green it

HP Offering Free 'Green IT for Dummies' Guide

jplatt — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Studies have shown that companies can decrease their IT costs by embracing "green IT" techniques, all while increasing their IT power.

Do you think your company might benefit from green IT? If so, then HP has something for you: a free, limited edition "Green IT for Dummies" pocket book.

Created as an introduction to help organizations go green, the guide offers "simple and straight-forward ideas on how to reduce the environmental impact of IT systems and harness the power of IT to reduce the wider environmental impacts of climate change in society"

If order to get your free book, you need to answer two brief questions on HP's website:

a) Does your company have a specific Green IT plan?
b) Which function is responsible for achieving that?

Okay, so this is basically a sales tool to get you to buy HP's services, but hey, free is free. So if your company would benefit from going greener, answer those questions and get your free book. You never know, you might learn something.

Assess the Benefits of Green IT with Free Online Tool from Redemtech

jplatt — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0500

Would your company benefit from greener IT practices? A free online tool from Redemtech can help you find the answer.

The Sustainable Computing Assessment allows you to discover how your IT lifecycle management and disposal policies stack up against industry best practices. By plugging in information about your company policies and processes, the Assessment tool:

Explores the policy, practice and governance issues essential for establishing a truly sustainable IT asset management program
Scores against industry averages for productivity, reuse, accountability, energy and environmental social responsibility
Findings and recommendations point to areas for improvements

You need to register with Redemtech and receive their news updates to take the assessment, but that sounds like a pretty small price!

While you're on their site, register to receive the white paper they sponsored, Beyond Power: IT’s Roadmap to Sustainable Computing. It will give you all kinds of additional information and tools to help you green your IT department so it doesn't cost you quite so much green.

Green IT: Fujitsu Siemens Introduces Its Own Green Label

jplatt — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:00:00 -0500

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has unveiled a proprietary, three-star ranking system for its own computer hardware products.

The Green IT label looks at FSC's products and ranks them according to such criteria as energy efficiency, the use of toxic materials, and recyclability.

Says Fujitsu: "To achieve a green label, products must fulfill a number of crucial criteria related to production methods, materials, recycling and energy efficiency. The highest, three-star ranking is awarded only to products which fulfill extremely stringent requirements - far above and beyond what is required by law or by other current industry labels."

The labels take effect with the products Fujitsu Siemens had on the market as of last month, and already ranks 33 desktop, laptop and server products. So far, 10 products have earned one star, 16 have two stars, and seven have three stars.

Sure, this is just one more label to add to the mess of "green" labels adorning products, and it would be better for all consumers if labels like this weren't just for one manufacturer, but hey, it's great to see a company seriously ranking its own products and putting the information out there for all to see. Transparency is mighty green. Good work, Fujitsu Siemens.

Start Saving Power in Your Datacenter -- Before It's Too Late

jplatt — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:00:00 -0500

Businesses are going to have to start thinking about ways to conserve power in their datacenters immediately, according to a new report which says that two-thirds of all datacenters will not have enough electricity to handle all critical computing functions in less than three years.

The survey, conducted by Emerson Network Power, found that 64% of respondents said they would run out of data capacity by 2011, because they will not be able to get enough power to run everything.

Some respondents said they are already unable to add more data capacity due to energy concerns.

Meanwhile, only 25% of respondents said they had a plan in place to reduce their energy consumption. Oops.

Of course, at the same time, the amount of servers needed by most businesses only continues to increase. More servers equals more power consumption, which means more heat, which means more refrigeration, which means more power consumption, which...

We'll be posting several ideas to reduce IT energy consumption over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for some solutions. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas that have worked for your IT department, feel free to share them here!