"An Organisation Can Become Green IT...

"An Organisation Can Become Green IT Organisation By Being 'Light' On Resources"

Going green may sound challenging, but every small step taken today can be a big one tomorrow. Daman

Sood, senior member of IEEE and preacher of Green IT, talks to Shweta Dhadiwal of EFY bureau, on how an organisation can adopt Green IT, what are the steps that need to be taken and what kind of support is available from government and society to help them begin.

EFY:According to you, what is green IT?

Ans: Green Information Technology (IT) can be defined as the 'IT that is light on all resources.' This can be well explained with an example of the most common IT equipment used in every organisation - a laptop. A laptop will be green in its true sense when all the premises from manufacturing to disposal are energy efficient and green.

Firstly, the manufacturing of the laptop has to be green, energy efficient, using components and parts that are also green and easy to dispose off. The machines used in manufacturing must be green - meaning less power consuming. Secondly, the finished product, i.e., the laptop, needs to consume less power during its operation as well as during stand-by throughout its life time. Lastly, its disposal should produce less plastic/electronic waste and it should be easy to dispose. The applications and operating system for the laptop should have gone through a similar 'green/light on resources' cycle. Apart from this, such a laptop must be light on one's pocket too.

EFY: How can an organisation adopt Green IT?

Ans: Information Technology is a part of every organisation today. An organisation can become a Green IT organisation by being 'light' on resources. Using products that are inherently green in some or the other way is the first step - such as using laptops rather than desktops, using TFT monitors rather than CRT monitors, exercising rationale in using printing devices - being print cautious, printing both sides of the paper, using multi function devices, using power management tools effectively. Datacentres are a vital part of an organisation. There are multiple activities that can be adopted to make them efficient, e.g., application virtualisation, server virtualisation and consolidation, right sizing of the servers and other equipment, using labelled equipment (e.g. RoHS, Energy Star, EPEAT etc.), using equipment for its 'extended life'- giving for lighter use (e.g. by NGOs) later on. Managing e-waste effectively and using recycled paper are other green activities that can be adopted.

In terms of infrastructure, an organisation can be housed in a 'green' building - once again a building that will be light not only on energy but all other resources as well (e.g. water, sewage, food waste, brick and mortar included). Using LEDs for lighting can lead to power saving and very little waste at the end of their life. The whole design of the datacentre as well as the building can be energy efficient including the racking of the servers and the cooling of the datacentre and the building. The organisation can be run on renewable energy (e.g. wind, solar) or at least on hybrid energy to start with.

EFY: Can you please suggest the top 5 methods/techniques to implement energy efficient solutions in IT and technology?

Ans:
1.Effective HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems)
2.Power management (switching off when not in use - specially overnight, low standby power, use of LEDs for lighting)
3.Phasing out CRT monitors (replaced with TFT monitors)
4.Phasing out desktops (replaced with laptops)
5.Consolidation (servers and applications)

EFY : Out of all this, what are the solutions that have already been implemented? What kind of solutions we look forward to in future?

Ans: All the above solutions are already a reality, but the cost in some cases is really high. For example - LED lights, renewable energies, like solar. Some of these are yet to be established as a reliable technology (e.g. cloud computing). So, we look forward to commoditisation of such solutions. Technologies like hydrogen cells and concepts like 'energy server' is something that we can see in the future.

EFY: How can we quantify our savings and achievements in going green?

Ans: While Green IT or Environmental Sustainability is common sense, we as human beings tend to ignore it or forget it. In the era of management by facts (MBF), it makes a lasting impact if the claims are produced through a well established process and are supported by numbers. Going green Six Sigma way means supporting or explaining your green projects in the form of analysis and numbers. This helps in ensuring a result oriented approach. So, if needed, people involved in Green IT projects can support the business case by initiating and implementing Six Sigma projects.

EFY: Approximately, how many organisations might have adopted green IT? And what kind of result have they witnessed?

Ans: Today, every big organisation might have implemented one, two or more energy efficient solutions. Some organisations have attempted to be Carbon neutral on their IT/ datacentres. However, there are no statistics on the number of organisations. One of the examples is DELL's success story where they cut their IT energy costs by 40 per cent by implementing a power management tool on their 50,000 desktops across the globe. The number of such case studies would easily be available and can be influential for others when it's supported by figures.

EFY: What are the Indian initiatives to support the green IT implementation? What kind of role is played by the government?

Ans: Many IT organisations are constantly evolving resource light products through internal research and development. The users are happily (though slowly) adopting new technology and products that are energy efficient.

Organisations like IEEE, CORE Training (Continuity and Resilience) are involved in constantly raising awareness among the masses and keeping them up-to-date with respect to the developments in this field. CORE Training is bringing a BCS ISEB (British Computer Society Information Systems Examinations Board) course to India - the first of its type.

The Indian Government's NAPCC (National Action Plan on Climate Change has various Missions that support Green IT. The Indian (Central and State) Government runs various grants/ loans and subsidising schemes for the support infrastructure.

NASSCOM has initiated its own Green IT initiative.

TERI BCSD (The Energy and Resources Institute Business Council for Sustainable Development) and NASSCOM have recognised IT as the 'game changer' in implementing the NAPCC.

Bodies like CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), WWF (World Wide Foundation for Nature) and many more - all work for Green IT or Green - simply put towards 'climate change'.

The contribution put in by the schools (at all levels), colleges and individual citizens also needs a mention and appreciation here.

EFY: How can an organisation apply for grants/loans given by government for adopting green technologies?

Ans: An organisation can approach the responsible departments/ ministries through set procedures. IEEE (specifically in the Delhi Section) through its Standing Committee on Humanitarian Technology Challenge (HTC) is playing this role of raising awareness. Our next activity is around the coming World Environment Day (5th June). One of the objectives that CORE Training within the Continuity and Resilience has, is to bridge this gap i.e., bringing what is available to the masses. CORE Training will be happy to provide this service to anyone.

EFY: What are the challenges in going green?

Ans:There are several cultural, behavioural and financial challenges in going green. The developed countries expect developing countries to control their emissions (India and China become the first targets) while developing countries expect developed countries to practice what they preach. Man by nature opposes any change, so despite knowledge and awareness, he does not change his approach in doing certain things in certain ways. It is the same across the globe. Financial challenge is an 'ever green' challenge. For example- solar power though available in abundance cannot be used easily as it is costly to harvest energy from it. We need to look at cost effective solutions in order to overcome this. This (cost effectiveness) will automatically help in managing other challenges.

EFY: What is the message/advice to organisations in India in regards to going green?

Ans: No doubts it's a long journey - yesterday was the best day to start (which we have perhaps missed), next best chance is Today - so let's start. Let's commit. Let's take the first few smaller steps today, tomorrow, this quarter and this year - and then make it a habit for the coming years. No action is not acceptable.

Daily

Weekly

Overall