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The IT world has risen to the environmental challenges of our time in a way that few industries have. Every major manufacturer today offers hardware systems that meet stringent standards for efficiency and sustainable manufacturing. The lead and toxic materials are going away and data centers everywhere are becoming slimmer, more efficient versions of their former selves. The vision of green IT is finally being realized, right?
Not so fast.
As the Sustainability Programs Manager for Softchoice, I've done green IT assessments with the IT departments of more than 50 organizations ranging from small and mid-market companies to some of North America's largest corporations. The desire to go green is common to all. But turning this desire into reality is often a source of frustration.
Here's the rub: As an industry we have perpetuated a number of myths that are unhelpful to those seeking to implement more sustainable approaches to technology. It's time we called these out and began speaking in more practical terms.
Myth No. 1: The Business Case for Green IT is Clear
Most new servers are marketed with energy efficiency calculators and both the business case and environmental benefits are often compelling. But the biggest problem in making the case for energy efficiency has nothing to do with the technology. The issue is who realizes the benefits.
In most cases it is IT that spends the money yet since most organizations lease their facilities the landlord is the ultimate beneficiary. Even in cases where an organization does own its own real estate, it's usually the Facilities department that is directly goaled on energy savings.
Utilities everywhere are targeting the data center with energy-saving incentives. But these offers struggle to gain traction because of these exact issues. To complicate matters further, without metering technology, many organizations are unable to separate how much energy is consumed in the data center. This makes it tricky to pinpoint the real payback drivers for a given project.
This is why I always make a point of asking my clients one simple question: "are you measured or incented on energy savings?" The answer is invariably "No." This is a major issue for the green IT market. The best ammo for your business case isn't the home run it appears to be.
Including all stakeholders– even people not directly connected to the company -- is really the key to success. Organizations also need better support in understanding their existing energy footprint. Once a company can track the energy use of specific equipment, and break it down by business units, it becomes possible to incent and recognize those departments (like IT) that drive improvements.
Next page: Does anyone care about green IT?
Responsibility
Having been involved in Green IT for many years, even before it was fashionable, many of the early Facilities-IT Dept. meetings we sponsored were the first that they'd ever worked together. Over time, this has changed radically and they now rely on each other far more. For example, the IT departments NEED facilities to design and manage an efficient data center that has adequate cooling and electrical capacity.
That said, Melissa is dead-on that Green IT projects always need a business case to move forward. They really need to be positioned and justified as operational efficiency measures, which they are if done properly. Further, the case often needs to be made at an organizational, rather than departmental, level.
Alignment
Thanks for your comment Roxanne.
It's so important in any Green project (IT or not) that you determine who all your stakeholders are from the start and involved them in the project. Green projects today are all about resource effeciency, and less wasted resources will always lead to less costs. Therefore, the most important stakeholder is the person who has that cost in their budget. That person will always listen!
Cost savings
Melissa-
Its nice to hear you point out the importance of speaking the language of CEOs vs. CIOs to sell energy efficiency. I'm part of a renewable energy storage start up. Our target market is data centers/server rooms, but our target audience is CEOs. Bold change comes from the top. If we can effectively educate CEOs about how much money they will save their business via greening their data centers with renewable energy capture, storage, and generation, it will be a no-brainer to incentivise those who directly oversee IT and facilities.