Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices San Murugesan

Adopting a holistic approach to greening IT is our responsibility toward creating a more sustaining environment.

nterprises, governments, and societies at ing to greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, large have a new important agenda: tack- IT hardware poses severe environmental prob- ling environmental issues and adopting lems both during its production and its dispos- environmentally sound practices. Over al. IT is a significant and growing part of the Ethe years, the use of IT has exploded in several environmental problems we face today. We are areas, improving our lives and work and offering obliged to minimize or eliminate where possible convenience along with several other benefits. the environmental impact of IT to help create a We are passionate about more sustainable environment. Inside advances in and widespread To reduce IT’s environmental problems and adoption of IT. However, IT to create a sustainable environment, we call Greening Unwanted has been contributing to en- upon the IT sector as well as every computer Computers: The Three Rs vironmental problems, which user to green their IT systems, as well as the way most people don’t realize. they use these systems. We are legally, ethically, Green IT Standards and Computers and other IT in- and socially required to green our IT products, Regulations frastructure consume signifi- applications, services, and practices. Green IT cant amounts of electricity, benefits the environment by improving energy Green IT Resources placing a heavy burden on our efficiency, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, electric grids and contribut- using less harmful materials, and encouraging

Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pittsburgh. Downloaded on January 15, 2010 at 14:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply. reuse and recycling. Factors such as environ- Let’s examine IT’s environmental impact and mental legislation, the rising cost of waste dis- consider green IT measures that we can adopt. posal, corporate images, and public perception give further impetus to the green IT initiative. IT’s environmental impact Green IT is a hot topic today and will con- IT affects our environment in several differ- tinue to be an important issue for several years ent ways. Each stage of a computer’s life, from to come. To foster green IT, we should under- its production, throughout its use, and into its stand: What are the key environmental impacts disposal, presents environmental problems. arising from IT? What are the major environ- Manufacturing computers and their vari- mental IT issues that we must address? How ous electronic and non-electronic compo- can we make our IT infrastructure, products, nents consumes electricity, raw materials, services, operations, applications, and practices chemicals, and water, and generates hazard- environmentally sound? What are the regula- ous waste. All these directly or indirectly in- tions or standards with which we need to com- crease carbon dioxide emissions and impact ply? How can IT assist businesses and society the environment. at large in their efforts to improve our environmental sustainability? Each PC in use generates In this article, we address these questions and examine related issues. We then present a about a ton of carbon holistic approach to greening IT. Additionally, dioxide every year. we propose a green IT strategy for enterprises and outline specific ways to minimize IT’s environmental impact. The total electrical energy consumption by servers, computers, monitors, data commu- Environmental Issues and Problems nications equipment, and cooling systems for The growing accumulation of greenhouse data centers is steadily increasing. This in- gases is changing the world’s climate and weath- crease in energy consumption results in in- er patterns, creating droughts in some countries creased greenhouse gas emissions. Each PC and floods in others. It’s slowly pushing global in use generates about a ton of carbon dioxide temperatures higher, posing serious problems every year. to the world (see http://egj.lib.uidaho.edu/index. Computer components contain toxic mate- php/egj/article/view/3205/3175). For instance, rials. Increasingly, consumers discard a large 2005 was the warmest year on record, and the number of old computers, monitors, and other 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1980. electronic equipment two to three years after Global data shows that storms, droughts, and purchase, and most of this ends up in landfills, other weather-related disasters are growing polluting the earth and contaminating water. more severe and more frequent. The increased number of computers and their To stop the accumulation of greenhouse gases use, along with their frequent replacements, in the atmosphere, global emissions would have make the environmental impact of IT a ma- to stop growing. Electricity is a major cause of jor concern. Consequently, there is increasing climate change, because the coal or oil that helps pressure on us—the IT industry, businesses, generate electricity also releases carbon diox- and individuals—to make IT environmentally ide, pollutants, and sulfur into the atmosphere. friendly throughout its lifecycle, from birth to These emissions can cause respiratory disease, death to rebirth. As many believe, it’s our so- smog, acid rain, and global climate change. Re- cial and corporate responsibility to safeguard ducing electric power consumption is a key to our environment. reducing carbon dioxide emissions and their impact on our environment and global warming. Green IT With this in mind, let’s focus on what each of Green IT refers to environmentally sound IT. us—as IT professionals, members of the IT in- It’s the study and practice of designing, manu- dustry, and IT users—can do individually and facturing, using, and disposing of computers, collectively to create a sustainable environment. servers, and associated subsystems—such as

