Website: Cisco Networking Academy

This report is part of Cisco's Net Academy, an online hub for resources and training on IT issues in general, with some focus on green IT specifically. This white paper lays out why green IT is growing in importance, as well as case studies of schools that are helping students get out ahead of the green wave in IT.

From the paper's introduction:

As the nation moves toward a more environmentally sustainable economy, many of the new green jobs will be information technology (IT) and networking jobs. Large-scale energy efficiency, carbon emissions reduction, resource management, and other sustainability initiatives largely depend on the monitoring, control, and analytical capabilities that only digital technology can deliver.

A study conducted by The Boston Consulting Group on behalf of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, an international alliance of IT companies, stated the following: "Information and communications technology has the potential to cut total carbon-dioxide emissions in the United States by 13 percent to 22 percent from business-as-usual projections by 2020. This translates to a gross energy and fuel savings of $140 billion to $240 billion — equivalent to a 20 percent to 36 percent reduction in imported oil consumption."

Take the smart grid, for example. Smart grid is the name for a future electrical system that could potentially reduce energy use in the U.S. by 10 percent to 15 percent. The system will merge IT and energy technology to create an intelligent infrastructure enabling two-way communication among generation plants, power transmission facilities, utilities, building sensors and meters, and even individual electrical devices and home appliances.