 1E CEO Sumir Karayi. He says 63% of employees surveyed said their companies should take more steps to save PC power.
“It is scary how much energy is wasted,” says Michael Murphy, senior manager of global environmental affairs at Dell, a business partner and customer of 1E. It has used 1E software to efficiently manage its 50,000 PCs globally, saving about $1.8 million a year.
Simply shutting down PCs at night can save a company with 10,000 PCs over $260,000 a year and 1,871 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the report says.
“PCs can be a tremendous drain on electricity,” says Doug Washburn, an analyst at Forrester Research. “During a nine-hour workday, it isn’t always in use because of lunch, meetings and other things.”