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Reduce power consumption 75%

Lower costs 73% vironmentally sustainable IT is the key to future success. Lower carbon emissions and environmental impact 56% Benefits of greening IT Improved systems Environmental issues impact IT busi- performance and use 55% ness’ competitive landscape in new ways, and enterprises with the technology and Space savings 47% vision to provide products and services that address environmental issues will en- 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% joy a competitive edge. For example, when making purchasing, leasing, or outsourc- 1 Reasons and benefits for using green IT practices. ing decisions, many customers now consider the service providers’ environmental monitors, printers, storage devices, and net- records and initiatives. Businesses face working and communications systems—effi- higher energy costs, and they may also incur ad- ciently and effectively with minimal or no impact ditional government levies if they don’t address on the environment. Green IT also strives to the environmental implications of their prac- achieve economic viability and improved sys- tices. Investors and consumers are beginning to tem performance and use, while abiding by our demand more disclosures from companies with social and ethical responsibilities. regard to their carbon footprint as well as their Thus, green IT includes the dimensions of environmental initiatives and achievements, and environmental sustainability, the economics of they have started discounting share prices of energy efficiency, and the total cost of owner- companies that poorly address the environmen- ship, which includes the cost of disposal and tal problems they create. As a result, many busi- recycling. nesses have begun showing their environmental Green IT spans a number of focus areas and credentials. For instance, the Carbon Disclosure activities, including Project (www.cdproject.net) is a recent initiative to petition global companies to disclose their • design for environmental sustainability; carbon emissions. • energy-efficient computing; Adopting green IT practices offers business- • power management; es and individuals financial and other benefits. • data center design, layout, and location; IT operations achieve better energy efficiency • server virtualization; through green initiatives, which financially • responsible disposal and recycling; benefit them, especially when electrical en- • regulatory compliance; ergy is at a premium and energy prices are • green metrics, assessment tools, and rising. In a survey by Sun Microsystems Aus- methodology; tralia (see http://au.sun.com/edge/2007-07/eco. • environment-related risk mitigation; jsp?cid=920710) involving 1,500 responses from • use of renewable energy sources; and 758 large and small organizations in Australia • eco-labeling of IT products. and New Zealand, respondents said reducing power consumption and lowering costs are the A growing number of IT vendors and users major reasons for using eco-responsible prac- are moving toward green IT and thereby assist- tices, followed by a lower environmental impact ing in building a green society and economy. and improved system use (see Figure 1). When consumers are faced with more green Most companies are bound to prioritize taxes and regulations, they will favor green IT environmental issues for environmental, solutions. However, to build a greener environ- energy-efficiency, and cost-control impera- ment, we must modify or abolish many old and tives. As concerns, regulations, and market- familiar ways of doing things and discover new based mechanisms to address climate change methods. Fortunately, the IT industry is inter- rise, businesses will focus on environmental ested in handling IT’s environmental issues and sustainability. Corporate and institution- pursuing new opportunities. Innovations in en- al buyers are asking their suppliers to take

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Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pittsburgh. Downloaded on January 15, 2010 at 14:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply. Green use Green manufacturing of IT systems of IT systems measures to “green up” their products and their manufacturing processes. For instance, companies such as Dell and Green IT Wal-Mart are adopting initiatives that force their suppliers to adhere to environmentally sound practices. People have begun to value the environ- Green design Green disposal mentally friendly attributes of IT, and in the of IT systems of IT systems next five years, green IT will become a com- mon feature. Companies will offer a range of new green products and services, and 2 Holistic approach to green IT. new business opportunities will emerge.

A Holistic Approach to Green IT Green design To comprehensively and effectively ad- Use dress the environmental impacts of IT, we reprocessed must adopt a holistic approach that ad- Green manufacturing material dresses the problems along the following of computers four complementary paths (see Figure 2): Reuse parts

