A picture speaks a thousand words! Cloud Computing is definitely one of the buzz words in the Green IT world… but why and what are the Green IT benefits? As with everything I say, there are both pros and cons. There’s so much to Cloud Computing, but hopefully the diagram below will explain it simply!
DATE: 23/11/2010
Tripta Prashar
What do you do when you have an electronic product which no longer works or needs to be fixed? Computer, TV or DVD player? If something costs cheaper to buy than fix, I’m assuming most people would most likely to want to buy a new one. The time taken to fix a product such as a computer may also affect the work you’re doing. Time is always valuable! So, when it comes to disposing of old electronics, what do you do?
The famous Rien Dijkstra 
from the Netherlands (one of the authors of the book ‘Greening IT - How Greener IT can form a solid foundation for a low carbon society’), once again sent me some useful information on electronic waste to share. Rien is a very, very helpful person, who has no other motive but to help raise the awareness and importance of Green IT! The 8 minute-ish youtube link below ‘The Story of Electronics’ is presented by Annie Leonard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHyH7mSYKQQ
For me, watching this video is useful more so for education purposes and having a better understanding of e-waste. Sometimes you can learn a lot more from watching a video. Annie explains the whole life-cycle of material goods and she mentions some of the toxic chemicals, such as lead and mercury, which are in electronic products. When a product is being recycled, it also shows how people want to keep the valuable metals inside, but are once again exposed to the toxic chemicals. Toxic in – Toxic out. Annie also points the ideal solution – it is better for manufacturers to design long lasting toxic free products. And there are a few who are doing so! So next time you are looking to buy a computer, you can buy a greener product.
I hope this video will help raise the awareness of Green IT and e-waste.
DATE: 19/11/2010
Tripta Prashar
A question was put forward to me recently by BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio presenter Mark Powlett, on how it was the larger organisations which can make HUGE savings in reducing the IT energy wasted. Ideally, all organisations should have policies in place which state PCs should be turned off or put into a low power mode when not in use. Practically, that’s not always the case! This can be addressed through effective communication and marketing though.
As mentioned in earlier blog posts, IT is an enabler to other organisations in reducing costs, reducing energy usage and reducing carbon emissions. The Gartner Group have stated 40% of IT emissions come from PCs. Being aware of this, we want to ensure the energy consumption of PCs is reduced, especially as electricity prices are rising and organisations are generally looking for cost saving measures. It is therefore best to apply PC power management settings. However, it seems (as I’ve been told many times!), setting an individual’s own PCs power management to sleep/standby (depending on the machines operating system) or hibernate mode appears to confuse some users, is disruptive and is not as user friendly.
There are a number of software products which can automatically power down PCs, save open documents, encourage user engagement, close down applications, measure energy consumption and provide reporting. Some provide more accurate measurement and auditable reporting, as is required for the UK’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme.
There are a number of companies globally who have saved costs and reduced their energy usage and carbon footprint through IT power management tools.
Bearing in mind, it’s not just overnight when PCs and monitors should be turned off or put into lower power mode - lunch breaks, time spent in meetings or away from the desk collectively in an organisation can be quite considerable! There is often a need for some PCs to be left on though, to support particular critical business processes.
How would you know which PC Power Management product fits the needs of your business and is the most cost effective? Is it pricing per device? What are the set up costs? Are maintenance and upgrades provided free? Does it run on client/server or is it web-based? What are the features? Can PCs be switched on automatically as well?
Very quickly, a big thank you to Stew Kingscott (from BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio), as he initially gave me his time back in September and listened to me go on and on and on about Green IT! Through Stew, I was then once again recently given yet another opportunity to pop into BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Radio, but this time to briefly talk about the awareness of Green IT on air.
DATE: 13/11/2010
Tripta Prashar
Green Drinks has now started in Coventry – click here! A turn out of lucky-13 people initially attended. They have each given me feedback they enjoyed it and a big thumbs up!
It was a great social evening where several positive ideas were shared on green topics. People attended from Millward Brown/Kantar, Jaguar Land Rover, Friends of the Earth, Green Party, Wikaniko, Rotary Club, Coventry Partnership - to name a few!
Also many thanks to BBC Coventry and Warwickshire local Radio for giving me the opportunity to pop in and promote the event on air at the radio station and also to the Coventry Telegraph!
DATE: 07/11/2010
Tripta Prashar
