Group 4_Green IT Consulting

 

Green IT Consulting Project Report

Group 4 : Ishan Rohit 09FN-043 Megha Bhat 09FT-084  Neeraj Kumar 09FT-096 Sandeep Mishra 09FT-134 Tarunveer Singh 09FT-161 Varun Gupta 09FT-168

 

Table of Contents

Introduction...............................................................................................................3 The Shape of Green IT Services Engagements......................................................... Engagements.........................................................4 4 Framework to Green IT....................................................................... IT.......................................................................................... ......................7 ...7 The Business Area View..............................................................................................................8 The IT Levers Driving Innovation ...............................................................................................9 The Measurement View.............................................................................................................11

Industry Prospects for Green IT Consulting......................................... Consulting............................................................13 ...................13 Mapping Services Provider Capabilities.................................... Capabilities....................................................... ............................. ..........15 15 Green IT Solutions......................................... Solutions.......................................................................................... ......................................................... ........16 16 10 Steps to Green IT....................... IT.................................................... ......................................................... ............................................18 ................18 Industry Bodies & Regulators.................................................... Regulators....................................................................... ............................. ..........20 20 Green IT for India............. India.......................................... .......................................................... ..........................................................26 .............................26 Conclusion...................................... Conclusion......... .......................................................... .......................................................... ............................................ ...............27 27 References...............................................................................................................28

 

Introduction Green IT refers to environmentally sustainable computing or IT. The field of green computing is defi define ned d as "the "the study study an and d pr prac acti tice ce of desi design gnin ing, g, manu manufa fact ctur urin ing, g, us usin ing g and disp dispos osin ing g of  computers, servers and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment." The goals of green computing are similar to green chemistry; reduce the use of hazardo hazardous us materi materials als,, maximi maximize ze energy energy effici efficiency ency during during the product product's 's lifeti lifetime me and  promote the recyclability or biodegradability of defunct products and factory waste. Research continues into key areas such as making the use of computers as energy-efficient as possible and designing algorithms and systems for efficiency-related computer technologies.

Corporate IT organizations are feeling increasing pressure and finding growing opportunities to improve their sustainability practices. Driven by a combination of cost savings imperatives, corporate green initiatives and technology refresh opportunities, enterprise IT shops are going green green and and lo look okin ing g fo forr help help to do so so.. IT se serv rvic ices es provi provide ders rs are are resp respond ondin ing g by build buildin ing g capabilities, forming alliances and positioning their resources to capture mindshare and wallet share of user companies putting green IT initiatives in place.

The nascent state of the green IT services market makes detailed forecasts of adoption by industry impractical. Industry segments that are likely to be among the earlier adopters include: 

Governm Gov ernment ent agencie agencies. s. The public sector, especially in the UK, faces strict data and

reporting requirements for carbon emissions and energy usage. Similar regulations are likely to spread across the EU and then to North America over the next several years. Accenture and BT, among other suppliers, are seeing early demand from local and national agencies in the UK; EDS is seeing pioneering moves by government clients in Australia and New Zealand. 

Energy and resources resources companies companies..  Not surprisingly given their direct participation in

carbon regulation and policy, utilities and oil and gas companies are among the early movers in assessing and improving the sustainability of their internal operations.

 



IT-intensive IT-inten sive sectors. sectors. The “usual suspects” of financial services, telecom, and pharma

were often cited in our interviews as companies facing limits on growth due to power   provisioning, cost, and/or tight real estate in their data centers. Services providers providers focused on data center environments like HP, Intel, and Sun were particularly keen about their   prospects in firms like finance and telecom that are reliant on giant data center  operations. 

Bi Big g co consu nsume merr bran brands ds an and d retail retailer ers. s. Compan Companies ies with prominent, prominent, consumer-fa consumer-facing cing

 brands were mentioned as likely candidates for green initiatives owing to their desire to maintain and improve their social-responsibility credentials.

The Shape of Green IT Services Engagements Green IT services engagements, like most consulting work, are bespoken projects tailored to clients’ circumstances, goals and budgets. Nevertheless, it’s possible to characterize the general shape of green IT engagements in terms of three interlocking phases: assessment, planning and implementation. Assessment, the crucial first step for any company, involves relatively small, short duration projects. Developing a strategic plan comes next. Around 50% of companies that hire consultants consultants for assessment assessment will move into the more detailed detailed planning planning phase. 75% of those companies will move to implementation, in which projects are typically much longer and more costly.