• Green use. Reduce the energy consump- Redeploy, Refurbish, Recycle, reprocess tion of computers and other infor- reuse upgrade materials mation systems and use them in an environmentally sound manner. • Green disposal. Refurbish and reuse old Use computers Dispose judiciously computers and properly recycle unwanted computers and other electronic equipment. Donate • Green design. Design energy efficient and environmentally sound components, computers, servers, and cooling 3 Green a computer’s entire lifecycle. equipment. • Green manufacturing. Manufacture electronic tion by making small changes to the ways we use components, computers, and other associ- computers. Most personal desktop computers ated subsystems with minimal or no impact run even when they aren’t being used, because on the environment. users needlessly leave them on, wasting electricity. Furthermore, computers generate heat and By focusing our efforts on these four fronts, require additional cooling, which adds to the we can achieve total environmental sustain- total power consumption and cost for the en- ability from the IT side and make IT greener terprise. While the savings in energy costs per throughout its entire lifecycle (see Figure 3).1 PC may not seem like much, the combined sav- Next, let’s explore these measures. ings for hundreds of computers in an enterprise is considerable. We can reduce PC energy con- Using IT: sumption by adopting several measures. Environmentally Sound Practices A key green objective in using computer sys- Enabling power management features. tems and operating data centers is to reduce Without sacrificing performance, we can pro- their energy consumption, thereby minimiz- gram computers to automatically power down ing the greenhouse gas emissions. to an energy-saving state when we aren’t using them. The US Environmental Protection Agen- Reducing energy consumption by PCs cy (EPA) estimated that providing computers We can significantly reduce energy consump- with a sleep mode reduces their energy use by

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60–70 percent (see http://ecenter.colorado.edu/ which draw about a fifth of the power of a energy/projects/green_computing.html). desktop PC. Because PC use is widespread across any giv- These measures, though easily adoptable, en organization, it’s difficult for the IT staff to wouldn’t become a practical reality without users’ manage their enterprise’s PC power consump- wholehearted willingness and active participa- tion. In this case, a pragmatic approach is to tion. To make these efforts a success, enterprises use software such as Surveyor from Verdiem must educate their employees to save energy by (www.verdiem.com) that offers network-level changing their computer habits. Enterprises must control over PCs and monitors. The software seek their employees’ feedback, address their places the PC into a lower-power consump- concerns, and encourage them to join in green tion mode, such as shutdown, hibernation, or computing efforts. standby, and monitors into a sleep mode when they aren’t being used. It also measures and re- Greening data centers ports how much power each PC and monitor The continued rise of Internet and Web ap- consumes. Network managers can remotely plications is driving the rapid growth of data awake the PCs for software upgrades, mainte- centers. Enterprises are installing more serv- nance, or backup. ers or expanding their capacity. The number of server computers in data centers has increased Turning off the system when not in use. sixfold to 30 million in the last decade, and This is the most basic energy conservation each server draws far more electricity than ear- strategy for most systems. Many people be- lier models. Aggregate electricity use for servers lieve the misconception that a computer’s life doubled between 2000 and 2005, most of which is shortened by turning it on and off, so they came from businesses installing large numbers leave their computers on all the time. The of new servers.2 With energy prices increasing electronic equipment’s life span depends on worldwide, the operational cost of data centers its cumulative operational time and its tem- continues to increase steadily. Besides the cost, perature. Turning it off reduces both of these availability of electrical power is becoming a factors, increasing the life of the equipment. critical issue for many companies whose data Manufacturers protect personal computers’ centers have expanded steadily. The social, fi- internal circuitry from power damage from nancial, and practical constraints involved will on/off switching, and they design modern force businesses and IT departments to reduce hard drives to operate reliably for thousands energy consumption by data centers. of on/off cycles. Therefore, users actually We can improve data center efficiency by us- benefit from turning off their systems when ing new energy-efficient equipment, improv- they aren’t using them. ing airflow management to reduce cooling Some people are reluctant to switch their requirements, investing in energy manage- computers on and off a couple of times during ment software, and adopting environmentally their workday, because they don’t want to wait a friendly designs for data centers and new mea- minute or two until the system is ready for use. sures to curb data centers’ energy consump- However, the energy savings are well worth the tion. According to a recent purchasing survey inconvenience of waiting a short time for a com- (see http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/ puter to reboot or a peripheral to come online. originalContent/0,289142,sid80_gci1264212,00. html): Using screensavers. A blank screensaver conserves more power than a screensaver that • more than 50 percent of data center profes- displays moving images, which continually in- sionals who responded to the survey said teracts with the CPU. But even that reduces the they have saved energy through server vir- monitor’s energy consumption by only a small tualization; percentage. • 32 percent have made efforts to improve under- floor air-conditioning efficiency; Using thin-client computers. Users can • 17.5 percent have implemented power-down choose to employ thin-client computers, features on servers not in use;

