The Green Initiative @ ITS

The cardboard recycling bin is now conveniently located at the loading dock area of the Commons Center next door.  This cardboard bin is available for ITS use along with plastic, paper and aluminum bins.  Inside the Commons Center there are also smaller recycle drops for dining-related items.  

-Tanish 

As part of our sustainability efforts, we are replacing the Crystal Geyser water bottles we buy each week for the ITS management area and room 238 with a standing water dispenser from Innowave. This will save $120-$170/month and it will reduce the amount of plastic we generate. Thanks to Rachel and Kathy for working on this solution!

Everyone in ITS should have received a green ceramic “Save a Cup…Save the World” coffee mug this afternoon. More mugs are on order for our friends in ACCRE. These mugs are a follow up to our previous efforts with reusable water bottles and the Energy Saving fact sheet. We are hoping that the mugs and water bottles will help reduce the demand for disposable paper cups. The less we use, the less we spend and the less we will have to dispose of each week!

As part of our Green Initiative, Tanish has recommended that ITS embark on a “Cardboard Recycling Pilot”.   To this end, Rich has approved using the space to the right of Michael Martin’s cube (as you face 18^th Avenue South) for storing broken down cardboard (minus any packing foam peanuts, bubble wrap, etc.).

Tanish has volunteered to periodically take the broken down cardboard to the recycling bin near Blakemore and Natchez Trace. 

The Network Services and Software Store teams have been recruited to formally participate in the pilot. Kudos to Tanish and Dave’s team for helping to “green” ITS!

Great news!  Plant Operations has confirmed that the recycling dumpsters currently located near Natchez Trace and Blakemore will be moved to the back of the Commons Center during August 2007.  We will be able to use the bins to recycle paper, cardboard, aluminum and plastic.  

In addition, a cardboard baler will be available in the recycling room off the loading dock.  ITS will be able to use this baler.  Compressing the cardboard will make it easier to transport and more valuable for Vanderbilt to sell. 

As part of our Green Initiative, we’ve distributed a list of suggestions for reducing, reusing, and recycling resources:

Reduce:

• Turn off lights
• Turn off monitors
• Open shades to use natural light
• Use the stairs and save the elevator for moving equipment
• Don’t leave the refrigerator door open
• Run the dishwasher only with full loads
• Use networked multi-function devices for printing, copying, faxing, etc.
• Unplug electrical devices when not in use
• Buy “Energy Star” computer equipment
• Use software to run multiple operating systems on one device rather than using a separate device for each OS
• Bring locally grown fruit as a snack and avoid using pre-packaged snacks from vending machines.
• Print double-sided
• Use motion detecting power strips
• Configure systems for sustainability
• Avoid idling the engine when driving ITS vehicles
• Convert “paper” subscriptions to “electronic”
• Walk to off-site meetings, restaurants, etc.

Reuse:

• Bring your own coffee cup to work
• Donate, redeploy, or remarket used equipment
• Use rechargeable batteries
• Use scrap paper for making “to do lists”, taking notes, etc.

Recycle:

• Recycle paper, boxes, toner cartridges, plastic bottles, phone books, etc.
• Recycle equipment

In addition, Vanderbilt’s SPEAR (Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling) organization has donated water bottles to ITS so that we can offer our staff an alternative to using paper cups.  We have also ordered coffee mugs for each employee and will be distributing those soon.

Please continue to share your ideas for how we can reduce consumption while maintaining a high level of operational service to the Vanderbilt Community.  Thank you for your support!

Asset disposal policies should minimize Vanderbilt’s liabilities around data security, regulatory requirements, and the environment; minimize disposal costs and maximize return on investment.

Disposal options include:

• Donation: Donate the asset to a school, library, charity, or other not-for-profit organization.
• Dumping: Throw the equipment away.
• Lease Return: Return the equipment at the end of its lease period to the vendor.
• Recycling: Break down computers into components and components into raw materials for reuse.
• Redeployment: Redistribute excess equipment to business units that need it and old equipment to users with less demanding processing needs.
• Remarketing: Sell the equipment to a domestic or international buyer for used or refurbished hardware. Note that the resale value of equipment depreciates quickly. It is estimated to be 5 to 7 percent of the original equipment cost during the third year, and close to zero during the fourth year.
• Storage: Store the equipment on or off site.
• Outsource: Hire an asset disposition service to manage the data destruction and equipment disposition requirements.

Redeployment is recommended for equipment that is less than two years old. Remarketing is recommended for equipment that is two to three years old. Donation, recycling, and scraping are recommended for equipment that is over three years old.

Pros and cons for each option are summarized below:

Donation:

Pros:

• Donation enhances a business unit’s reputation.

Cons:

• The business unit must destroy the data before it donates the equipment.
• The business unit must deal with the logistics of donating the equipment.
• There may be transportation costs.

Dumping:

Pros:

• There are no pros for dumping equipment in landfills even if it is obsolete or nonfunctioning.