 

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

Phase One: Assessment Provides the Baseline

Companies’ green IT initiatives start with an assessment of their current situation. Consulting engagements in this phase typically involve: 

Creating an overall green IT plan. The scope will vary depending on the client’s goals.

For example, sometimes the plan is confined to data center operations, whereas other   projects will involve a holistic, corporate wide evaluation along the lines of BT’s “carbon impact assessment” that looks at buildings, IT, commuting and travel. The key output of   phase one will be an overall plan that sets the company’s goals, defining priorities in terms of, for example, carbon emission reduction, energy efficiency, and cost savings. 

Modeling the return on investment. The plan will include an early assessment of the

capital, operating expense and potential cost savings of green IT initiatives.

Phase Two: Planning Detailed Initiatives

In this phase, consultants will help clients develop road maps for specific green IT initiatives; choosing and prioritizing based on the plan developed in phase one. Client companies will

 

choose from a menu of initiatives, and end up with a second-phase engagement that might involve: 

Greening IT procurement and recycling. The project team will recommend policies for 

reorienting IT procurement towards greener products and greener suppliers, and draw up specific dimensions for expanded recycling programs for consumable and durable IT assets. 

Improvi Impr oving ng data center center efficien efficiency. cy. Clients and services providers will choose among

myriad initiatives for optimizing energy use in corporate data centers, yielding a roadmap for implementing, implementing, for example, server virtualiza virtualization tion and consolidati consolidation, on, an enhanced enhanced  power & cooling infrastructure, more energy-efficient server, storage and network gear. For some services providers and their clients, outsourcing data center operations and infrastructure will be on the table in this conversation. 

Position Posi tioning ing IT to support support green business. business. Depending on a project’s scope, green IT

services might involve helping the IT organization help the rest of the business go green. IT expertise and infrastructure will be crucial in initiatives for building automation, optimizing the supply chain or logistics, or setting up flexible work environments that reduce employee commuting.

Phase Three: Implementation Makes It Happen

In the implem implement entati ation on phase, phase, consult consultant antss and client clientss work work to specif specify, y, purchas purchasee and instal installl approp app ropria riate te technol technology ogy product productss and softwa software. re. Dependi Depending ng on the nature nature and scope scope of the engagement, this phase might be solely about implementing new technology (virtualization in a data center for example), or include new processes, policies and employee practices, which are often as hard or harder to implement than new server architectures or cooling infrastructure. The implementation phase is: 

Thee long Th longes estt an and d most most cost costly ly part part of a gr gree een n IT serv servic ices es enga engage geme ment nt.. Typical

timeframes run from 30 weeks to more than 100 weeks, with price tags from $300,000 to $2 million or more. Note that this is services spending only; it does not include the cost of  software licenses and new hardware.

 



Where the real revenue opportunity lies. Implementation projects are by far the largest

 part of the market opportunity for green IT services providers.

Framework to Green IT The following framework has been designed to provide a structured method for analyzing how IT can be applied to drive green benefits at both a business and operational level.

The framework is divided into three key aspects:



Business Area: specific areas within the business which can be addressed



Green Gree n Business Business Innovation: Innovation: strategic strategic,, infrastruc infrastructure, ture, application application and process process areas where

 

ICT innovations can enable environmental impacts 

Measurement Protocols: ability to track the actual benefits

 

The Business Area View This view provides an understanding of how IT has, and can be used most appropriately, to drive efficiencies within specific business functions and departments. We have identified four main  business functional areas: business operations, service and support, sales and marketing, and manufacturing and distribution.

Business Operations This area relates primarily to back office functions such as management, finance, HR and IT organization, and includes the back office infrastructure. Examples of initiatives and areas of focus include: Smart buildings Physical buildings used by core business functions; how they are operated and

managed in a more energy efficient manner. Virtual collaboration Ability to attain support functions operating in a more flexible manner,

using advanced videoconferencing and better collaboration capabilities. Dematerialization Paperless business transactions, such as e-billing and eprocurement, as well

as the movement to electronic storage of data Data centre Data centre consolidation, virtualization, automation and orchestration Procurement Adoption of company-wide green products and services

Service and Support This area focuses on how companies provide services to their customers. Examples of this functional area include: Field Fie ld Operations Operations Ability to control and coordinate field service staff in the most effective

manner, thereby optimizing travel between jobs and the delivery of spares/components in the most efficient manner  Smart Metering Optimize the manner in which energy use is tracked, monitored and billed Custom Cus tomer er Call Desks Ability to optimize call centre locations and reduce heavy use of IT

through optimized desktop and voice infrastructure Customer Custom er Billing Similar to back office operations – looking at ways of encouraging customers

to accept paperless billing/invoicing arrangements

 