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Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pittsburgh. Downloaded on January 15, 2010 at 14:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply. • 11 percent have tried DC power in the data organic compound (VOC), countertops made center; and of recycled products, and energy-efficient me- • only 7.7 percent have tried liquid cooling for chanical and electrical systems at optimal ef- increased data center cooling efficiency. ficiency. Eco-designs make use of natural light as well as green power—electricity generated Though liquid is several hundred times from solar or wind energy—to run the data more efficient than air for cooling hot serv- center. Enterprises that adopt eco-friendly de- ers, customers are nonetheless unwilling to signs can get tax incentives and gain a compet- use liquid cooling, perhaps because of the itive advantage, as more and more customers complexities involved with it. However, if want to work with eco-friendly firms. the high-density computing infrastructure While building a new data center provides requires liquid cooling, data center manag- complete design control, IT professionals can ers may have to adapt to it and deal with the take measures to reduce heat, add light, and complexities involved. discard materials that contain toxic chemicals In a survey by Sun Microsystems Australia, in existing data centers. For instance, they can 80 percent of respondents said they would use use energy-efficient windows, skylights, and energy-efficient technologies, 63 percent said skytubes, and change the paint and carpet to they would use power and cooling solutions, a low-VOC variety. and 60 percent said they would use system vir- Many American enterprises are adopting the tualization (see http://au.sun.com/edge/2007- Leadership in Energy and Environmental De- 07/eco.jsp?cid=920710). sign (LEED) standards maintained by the US In the following paragraphs, we outline Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) for three broad measures to greening data cen- building new data centers. LEED promotes a ters: energy conservation, eco-friendly design, “whole-building approach” to sustainability, fo- and server virtualization. cusing on five key areas: sustainable site develop- ment, water savings, energy efficiency, materials Energy conservation. Energy costs now selection, and indoor environmental quality. account for nearly 30 percent of a data center’s operating expenses (see http:/news.zdnet.co.uk/ Virtualization. Virtualization is a key strategy to itmanagement/0,1000000308,39284324,00. reduce data center power consumption (see www. htm), a significant amount of which is spent infoworld.com/archives/t.jsp?N=s&V=85855). on cooling. The IT industry is inventing new ways With virtualization, one physical server hosts to help address this issue. For example, companies multiple virtual servers. Virtualization enables like IBM, Hewlett Packard, SprayCool, and Cooligy data centers to consolidate their physical serv- are working on technologies such as liquid cool- er infrastructure by hosting multiple virtual ing, nano fluid-cooling systems, and in-server, in- servers on a smaller number of more powerful rack, and in-row cooling. Other innovative ways servers, using less electricity and simplifying of making a data center more environmentally the data center. Besides getting better hardware friendly include using new high-density servers, usage, virtualization reduces data center floor using hydrogen fuel cells as alternative green pow- space, makes better use of computing power, er sources, and applying virtualization technolo- and reduces the data center’s energy demands. gies that reduce the total power consumption of Many enterprises are using virtualization to servers and lower the heat generated. curb the runaway energy consumption of data Old mainframe computers are bulky pow- centers. er hogs that demand a lot of cooling. Hence, To tackle the issue of data centers’ huge pow- major IT vendors are addressing these prob- er consumption, leading IT enterprises joined lems by assisting their customers in migrating forces in February 2007, to form a nonprofit applications from mainframes to servers. group called the Green Grid (www.thegreengrid.org). This group seeks to define and propa- Eco-friendly design. Eco-friendly data cen- gate the best energy-efficient practices in data ter designs use a synthetic white rubber roof, center operation, construction, and design, and paint, and carpet that contain a low volatile drive new user-centric metrics and technology

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Greening Unwanted Computers: The Three Rs

