FASTtalk January 2009
Organisations continue to be under pressure to deliver Green
IT, despite the financial challenge of the credit crunch.
The research group Gartner insists that the global information
technology industry accounts for around 2 percent of global carbon
dioxide emissions, while office equipment is the fastest growing
energy user in the business world, consuming 15 percent of the
total electricity used in offices and is now likely to rise to 30
percent by 2020. But what does Green IT really mean? Is it the
corporate social responsibility gloss for real-world efficiency and
cost-cutting drivers? And how do organisations move from talking
about IT’s carbon emissions to actually doing something about
them?
The green landscape
Describing the current landscape, Andy Lawrence from The 451
Group painted an intriguing picture of how IT is wrestling with
green issues. “IT is inward facing in trying to reduce its own
footprint, and at the same time more outwards facing in deciding
how it can reduce the footprint of business generally. For the last
three years, ‘green’ existed in marketing and media, but not in
practice. Now, finance and compliance are the overwhelming issues.
People will buy ‘green’ provided there isn’t a heavy OpEx
bill.”
Ian Moyse from Webroot says green initiatives gain a lot of
staff support – but that isn’t enough. “We’ve seen a number of
staff green initiatives. But staff don’t decide who the suppliers
are or who the company outsources to. It must be supported by the
business.”
Phil Heap, from FAST Ltd, believes the UK suffers from a lack of
readiness to take action. “In Germany, 50 percent of organisations
have green strategies. Here, only one in 20 asks their suppliers if
they’re doing anything green related. Compared to Germany, a very
low percentage here take green IT issues seriously.”
Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of green hosting company
Memset believes differently. “38 percent say green is a buying
decision and 50 percent say energy efficiency is an issue when
picking a supplier. Energy efficiency is key - it’s driven more by
the bottom line than anything else.”
Webroot’s Ian Moyse believes a lot of companies have so far only
marketed themselves as ‘green.’ “They say ‘we’re green!’. Well,
prove it. Some companies even put a premium on it because it’s
green. Everybody says I want to do the right thing, but I need to
save money as well.”
“People are interested in Green IT, but they’ll still buy on
quality and investment,” says Wick Hill’s Ken Ward. “There are
things that do not add up, such as six different training courses
for six different products. By amalgamating on one product, we’re
making the server more effective.”
A question of metrics
One of the continuing problems for organisations trying to make
a business case on green issues is the lack of reliable metrics on
which to base a return on investment (ROI). “If you talk to the
suppliers of TelePresence, they’re still really struggling to
quantify it. Cisco can’t put forward a credible story for using
it,” says The 451 Group’s Andy Lawrence.
Tracey Rawling Church from Kyocera Mita suggests the most
effective green solutions for organisations are not as black and
white as some companies would like. “Solutions are a blend. Perhaps
it would be worth considering switching 60 percent of your meetings
to TelePresence and keeping 40 percent as personal meetings. There
is no panacea.” Ken Ward from Wick Hill agrees. “You need to use an
amalgamation of the two - videoconferencing and personal contact –
to be effective.”
Ian Moyse from Webroot suggests choosing suppliers with green
credentials is still the exception rather than the rule. “I don’t
see many ITTs with green in them. How easy is it to specify the
carbon footprint or total cost of ownership of your product?”
Ken Ward of Wick Hill is unsure. “On a lot of occasions you
can’t measure it,” he says. Kate Craig-Wood of Memset says vendors
are making an effort. “Some vendors are publishing data. Fujitsu
has broken down its carbon costs. Vendors need to be less afraid,
and gradually over time you’ll get a more complete picture.”
Utility computing and datacentres
With power usage at a premium and question marks over the
feasibility of building new datacentres, one initiative that has
begun to emerge is the concept of utility computing, or computing
on demand. “Utility computing regards resources such as RAM storage
as a utility that is available on demand, like water or gas,” says
Kate Craig- Wood. “Computing resources are provided in a complete
package so the customer can rapidly upgrade or downgrade. There is
also a lot more we can do with fresh air cooling, and capturing and
re-using waste heat.”