Sales and Marketing Thiss area Thi area descri describes bes how to drive drive a smarte smarterr way of cond conduct ucting ing intera interacti ctions ons with with partne partners, rs, suppliers and customers through reduced travel and more collaboration, as well as reducing the overall consumable profile such as paper and an d print. Examples of this functional area are: Sales Support Ability to provide better communication and support tools for business decisions

to optimize or minimize travel between customers and negate the need to return to the office location – purely to undertake administrative tasks such as order placement, tracking and invoice completion processes Product Marketing Reduce the load on paper and consumables by using more online media and

 potentially increase the “Green Brand” impact through online media use and promotion Strategi Stra tegicc Activit Activity y Provide tools and information to help marketing and strategic functions

follow an enterprise-wide environmental agenda

Manufacturing and Distribution This is a major area for many organizations and one in which ICT already plays a major role through interaction with both the manufacturing process control con trol and supply chain management. Examples of typical initiatives in this functional area include: Smart Manufacturing Improved way in which ICT can control and manage the manufacturing

 process to optimize energy efficiency and reduce raw material movement Logistics In addition to improved transportation movements, look at the recycling of packaging as well as how specific shipments are constructed

The IT Levers Driving Innovation Within each of the business functions, various levers can be used to drive re-engineering and solution development and help enable the development of innovative solutions that are both green green and and provi provide de busi busine ness ss chan change. ge. Thes Thesee lever leverss provi provide de so solu luti tion onss to iden identi tifi fied ed green green opportunities within each business area and can provide either a top-down approach through

 

strategic change or a bottom-up approach through infrastructure re-architecting. While each lever  is not wholly within the ICT domain, ICT plays a critical role across all of them. These levers help ICT organizations understand how they can become active contributors to addressing the additional 98% of organizational emissions that result from activity beyond the ICT industry.

These levers of green business innovation are described in the table below: Strategy

Ta Taki king ng a to topp-do down wn appr approa oach ch to ch chang ange, e, th thee st stra rate tegy gy leve leverr look lookss at pote potent ntia iall chang changes es in organization organi zational al strategy strategy that can support support significan significantt changes in the environmental environmental impact impact of the organization. By adapting and tuning the strategy of an organization, change may result in the underlying processes and infrastructure required and ICT can be the enabler of these changes.  Example: dematerialization, where a shift in sales strategy from physical product deployment to digital sales requires ICT solutions to enable the strategy

Process

For many businesses, the manner in which they conduct their business can be optimized and improved by looking at the underlying business processes and ensuring they are streamlined and most effective. Most business processes have an ICT component and by understanding how  processes are supported by applications and a nd infrastructure, ICT can help drive more efficient and greener processes.  Example: implementation of document workflow processes that require ICT applications and  infrastructure to support the processes in the most efficient manner 

Applications

Busine Bus iness ss applica applicatio tions ns drive drive and suppor supportt busine business ss proces processes ses.. By unders understan tandin ding g how these these applications can be optimized to drive greater efficiencies, be rewritten or even replaced, ICT has an opportunity to drive performance improvements in business processes.  Example: the deployment of collaboration and telepresence applications that improve the efficiency of information sharing processes through the better use of application technology

 

Infrastructure

IT infras infrastr truct ucture ure can be consol consolida idated ted,, standar standardiz dized ed and optimi optimized zed to drive drive effici efficienc encies ies in operation that help improve application (and therefore process) efficiencies. Moving beyond consol con solida idatio tion n and optimi optimizat zation ion,, infras infrastru tructu cture re can become become a “platf “platform orm for innovat innovation ion”” and  provide the basis for the applications to run on in the most environmentally and financially efficient manner.  Example: virtualization and consolidation co nsolidation of infrastructure to reduce energy costs and increase energy efficiency

Strategic changes will produce a cascading effect across the application and infrastructure levels of an organization. While small changes to strategy could potentially have a major impact on environmental performance, the same is not normally so for small changes to the supporting infrastructure. To affect major change within organizations, it is key to identify strategic changes such as product dematerialization and a decoupling of economic growth from raw material usage.

The Measurement View The initial two axes of the framework identify where changes ch anges can be made that will facilitate the introduction of innovation by using ICT. The third axis provides the organization with a way of  measuring and tracking the benefits that have been delivered. Without the ability to measure returns on investment, both economic and environmental, organizations are unable to assess how effectively, or appropriately, capital has been invested and how the organization is performing. Three key metrics are important to assess the relative performance of o f ICT in delivering change to the organization.