Unwanted computers and monitors shouldn’t be must dispose of them properly in environmen- thrown away in rubbish bins, as they will then end up tally friendly ways. Most unwanted computers in landfills causing serious environmental problems. and electronic goods end up in landfills. Elec- Instead, we should refurbish and reuse or recycle tronic waste or e-waste—discarded computers and them in environmentally sound ways. Here we outline electronic goods—is one of the fastest-growing how you can do that. waste types, and the problem of e-waste is global. Analysts predict that two-thirds of the estimated Reuse 870 million PCs made worldwide in the next five Why do we need to buy new computers for each years will end up in landfills. The United Nations and every project or once every two or three years? Environment Program (www.unep.org) estimates We should make use of an older computer if it meets that 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste are generated our requirements. Otherwise, we should give it to worldwide each year, and this is increasing (see someone who needs it or use functional components www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default. from a retired product. By using the hardware for a asp?DocumentID=485& ArticleID=5431&l=en). longer period of time, we can reduce the total envi- Computer components contain toxic materials ronmental footprint caused by computer manufactur- like lead, chromium, cadmium, and mercury. If we ing and disposal. bury computers in landfills, toxic materials can leach harmful chemicals into waterways and the environ- Refurbish ment. If burned, they release toxic gases into the air We can refurbish and upgrade old computers and we breathe, so if e-waste is not discarded properly, it servers to meet new requirements. We can make can harm the environment and people. In addition, an old computer and other IT hardware almost new e-waste can be a valuable source for secondary raw again by reconditioning and replacing their parts. materials. We should recycle old electronic systems by Rather than buying a new computer to our specifi- taking component material and reprocessing it into cations, we can buy refurbished IT hardware in the the same material or breaking it down into constitu- market. More enterprises are open to purchasing ent materials for reuse. refurbished goods, and the market for refurbished IT The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment equipment is growing. regulations (WEEE; see www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/ From the green angle, reusing what we have is legislation/380525/473094/?lang=e) aim to reduce a better long-term way of managing resources. the amount of e-waste going to landfills and to in- Fiscally speaking, we can potentially save our cash crease recovery and recycling rates. The WEEE regula- flow, and capital expenditures. If these options are tions deal with the following major areas: unsuitable, we can donate the equipment to charities or schools or trade in our computers. Charities ➤ separate collection, disposal, and recycling; refurbish old computers and give them to those ➤ standards for e-waste treatment at authorized in need. facilities; and ➤ collection, recycling, and recovery targets. Recycle When we can’t reuse computers, even after Electrical and electronic manufacturers can also apply considering the prospects of refurbishing, we WEEE regulations.

standards (for details, see the white papers at Designing Green Computers www.thegreengrid.org/gg_content). Green computer design aims to reduce the environmental impact of computers by adopt- No More “Out with the Old” ing new technologies and using new techniques We shouldn’t throw away old computers, mon- and materials while balancing environmental itors, and other IT hardware anymore, as they compatibility with economic viability and per- can cause serious environmental problems. We formance. Green design is quickly becoming should try to give life to them in environmentally a necessary business practice. Many computer sound ways by reusing, refurbishing, or recycling manufacturers are in the process of making them. For details see the sidebar, “Greening Un- green PCs using nontoxic materials that consume wanted Computers: The Three Rs.” less electrical power and are easily reassembled.

