Green IT practices: saving money and the environment.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY: SPECIAL SECTION

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Rising energy costs, heightened publicity regarding climate change, and increased legislation are causing more companies to enhance their "green" information technology initiatives, according to a study by independent research firm Forrester Research. IT organizations and departments are becoming more environmentally friendly by recycling equipment, purchasing more energy-efficient computers, and turning off office equipment to conserve energy, among other things. These practices translate into more "green" for businesses' bottom line.

Green IT refers to the environmentally conscious and cost-effective use of power and production in technology by centering around saving energy through hardware, software, services and even habits. Green IT strategies range from the purchase of energy-efficient desktop PCs and smaller laptop computers to practices like hardware virtualization, recycling and energy management. In Alaska, Green Star Executive Director Kim Kovol is seeing more businesses carrying out green IT strategies to reduce overhead and do good things for the environment.

"We're seeing businesses that area lot more savvy with their green purchases," Kovol says.

Green IT initiatives are designed to reduce the environmental impact of industrial processes and technology, but businesses engage in them for a variety of other reasons. According to a 2009 Forrester Research survey, the most important motivation for green IT activities are to cut spending on energy (69 percent), to lower IT costs (40 percent), legal compliance (15 percent), and to improve image. Cost considerations play an above-average role in the United States, while image and legal compliance are more important in Europe.

From Kovol's perspective, organizations that are more environmentally responsible have a stronger bottom line. "I have yet to have one business tell me they did not save money," she says.

Green Star is an Anchorage-based nonprofit organization that encourages businesses to practice waste reduction, energy conservation and pollution prevention through education, technical assistance and a voluntary "green business" certification program. The Green Star program has about 250 participants, of which 148 are Green Star Award-certified.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF GOING GREENER

Office equipment is the most rapidly growing type of energy user in commercial buildings, according to Green Star. Energy-efficient machinery not only can help businesses reduce their energy use directly, but also can lower their utility bills by reducing air conditioning loads.

Businesses can achieve significant savings by purchasing office equipment with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star rating. These machines have special power-management features that automatically place them in a lower-power sleep mode when not being used. For instance, an Energy Star-qualified computer in sleep mode consumes about 80 percent less electricity than it does in full-power mode, according to the EPA. Overall, Energy Star-qualified office products use about hall as much electricity as...