The Green Initiative @ ITS

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