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Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pittsburgh. Downloaded on January 15, 2010 at 14:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply. These new computers are highly upgradable, a component of, and aligned with, an overall thereby extending their useful lifetime. enterprise-wide green strategy. It should then The move from single-core to dual- and quad- develop a green IT policy outlining aims, ob- core processors saves power while increas- jectives, goals, plans of action, and schedules. ing processing performance. This contrasts Large enterprises should also appoint an envi- the old method of improving performance of ronmental sustainability officer to implement microprocessors by increasing the frequency their green policy and to monitor their prog- of the chip’s operation, which hugely increases ress and achievements. power consumption and heat generation. A 15- To green their IT, enterprises can take any percent reduction in frequency could save up one or a combination of the following three to 50-percent power consumption. approaches:1 Other initiatives, such as dividing the cache into segments that are only powered when • Tactical incremental approach. In this ap- required and moving to a 45-nanometer proach, an enterprise preserves the ex- architecture, also reduces power consumption. isting IT infrastructure and policies and Manufacturers now apply power-reduction incorporates simple measures to achieve techniques commonly used for laptops, such their moderate green goals such as reduc- as screens that darken the backlight and light- ing energy consumption. These measures en the display palette as well as flash memory include adopting policies and practices caches for hard disks, desktops, and servers. such as power management, switching off On the data storage front, a smaller number of computers when not in use, using compact higher-capacity drives is up to 50 percent more energy-efficient light bulbs, and maintain- energy efficient than the equivalent large num- ing an optimal room temperature. These ber of small-capacity drives. measures are generally easy to implement IT vendors are now investing significant re- without much cost. However, enterprises sources in green initiatives such as developing should work toward these measures only as energy-efficient servers, data center cooling so- short-term, ad hoc solutions. lutions, and new materials and design options. • Strategic approach. In this approach, an en- Recently, Dell, Apple, and other computer terprise conducts an audit of its IT infra- vendors announced their environmental strat- structure and its use from an environmental egy designed to make their computers green perspective, develops a comprehensive plan for the long term. Dell aims its new Zero Car- addressing broader aspects of greening its bon Initiative at maximizing the energy effi- IT, and implements distinctive new ini- ciency of Dell products, and over time plans to tiatives. For example, an enterprise may offset its carbon impact. As a key aspect of this deploy new energy-efficient, environmen- initiative, it requires that its suppliers publicly tally friendly computing systems, or it may report their greenhouse gas emissions. Apple develop and implement new policies on has said it will reduce or eliminate toxic chemi- procurement, operation, and/or disposal cals present in its new products and more ag- of computing resources. While the pri- gressively recycle its old products. mary rationale is still cost efficiency and a Companies have launched new tools, stan- reduced carbon footprint, it also consid- dards, and product registration to assist ers other factors such as branding, image customers in assessing the environmental at- creation, and marketing. tributes of PCs, notebooks, servers, and other • Deep green approach. This approach ex- hardware. They include Epeat, the Energy Star pands upon the measures highlighted in 4.0 Standard, and the RoHS Directive. For de- the strategic approach, wherein an enter- tails, see the sidebar “Green IT Standards and prise adopts additional measures such as Regulations” on the next page. implementing a carbon offset policy to neu- tralize greenhouse gas emissions—including Enterprise Green IT Strategy planting trees, buying carbon credits from Each enterprise must develop a holistic, com- one of many carbon exchanges, or using green prehensive green IT strategy, which should be power generated from solar or wind energy.

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Green IT Standards and Regulations

Green IT standards and regulations, Epeat (www. All Epeat-registered computers have reduced levels epeat.net), the Energy Star 4.0 standard, and the of cadmium, lead, and mercury to better protect RoHS Directive (www.rhos.gov.uk) can help you human health. These are more energy-efficient and design green computers and other IT hardware and easier to upgrade and recycle. In fact, manufacturers classify them based on their environmental attributes. of Epeat products must offer safe recycling options for the products when they’re no longer usable. Epeat Epeat recognizes several desktop computers, Prompted by the need for an evaluation tool that laptops, and monitors from leading manufacturers as allows the selection of electronic products based green products (www.epeat.net/Search.aspx). Some on environmental performance, the Green Electron- computer contracts issued by major government ics Council (www.greenelectronicscouncil.org) has agencies in the US as well as some private enterprises launched the Electronic Product Environmental already reference Epeat. Assessment Tool (Epeat; see www.epeat.net). Epeat assists buyers to evaluate, compare, and select Energy Star 4.0 Standard desktop computers, notebooks, and monitors based The new Energy Star 4.0 standard regulates energy on their environmental attributes. It also helps performance of external and internal power supplies manufacturers promote their products as environ- and gives power consumption specifications for idle, mentally sound. sleep, and standby modes for a number of differ- Epeat evaluates electronic products on 23 required ent devices including PCs, desktops, and gaming criteria and 28 optional criteria, which are grouped consoles. Computers meeting the new requirements into eight performance categories (see www. will save energy in all modes of operation. Regula- greenelectronicscouncil.org/epeat/criteria.htm): tions for computers in idle mode are new, as previous reducing and eliminating environmentally sensi- standards addressed only sleep and standby modes. tive materials, selecting materials, designing for the The new specifications require OEMs to educate users product’s end of life (such as recycling), product lon- about power management. gevity, energy conservation, end-of-life management, corporate performance, and packaging. RoHS Directive Epeat identifies its registered products as The Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Elec- bronze, silver, or gold. Bronze products meet all trical and Electronic Equipment Directive (RoHS; 23 required criteria. Silver products meet all 23 see www.rohs.gov.uk and www.netregs.gov.uk/ required criteria plus at least 14 optional criteria, netregs/275207/1628456/?lang=_e) aims to restrict and gold products meet all 23 required criteria the use of certain hazardous substances. It also bans plus at least 21 optional criteria. Manufacturers placing new electrical and electronic equipment on can pick and choose among the optional criteria the European Union market if it contains more than to boost their Epeat score to achieve a higher level the agreed-upon levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, of registration. hexavalent chromium, or flame retardants.

