Template:Cop sep-07

From Lauraibm

Full article: IT shouldn't cop all the blame for wrecking environment (10-Sep-07)

The IT industry is in danger of becoming an unnecessary apologist for environmental woes caused by the equipment it sells.

A lot of the bad press focuses on data centres and, indeed, these should be the starting point for any initiative to green the use of IT by businesses.

The way in which the buildings, energy supply, cooling equipment, hardware and software associated with data centres can be adapted to improve energy efficiency are well recorded.

For many businesses the majority of energy consumed by IT will not be in the data centres, but in the numerous business locations it is there to serve. Of course a lot of kit needs to stay near the point of use, such as monitors, printers and telephones. But moving branch servers into data centres, introducing thin-client computing where practical and serving remote users with web-enabled applications all have a part to play in reducing the “office-IT factor”.

Some might point to a potential downside in that data centres can become a single point of failure for applications that were once widely distributed. But this can be mitigated through good management and failover facilities.

This is where the IT industry needs to get its message across better. Many IT applications can drive reductions in energy usage elsewhere in the business, for instance, reducing transport requirements and better buildings management.

If it can be shown that executives are flying fewer miles, that employees’ car mileage claims are reducing, that supply chains really are more efficient and the buildings are cooled and heated more effectively though the use of IT, then genuine claims can be made that this is helping to reduce the total carbon footprint of a business.