Cons:

• Hazardous wastes such as lead, mercury, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls, and chromium may leach into the ground water supply. Exposure to these wastes can cause developmental problems, neurological damage, and cancer.
• If state, federal, and/or international regulations are not following when throwing equipment away, the business unit risks fines, lawsuits, and/or embarrassment.
• Dumping does not alleviate data security, logistical, and transportation costs.

Lease Return:

Pros:

• The vendor is responsible for destroying the data and disposing the asset.

Cons:

• Late equipment returns can result in potentially expensive, unplanned lease extensions.
• If the lease agreement includes an option to buy the equipment at the end of the lease, and if the organization elects to use this option, the business unit is responsible for destroying the data and disposing the asset.
• If the hardware is not wiped prior to the return, the lease agreement should require the supplier to destroy the data and verify the destruction.
• The business unit must deal with the logistical and transportation costs of returning the equipment.

Outsource:

Pros:

• Asset Disposition Services will identify and implement the appropriate disposition option for each system.
• The service should follow your data destruction policy, pick up the equipment from your site, transport it to a processing facility, and certify that all of your requirements have been met.
• Data wiping options include wiping the data yourself before the equipment is picked up, waiting for the supplier to wipe the data on site prior to pick up, or having the supplier wipe the data during or after pickup.

Cons:

• A contract that governs the terms and conditions of the service and that includes your business requirements should be executed. The supplier should issue certificates of recycling. It should also indemnify its customers against environment and data security liability.
• The supplier will need to be monitored to ensure it is meeting contract, data security, and environment regulations.

Recycling:

Pros:

• Recycling is an environmentally responsible option.
• A business unit’s reputation can be enhanced by recycling equipment.

Cons:

• Recycling services must be audited regularly to guarantee data security and recycling policies are followed.
• Recycling does not alleviate logistical and transportation costs.
• If recycling policies are not followed, legal liability can result.

Redeployment:

Pros:

• The data security liability is lessened since the hardware is retained in the organization.
• The business unit gets an additional return on its investment by reusing the equipment internally.

Cons:

• Data destruction and asset disposal requirements are delayed but not removed.
• The business unit must deal with the logistics of redeploying the equipment.

Remarketing:

Pros:

• The business unit receives compensation for selling its equipment.
• Reusing assets keep them out of landfills.

Cons:

• The business unit must remarket the equipment or hire a remarketing service.
• Data must be destroyed before the equipment is remarketed.

Storage:

Pros:

• Disposal liabilities are deferred.

Cons:

• Disposal liabilities are not removed
• The business unit may incur storage and transportation costs.
• The remarketing value of the asset is wasted.
• The business unit must deal with the logistics of placing the equipment in storage.

   

Data Destruction:

Data destruction options include deleting files, formatting disks, overwriting disks, and physically destroying the disk. Note that during the useful life of the drive, data should be encrypted to help prevent exposure of the data if the equipment is lost, stolen, hacked into, or not wiped at end-of-life.

Since data can be recovered after files have been deleted and disks have been formatted, these two methods are not recommended.

Overwriting is recommended and should include:

• Writing new data to the entire disk (including the blank areas and bad sectors) at least three times
• Wiping the Windows swap file area
• Reporting failures in the wiping process that would justify the physical destruction of the drive

If the wiping process fails, the disk and its data bearing platters should be destroyed. A disk may be destroyed by exposing it to a magnet or shredding it.

I met with Mark Petty (Assistant Vice Chancellor, Plant Operations), Keith Loiseau (Architect, Campus Planning and Contruction), Andrea George (Sustainability Coordinator and Associate Director, Environmental Health and Safety), and Steve Gild (Senior Safety Office and EMS Coordinator, Environment Health and Safety) this past Tuesday morning to discuss their sustainability efforts and explore how ITS might partner with them.  Everyone was very enthusiastic and passionate about the project! Here is a summary of the discussion:

• Marketing:
  
  • Andrea suggested that ITS purchase plastic mugs for staff and use the mugs as a marketing tool for our Go Green effort.  We would buy the mugs instead of buying recyclable cups.  We could list our “green” goals on the cup.  Dining Services may be able to give us a price discount on the cups.
    
  • We should develop a “Green IT” information page that links from the ITS website.
    
• Power Consumption:
  
  • Mandate that our hardware purchases are energy star compliant
    
  • Encourage business unit to move their servers to the ITS Data Center and incorporate green technology into our Data Center
    
  • Buy motion detecting power strips (these turn off power automatically when motion is not detected for some period of time)
    
  • Publish a check list for how to configure systems for sustainability (e.g. how to place a system in sleep mode)
    
  • Load patches one night per week and advice staff to power systems down on the other nights
    
  • Pre-configure DOA systems for power conservation
    
• Paper Reduction:
  
  • Work with Procurement and SmartPrint suppliers to configure multi-function devices to print double-sided by default
    
• Community Input
  
  • Work with David Wood (Philosophy professor) to review the suggestions he receives in his “Green Box”
    