Getting the balance right
How do organisations get the balance right between playing their
part in being green and having the best interests of their own
organisation at heart as well? Ian Moyse of Webroot says
organisations are only going to be green when it suits them. “In a
recession it will be difficult to position green as the main piece,
but there is an argument that says we can help you become more cost
effective.” Tim Dickens of Trustmarque Solutions says some
organisations are better at it than others. “We’ve not seen the
environmental management standard ISO 14001 mentioned at all. Only
16 percent of organisations have a target, and 40 percent are only
talking about green implementation.” Andy Lawrence believes the
forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme in 2010 will
make a major impact. “Any business that has more than 6000 megawatt
hours of electricity will be affected and they’ll be forced to
manage their energy.”
Learning the lessons
In 1997, Kyocera Mita conducted significant research about
organisations’ attitudes to green issues. Ten years on, says Tracey
Rawling Church, little has changed. “We found that the number of
organisations with a green policy had gone down. Many seem
paralysed by the sheer scope of the task while others that have a
policy are not necessarily backing it up with actions. Employees
regard their organisations to be less serious, so in some ways,
nothing has changed. Too mean to be green is just the title we used
in 1993.”
For The 451 Group’s Andy Lawrence, the problem is carbon
neutrality. “Carbon neutrality is a problematic goal for
businesses. It would be better if there were different ways of
defining carbon neutrality,” he says. “The term has become devalued
because it is too vague. We know organisations that say they’re
carbon neutral just by offsetting everything,” says Tracey Rawling
Church. “We actually need a new vocabulary because the word ‘green’
is overused. It’s the whole issue of environmental and economic
sustainability.”
Tim Dickens of Trustmarque Solutions says the issue does appeal
to our younger generation. “We’re a business who is constantly
monitoring and controlling our costs. ‘Green’ helps us to achieve
far more than normal ‘cost management’ messaging to our workforce
who have an average age in their mid-20s. They have a much greater
awareness of green issues - everything gets recycled.”
Paul Clements, FAST Ltd’s Head of Cutsomer Retention, says FAST
encourages organisations to take a holistic view and look at things
from a green perspective. “Our customers are aware of key
legislation, such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE) Directive. It certainly helps if we can get customers to
think in terms of reducing their costs. The green badge is an extra
tick in their box. But whether you look at it from a costs or a
green perspective, you still have to get buy in from the top.”
Phil Heap of FAST Ltd wants to see more government action. “The
government’s not doing enough. Our customers only react when they
see a piece of legislation. That’s where we get the specifics on
green IT.”
For her part, Kate Craig-Wood believes the EU Code of Conduct on
Datacentres will make a difference. “The EU Code of Conduct is a
voluntary code of conduct. And if you’re not signed up to it, you
probably shouldn’t be in business. It’s a delicate area and I
suspect that governments are waiting to see what happens before
they start to get heavy handed.”
Tracey Rawling Church believes we need to consume less. “Paper
manufacturing is hugely resource-intensive. We need to live well
within the means of our planet. This isn’t about hair shirt
environmentalism. It’s about not raping and pillaging the planet,
and this is the only one we have.”
Green best practices
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“The key difference is legislation. With WEEE, they adopted a
policy and got on with it in Germany. Without legislation, green is
not an important enough issue.”
Ken Ward, Wick Hill
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“Good housekeeping by individuals and organisations can
contribute a lot. Effective It asset management is also a way of
saving money.”
Phil Heap, FAST Ltd
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“We’ve actually come a long way in a short period of time, and
when regulation comes it will push us the rest of the way. Remember
where we used to be.”
Tim Dickens, Trustmarque Solutions
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“Change your view of the world - get visibility into your total
energy cost as a business. And better still, get responsibility for
it.”
Andy Lawrence, The 451 Group
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“Recycling is the thing that most people thought was most
effective. By jumping to recycling first organisations got the idea
that it’s expensive. We actually see reduce as being the start
point, then reuse, then recycle, and finally offset what’s
left.”
Tracey Rawling Church, Kyocera Mita
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“Evaluating where you can utilise virtualisation to maximise
usage from hardware and power sources can contribute to reducing
the business’s It costs while enhancing steps towards a greener
footprint.”
Ian Moyse, Webroot Ltd
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“Don’t ask people to turn off their PCs. Engage the
auto-hibernate mode.”
Kate Craig-Wood, Memset
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Roundtable participants included Tracey Rawling Church from
green printer and copier company Kyocera Mita, Kate Craig-Wood from
hosting specialist Memset, FAST IiS Members Trustmarque Solutions,
Wick Hill and Webroot, Andy Lawrence, an industry analyst with The
451 Group specialising in green issues, and Phil Heap and Paul
Clements from FAST Ltd.