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Green IT Practices Presented by David Deal, CEO Community IT Innovators www.citidc.com @ CommunityIT , @ ddealdc. Takeaways. To increase awareness of the environmental impact of desktops, servers, and other ICT equipment
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Green IT Practices Presented by David Deal, CEO Community IT Innovators www.citidc.com @CommunityIT, @ddealdc
Takeaways • To increase awareness of the environmental impact of desktops, servers, and other ICT equipment • To provide guidance and opportunities to adopt technology practices that will help reduce that impact and reduce costs • To discuss select solutions that will help nonprofits and social mission organizations reduce the environmental impact of their ICT AND use ICT to reduce their operational impact on the environment.
Poll • Organization Size? • Who knows what these are: • Desktop Power Management? • EPEAT? • vSphere? • Deliberate green efforts underway?
Agenda • Hardware • Software • Green Practices • And…
Environmental Impact • 2% of global CO2 emitted by ICT (Gartner) • 50-70% of the lifetime energy consumption of a computer is used before it is ever turned on • eWaste makes up 2% of solid waste in the U.S. and is the fastest growing segment
Environmental Impact • A PC and monitor take 530 lbs of fossil fuels, 58 lbs of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to produce (UN Resource Saver) • 50% of our 50-person company’s emissions are from business travel (commuting, clients, flights, etc.)
“Green” HW Considerations • What you buy • How long you use it • How you dispose of it
Device Power Consumption • Desktop: 70-120W++ • Laptop: 20-40W • Thin client: 8-12W • (For use with Terminal Server or Virtual Desktops) • Desktop/laptop in sleep mode: 2-10W • LCD 35-40W vs CRT 80-120W
Ordering Green KEY POINT: When you buy desktops or printers, check www.epeat.net!
Typical Replacement Cycle • Laptops: 2-4 years • Desktops: 3-5 years • Thin clients: 4-6 years • Monitors: longer! • KEY POINT: Thin clients often have the longest useful life, although using hosted apps or repurposing can help extend the useful life of laptops and desktops.
Retiring Old Computers Responsibly • Seek to reuse instead of recycle • Find a refurbisher • Partner with a small local nonprofit to get it into the community • Recycling as a last option
Power Management • Smart power strips (for desktops) • Power strips with timers (for printers)
The First Place Techies Look... The Server Room!
Server Virtualization • Energy reduction up to 82% (Gartner) • Small & medium-sized NPO’s (<100 PCs) often virtualize 4-8 servers on 1 physical server • Software: VMware, MS Hyper-V, Citrix, etc.
…but workstations may be a greater opportunity! • 3x the energy consumption of the server room • Cut PC energy use up to 70%, save about $50 per desktop (NRDC) • Free options for standalone PCs: • Built-in settings in Windows, Macs • Verdiem Edison (downloadable) • Options for networked PCs: • Faronics PowerSave • Verdiem Surveyor
(Server-based) Desktop Virtualization • Desktop virtualization makes energy savings possible by allowing the use of terminals instead of desktops or laptops • Also, roaming access = travel reduction!
Hosted Software • a.k.a. Cloud Computing, SaaS • Salesforce, DIA, Google Apps, Constant Contact, MS BPOS (e.g. Hosted MS Exchange) • Theoretically greener due to: • Better use of server resources • Remote access reducing travel • But to realize this you need to: • Turn off old server(s) • Use it to reduce travel • Also, is their power source cleaner than yours?
Green Practices • Utilizing IT to green operations • Examples: • Reduce paper consumption • Smart buildings • Online faxing • Travel reduction • Working with distributed teams
Efficient Printing • Duplexing - make it the default! • (double-sided printing) • Consolidate printers • (reducing printer-to-staff ratio)
Travel Reduction • Reduce commuter and business travel • Travel contributes to 50% of CITI’s total emissions • (even with 75% of travel done via public transit, biking, and walking!) • Ingredients: Remote & mobile access to ICT resources - data, voice, video • Numerous studies confirming moderate to significant positive environmental impact
Working with Distributed Teams • Web conferencing: • GoToMeeting, WebEx, Ready Talk • File sharing • Box.net, Dropbox, BPOS/SharePoint, Jungle Disk, Drop.io, Google Docs • Comprehensive hosted apps: • Hyperoffice, Zoho, Google Apps, (MS BPOS+Office Web Apps coming) • Extranets/project collaboration: • Basecamp, SharePoint
Travel Reduction: Voice • Voice over IP & IP Telephony • Virtual/hosted PBX • Lower startup costs, often lower calling costs • Cost-effective for smaller organizations • BUT: unless the vendor also provides the data connection (T1), they still don’t control call quality • May not be for you if you have a large number of users, high call volume, or if you need certain features (ACD)
Travel Reduction: Video • Peer-to-peer, small groups • Skype (+VuRoom for group video?) • Quality? • Hosted • WebEx (up to 6), etc. • On-premises • Polycom, LifeSize, Cisco, etc. • Requires appropriate Internet bandwidth
Questions • What is one easy IT-related step you want to take to green your organization? • What is a “stretch” green IT solution you would implement if your organization had the resources? • Any other ideas to share? • What was your most significant takeaway from today?
Conclusion • There’s a lot you can do to green your IT that does not require either behavioral change by staff or tremendous resources. • Two high-impact starting points may be desktop power management (easy) and travel reduction (maybe more challenging).