  • Post a link to the Green Box site on the ITS site
    
  • Partner with Bruce Barry (Owen professor and new Faculty Senate Chair) on his goal to make sustainability the Faculty Senate’s area  of focus this year
    
• Reduce Fiber Consumption
  
  • Splice nicked fiber rather than replace it
    
• Vehicle CO2 Emissions
  
  • Educate staff about idling
    
  • As we buy new vehicles, buy hybrids, electric, or biodiesel
    
  • Develop “work from home” and “flexible work hour” policies
    
  • Give incentives for car pooling
    
• Research
  
  • Research how major corporations (Wallmart, Microsoft, IBM), Europe, and governments are tackling the problem (don’t reinvent the wheel)
    
  • Search Gartner and Burton Group for ideas
    
  • Research what peer institutions are doing
    

This is the title of a presentation I attended during Gartner's "IT and Software Asset Management Summit" in Nashville last week. The speaker, Lars Mieritz, Research VP, Gartner, focused his presentation on:

• How will environmental issues impact IT and the business?
• What are the best practices for embarking on Green IT procurement?
• How can IT organizations embed Green principles throughout the IT asset lifecycle?

Mr Mieritz identified several imperatives, guidelines, and assumptions:

Strategic Imperatives:

1. IT vendors and end-user organizations risk unnecessary costs, loss of competitive position, and bad press by not acting to decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from operations life cycle and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment. These emissions are roughly equal to those of the aviation industry and represent about 2% of the world's total CO2 emissions. Servers, PCs and monitors are the worst contributors to emissions.
2. Developing ways to meet current needs without hurting our ability to meet future needs will force organizations to focus on the complete life cycle (design, produce, distribute, use, end of life) of computer equipment. Drivers that will force the IT industry to focus on reducing power consumption and waste will include cost, legislation, regulation, reputation, and ethics.
3. The IT industry must innovate to reduce the environmental impact of producing computer equipment.
4. IT suppliers, users, and academia must collectively analyze, communicate and improve the environmental value of IT.

Strategic Planning Assumptions:

1. Within the next three years, full life cycle energy use will be used as a metric for comparing IT vendors. Full life cycle energy includes embodied energy (i.e. the amount of energy needed to manufacture and supply to the point of use) plus "in-use" energy (i.e. the amount of energy expended during the "use" phase). In general, between 70 and 80% of the full life cycle energy consumption for computer equipment (excluding servers) occurs during the embodied energy phase. This compares with 20% for refrigerators.
2. By 2010, one third of IT organizations will use environmental scorecards as purchasing criteria for ICT hardware and services.
3. By 2011, at least half of IT organizations will have started to incorporate Green IT processes into the life cycle of its equipment.
4. Within three years, 66% of best practice enterprises will reduce ICT power consumption by 25% by changing behaviors associated with client devices and in the data center.
5. Within three years, consumers and businesses will replace more than 925 million PCs globally.

Tactical Guidelines:

1. Disposal practices that focus only on cost may place an organization at risk for litigation for releasing hazardous waste into the environment.
2. As technology and environmental regulations evolve, implement a process for reviewing regulations and updating policies, goals, etc.
   1. Baseline the current situation (how much e-waste is being generated, how much power is being consumed, how well are eco standards adhered to)
   2. Develop a strategy to improve the baseline
   3. Set a goal
   4. Develop procurement, use, and disposal guidelines
3. Suppliers typically try to circumvent the procurement team by "selling to the top executive". Limit suppliers to a single point of contact within the enterprise, tell suppliers they will be disqualified for communicating outside the designated chain, and advise staff not to communicate with suppliers. Loose lips can sink ships and jeopardize deals.

Strategic Guidelines:

1. Develop an environmental policy that includes the three R's (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) and prioritize issues.
2. Identify technology suppliers that comply with the best global standards for environmental sustainability.

Key Recommendations:

1. Buy products that minimize levels of hazardous substances and that are energy efficient
2. Buy products that have been designed for recycling
3. Buy products that incorporate recycled components
4. Look for product upgradeability
5. Develop an eco-label criteria for buying computer equipment
6. Buy from suppliers that comply with WEEE regulation
7. Recycle packaging and require the supplier to collect it
8. Ask suppliers about life cycle environmental and carbon presence

The response from within ITS to Rich’s “Green Initiative” announcement yesterday has been overwhelming! Everyone is very excited and full of ideas about how we can green ITS!

Many have forwarded news articles. Here’s an interesting one that asserts IT produces as much CO2 as commercial aircraft

(http://news.com.com/Computers+as+environment-unfriendly+as+planes/2100-11392_3-6180528.html?tag=sas.email). Others have forwarded reports, website links, and ideas for new policies. Please feel free to post your suggestions to this blog or send them to me.

I’m also very excited to report we will be working with the community to learn how ITS can contribute to the new SustainVU effort (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/sustainvu/ ). There is definitely momentum building among faculty, staff, students, departments and schools to find ways to continue fulfilling Vanderbilt’s mission while protecting the environment and its resources.

Keep the ideas coming!