An enterprise may also encourage its employ- port, assist, and leverage other environ- ees to go green with their home computers mental initiatives by offering innovative by offering incentives such as planting a tree, modeling, simulation, and decision support buying carbon credits, supplying them with tools, such as free power management software, and offering computer recycling/trade-in provisions. • software tools for analyzing, modeling, and simulating environmental impact, and envi- Hopefully, in the beginning enterprises will ronmental risk management; adopt an incremental approach and then move • platforms for eco-management, emission progressively by implementing other initiatives trading, or ethical investing; to reach a full green IT status. • tools for auditing and reporting energy consumption and savings and for monitoring Using IT for Environmental greenhouse gas emissions; Sustainability • environmental knowledge management Besides IT itself being green, it can sup- systems, including geographic informa-

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Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pittsburgh. Downloaded on January 15, 2010 at 14:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply. tion systems and environmental metadata standards; Green IT Resources • urban environment planning tools and systems; The following are some helpful electronic resources: • technologies and standards for interoperable environmental monitoring networks and ➤ CIO’s “Green IT” page (http://advice.cio.com/ smart in situ sensors networks; and taxonomy/term/27/0) discusses how to stay out of • integrating and optimizing existing environ- the red with an environmental approach. It covers mental monitoring networks and new easy news, comments on new developments and initia- plug-in sensors. tives, and offers opinions and advice. ➤ InfoWorld’s “Sustainable IT” page (http://weblog. Using IT to Create Green Awareness infoworld.com/sustainableit) tracks trends toward a In addition to moving itself in a greener di- greener, more energy-efficient IT. rection and leveraging other environmental ini- ➤ Greener Computing (www.greenercomputing.com) tiatives, IT could help create green awareness is a resource for environmentally friendly computers. among IT professionals, businesses, and the gen- ➤ The Green Wombat blog (http://blogs.business2. eral public by assisting in building communities, com/greenwombat) focuses on the environment engaging groups in participatory decisions, and and technology and covers energy efficiency, green supporting education and green advocacy cam- computing, carbon credits, and other areas. paigns. Along these lines, tools such as environ- ➤ The Data Center Knowledge newsletter (www. mental Web portals, blogs, wikis, and interactive datacenterknowledge.com) presents news and simulations of the environmental impact of an analysis about data centers, managed hosting, and activity could offer assistance. disaster recovery. ➤ InfoWorld’s Green Tech newsletter (subscribe at http://subscribe.infoworld.com/cgi-win/ifwd. T is part of the environmental problem, and cgi?m=newsletter) presents how businesses are it can be part of the solution. Green IT is examining how they use their resources and explor- I an economic, as well as an environmental, ing ways to save energy, materials, and money with imperative. Greening IT is and will continue to green IT. be a necessity, not an option. Green IT repre- ➤ GreenBiz (www.greenbiz.com) is the leading infor- sents a dramatic change in priority in the IT mation resource on how to align environmental industry. So far, the industry has been focusing responsibility with business success. on IT equipment processing power and associated equipment spending. It’s not been con- cerned with other requirements such as power, References cooling, and data center space. However, going 1. S. Murugesan, “Going Green with IT: Your Respon- forward, the IT industry will need to deal with sibility toward Environmental Sustainability,” Cutter all of the infrastructure requirements and the Business—IT Strategies Executive Report, vol. 10, no. 8, environmental impact of IT and its use. 2007. The challenges of green IT are immense; 2. S. Pritchard, “IT Going Green: Forces Pulling in Dif- however, recent developments indicate that ferent Directions,” Financial Times, 30 May 2007. the IT industry has the will and conviction to tackle our environmental issues head-on San Murugesan is a professor at Multimedia University (see the “Green IT Resources” sidebar). Com- in Malaysia and an adjunct professor at the University panies can benefit by taking these challenges of Western Sydney in Australia. Contact him at san1@ as strategic opportunities. The IT sector and internode.on.net. users must develop a positive attitude toward addressing environmental concerns and For further information on this or any other adopt forward-looking, green-friendly poli- computing topic, please visit our Digital Library cies and practices. at http://www.computer.org/csdl.

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Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pittsburgh. Downloaded on January 15, 2010 at 14:05 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.