Benchmarks

How are other organizations or ICT applications being measured, and how can they be compared to peer groups (geographic, industry and organization size)?

 

KPI (Key Performance Indicators)

How can the initiatives be driven over time and be tracked in terms of trend and overall outcome?

ROI (Return on Investment)

Invariably each initiative will need an element of investment and should provide payback in operational operat ional efficiency efficiency,, productivit productivity y improvement improvements, s, revenue revenue enhancements enhancements or cost reductions reductions along with the underlying measurement of a reduced CO2 footprint. It is critical to continue measuring the impact of ICT initiatives.

Although Altho ugh these initiatives initiatives traditionally traditionally use metrics metrics and measures measures such as power use efficiency, efficiency, CPU utilization, number of servers and other related measures, it is becoming necessary to move  beyond a simple energy efficiency model. It is recommended that organizations move towards a  process lifecycle model that takes into account both CO2 increasing activities (such as increasing ICT infrastru infrastructure cture for videoconfere videoconferencing ncing solutions) solutions) and balancing balancing this against CO2 decrea decreasing sing activities

(such

as

reduced

travel

due

to

the

videoconferencing

solution).

  These metrics need to include impacts on people and business processes as well as the activities  being undertaken. Measurements should cover all the activities a business is involved in to  provide a more robust benefit analysis that can reveal more clearly the full extent of the CO2 impacts of any ICT initiatives. There are a number of lifecycle measurement initiatives and  processes available publicly that could be used within specific industries and geographies to assist with understanding the impact of the ICT innovation initiative. While many measurements already exist in various frameworks provided either by voluntary or regulatory organizations, the ICT industry needs to work further to develop more measurements and metrics to enable better  comparison of the potential impacts and benefits of their various green initiatives.

These metrics need to measure not only the benefits of Green IT but also the value of ICT initiatives outside of the traditional power efficiency metrics. They need to be common across industries and geographies and should focus on ensuring that the overall supply chain benefits

 

are measur measured, ed, rather rather than than just just the indivi individual dual contri contributi bution on of the ICT indust industry. ry. Thi Thiss helps helps organizations move towards an “increase in the silicon footprint to reduce the carbon footprint” mindset and actively promote overall savings.

Examples of Measurements 

Raw material production and delivery emissions



Transportation and storage related emissions



Transport distances and modes used in delivery of service/product



Manufacturing-related emissions



Employee commute distance travelled and mode of travel



Emissions from disposal and recycling activities



Desktop/laptop use



Office area used/employee



Consumables consumed (toner/paper/etc.)

Industry Prospects for Green IT Consulting With just a sliver of companies currently engaging a green IT services provider, this is clearly a nascent market. From a standing start of around $500 million in 2008, enterprise user spending for green IT services will grow by 60% annually to reach $4.8 billion in 2013. After that, the market will slowly decline, as most companies will have completed their implementation of  green IT practices and technologies. In the context of an estimated $170 billion North American market for IT consulting and systems integration in 2013, the $5 billion market for green IT servic ser vices es might might look look like like small small potato potatoes es to vendor vendor strate strategis gists. ts. The visibi visibili lity ty and str strate ategic gic importance of green IT projects will put them near the top of many corporations’ consulting agendas and service providers will aggressively compete for such high-profile wins.

The growth of enterprise spending on green IT services will vary considerably by geography. In  particular:

 

1) Ado Adoptio ption n and spending spending will grow fastest fastest in Europe. Europe. Companies there are clearly taking the threat of business disruption from the effects of climate change more seriously and moving their awareness into action more quickly, than companies in other parts of  the world. As a result, green IT services spend by European enterprises will be roughly double that of US companies in 2009, and will continue to exceed that in the US market market  by a considerable margin through the forecast period, hitting a peak of $2.1 billion in 2013. 2) North American enterprises will start a little later. The slightly larger North American enterprise population will begin adopting later than its Europe counterpart, but maintain the same growth rate during our forecast period, crossing the $1 billion mark one year  after the European market, and peaking at $2.2 billion in 2014. 3) Asi Asia a Paci Pacific fic (AP) (AP) co comp mpan anies ies wi will ll lag. lag. Adoption of green IT services in the major  countries of AP will lag that in the other geographies considerably, reaching $760 million in 2014, about one third the spending level of North American companies that year. The AP market for green IT services will continue to grow beyond our forecast period,  peaking in 2015 or 2016, and then begin to decline.

