Green computing

Like many folks, I work in an office. In most of my jobs over the past many years, I've worked right along the IT (Information Technology - aka the computer geeks) group learning their struggles, interests and culture. I always fit in just enough to blend, but not so much I was completely taken as one of their own. But only in the last week did I hear about green IT.

In a recent article of PC Magazine it was discussed that currently 40% of an IT budget is spent on Energy. This is a shock! These folks are typically paid QUITE well and that equipment is not cheap, and needs constant attention/upgrades - so 40% is a big number. 70% of the companies said that power and cooling were their biggest issues. Again - a bigger issue than having to make these systems talk to each other? Or making the IT folks get along with sales? Now, as someone who is often freezing because they can never JUST cool the tech equipment, they always make the office freezing too - I kinda get it. And of course if you're making the whole office that cold, we're using a ton more energy than we should - and coincidentally paying more for it than is needed. They've estimated that by 2009 Energy costs will be the second highest cost for IT groups - behind only labor. And did I mention how much these folks often make?? That is huge.

Now, just to follow this one more step, the same research found that based on that these business will be looking to make some changes based on these rising costs. What happens when costs go up? Well, the end client pays more AND they start outsourcing. It's anticipated that by 2010 half of all data centers will either relocate or outsource their data center. And when they move, those great paying jobs that currently manage the data will go with it. So the question becomes, what can we do about it??

We have options. Companies can add solar panels to help offset their total energy output. Let's put solar ceiling tiles on all the buildings in Silicon Valley! Industry as a whole can invest in finding less expensive renewable energy sources. But while those are more long term solutions, apparently there is also green computing for today.

Green computing is new to me, but not to IT professionals. There are web sites talking all about it. It's been wikipedia'd. Turns out Google (my dream company) already has plans to be carbon neutral by the end of 2007. I'm shocked, elated, and feeling a bit behind the times.

Almost every company has an IT department. Almost every home has a computer. What aren't we doing? What should we be doing? What should we not do?

One final thing to peruse from the PC Mag source...

Each 1 megawatt datacenter requires:
- 17,000,000 kwh Electricity
- 60,000,000 gallons of water
- 145,000 Copper
- 21,000 lbs Lead
- 33,000 lbs Plastic
- 73,000 lbs Aluminum