In many of my recent conversations with CIOs and IT
infrastructure and operations professionals, I’m noticing an
increasing interest in understanding how Green IT will evolve.
Why do IT leaders want this vision? In the short term, IT leaders
want to ensure they’re not missing out any easy opportunities
for savings they haven’t thought of yet. And over the long
term, IT leaders developing their Green IT strategies want to
strive for a broad scope of projects that reduce the impact on the
environment—and of course the costs—within and outside
of IT.
Forrester expects Green IT to evolve from 1.0 (‘Green for
IT’) to 2.0 (‘IT for Green’). 1.0 is about
reducing the environmental impact of owning, operating and
disposing of IT assets; 2.0 is about using technology to enable
greener business practices. At present, the majority of Green IT
initiatives are in the 1.0 world—often starting in the data
center and moving into distributed IT assets—with 2.0 picking
up speed.
Some of the vital data points suggest that though most Green IT
initiatives start within the data center, organizations are
shifting focus to their distributed IT assets. According to the US
Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR Program, in 2006, "US
servers and data centers alone accounted for 1.5 percent of total
US energy consumption," and by 2011, "US energy consumption by
servers and data centers could nearly double again representing USD
7.4 billion in electricity costs." Beyond increased energy
consumption, which translates to increased carbon emissions, data
centers are also running out of space, power, and cooling. In a
2008 survey of more than 300 IT professionals, the Uptime Institute
found that within 12 to 24 months, 33 percent would run out of
space, 42 percent would run out of power, and 39 percent would run
out of cooling. Green IT tactics in the data center that increase
utilization and improve energy efficiency—such as server
virtualization and localized cooling—allow organizations to
reduce their energy-related carbon emissions and costs, while
freeing up space, power, and cooling capacity for the future.
While the data center is ripe for Green IT opportunities,
organizations are quickly shifting focus to distributed IT assets
like PCs, monitors, printers, and phones. Why? Because more
energy-related carbon emissions—and therefore costs—are
likely being consumed by all of these assets outside the data
center. According to a recent Forrester survey of more than 300 IT
professionals, the data center consumes 45 percent of total IT
energy consumption—while 55 percent is consumed outside of
the data center. Organizations are employing Green IT tactics like
PC power management software, which powers down PCs and monitors
when not in use, or thin clients, which can be a more
energy-efficient computing architecture than traditional
workstations, desktops, or laptops.
Forrester firmly believes that Green IT 2.0 will pick up speed in
the future. The positive environmental and financial benefits of
Green IT 2.0—or using IT as an enabler of greener
business—can be much more profound than just focusing on the
IT asset life cycle. According to a report issued by the Global
e-Sustainability Initiative, greenhouse gas emissions from the IT
industry will account for 2.8 percent of global emissions by
2020—but if deployed in smarter ways, technology can cut
global emissions by 15 percent. n
Doug Washburn is Analyst at Forrester Research. Doug’s
research focus is Green IT, Green Business, and IT Leadership
Skills. He can be contacted at incomment@forrester.com
.