IT going Green?

IT is going Green - what do you mean by that?
To put it in layman's terms - The usage of IT in an environmentally friendly way is termed as Green IT. Deloitte has a point of view published here.

Why do you think has

• GE kicked off a Green agenda? Their sales are estimated to be $ 20b via sales of environment friendly products.
• Citi, largest financial services provider, committed to invest $50b in carbon reduction projects over the next 10 years? For doing the right thing
  
• Wal-Mart, Fortune #1 retailer, announce Sustainability 360? better PR

They have done so after rigorous assessment and have concluded that environmentally friendly efforts are demanded by the consumers, lawmakers, legislation, and above all, it makes financial sense.

Wait a minute....financial sense - are you insane? Carrying out those initiatives are such a huge capex - you gotta be kidding me when you say it makes financial sense. The counter-argument to this objection is that similar to any other project evaluation, these companies have generated business cases towards their Green initiatives. Believe me, the boards wont let them undertake initiatives without significant business reason. Green IT initiatives make sense as they are a good strategic import: its demanded by customers (revenues), and finally, reduce financial risk (cost).

Venture Capitalists (the money masters) must ask the entrepreneurs to show the Green piece as a section in their proposal. Not every project has to deal with greening pre-dominantly. However, most of them can have certain practices capturing that aspect.

The governments can help as well. The legislation must get more stringent in the developing countries where the adoption rate for electronic items is high. If the developing nations are not regulated with regards to electronic waste then alike oil problem they can create waste problem. India is going to generate about 470 ktonnes of e-waste. This is not a match by any standards to that generated in the US, a country about third in population of that of India. However, the as GDP increases, so does the consumption of the individuals. Besides, with entrepreneurs rolling out initiatives targeted at the (somewhat) bottom of the pyramid, the implications can be huge. The trend about thinking Green is not prevalent among the entrepreneurs in these nations.

We have talked about business and government. Let me shift the focus now towards the individual. Yes. You ! -
What are some of the ways I can be Green with my IT usage?
(If you are reading this then I am safely assuming that you come in direct or indirect contact with a computer.)

• Check the power ratings for your battery, computer, processor, etc.
• Put them to stand by modes whenever possible.
  
• Screens occupy most of the energy in a computer usage (esp CRT screens). Shut those down whenever not at desk (this includes lunch time as well).
  
• For laptop users such as myself, remove chargers as soon as battery is upto 100% or even above 96%. Over-charging heats up the lap (can be fatal) and reduces the battery life.
  
• check out these other tips for holidays by Google blog - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/save-some-energy-over-holidays.html

I bet you will find many ways to save energy while using IT both, at home as well as at work.

More thoughts on this later...
until then...have a socially responsible day !