 

Forecast: Global Green IT Services Spending By Geography 2008-2014

Mapping Services Provider Capabilities Vendors Bring A Variety Of Green IT Services From Different Angles

Although all these suppliers are looking to leverage their internal expertise and experience in sustainable IT operations, they approach the green IT services market from different angles and experience bases. They can be generally categorized as:

· Services arms of IT system manufacturers (Dell, HP, Intel, and Sun). These vendors’

services practices are pretty tightly tied to their product offerings, hence, tend to be focused on data center design and optimization. Sun has some broader capabilities that stretch into IT  procurement and recycling processes.

 

Getronics nics and · IT systems systems integrator integrators/ou s/outsou tsourcer rcerss (CSC, (CSC, EDS, EDS, Getron Getronics, ics, and Wipro). Getro Wipro are data center-oriented; CSC and EDS have broader visions of corporate green initiatives and IT’s role within them. All see data center outsourcing as an avenue to reducing the corporate carbon footprint.

· IT consulting giants (Accenture, Deloitte, and IBM). These providers take a broad, top-down

view of green IT services. Although they have data center expertise, they approach IT from the corporate sustainability and CSR perspectives, helping clients position IT as an enabler of and contributor to wide-ranging green business initiatives.

· Telecom services supplier (BT). BT is seeking to leverage its extensive internal experience in

greeni gre ening ng data data center centerss and in planni planning ng a corpor corporate ate wide wide approach approach to sustai sustainab nabili ility. ty. Mor Moree important than where they come from is the providers’ focus in terms of helping enterprise clients address their green IT challenges and opportunities. o pportunities. · Data center-focused. center-focused. Suppliers on the left side of the spectrum are focused on clients’ data

center cen ter operat operation ions. s. They They have have specif specific ic and deep deep expert expertise ise and experi experience ence in and tools tools for  improving the efficiency and mitigating the environmental impacts of o f data centers.

· Corporate sustainability-focused. These suppliers usually have data center expertise, but their 

green IT practice & offerings range more broadly across IT and other corporate processes. Their  cons consul ulti ting ng offe offeri ring ngss ty typi pical cally ly go beyon beyond d tech techno nolo logy gy to incl include ude orga organi niza zati tiona onall ch chang ange, e,  procurement policies and helping IT enable greener business practices in areas like supply chain optimization or building automation.

Green IT Solutions Smart Buildings and Infrastructure

 

Soluti Sol utions ons to reduce reduce the level level of emissi emissions ons from from buildi buildings ngs and core core infras infrastru tructu cture re through through improv imp roved ed design design,, monito monitorin ring g and control control,, as well well as engine engineeri ering ng and constr construct uction ion indust industry ry support through appropriate tools to reduce energy needs

Smart Manufacturing

Improvement to manufacturing processes to reduce wastage and energy consumption through technology which supports activities such as: · Monitoring and management of production process · Dematerialization of products at both the early design and delivery stages · Improvement of logistics for the delivery of final products to end-customers and consumers

Smart Energy Management

Increa Inc reased sed capabi capabilit lities ies in the supply supply of energy energy to users users throug through h techno technolog logies ies to improv improvee measurement, management and prediction of demand Sustainable Energy Production

Technology to support the integration of micro-generation solutions into the wider energy supply chain and efficient management of specific implementations

Carbon Accounting and Tracking

Systems to measure and report on energy use and emissions generation with linkage across an organization organi zation’s ’s supply supply chain, thus enabling enabling product comparison comparison and targeted targeted environment environmental al improvements.

Increased Energy Efficiency of Data Centre Technologies and Electronic Devices

Solutions to increase the energy efficiency of data centre infrastructure through virtualization, consolidation and new technologies and increasing the power efficiency of mobile and consumer  electronic elect ronic devices. devices. Solutions Solutions include include using using virtualiza virtualization tion and consolidati consolidation on technologie technologiess to relocate data centres to lower cost and cleaner energy locations while maintaining existing employee premises.

 

10 Steps to Green IT Many business executives recognize the need to act on carbon footprint reduction and green IT. However, a myriad of information exists – some of it contradictory – and it can be difficult to determine where to start. Capgemini presents a 10-step guide to formulating a green IT strategy. 1. Implement an active Corporate Social Responsibility function.   Your company should have an active Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) function with comprehensive policies that include ethical supply chain management to ensure that the IT  procurement strategy is compliant co mpliant with local legislation and is ecologically robust. This function should sho uld have have execut executive ive sponso sponsorsh rship ip as, without without this, this, any of the follow following ing steps steps will will prove prove difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. 2. Benchmark your company’s carbon footprint.  Consider aspects such as lighting, heating, air-conditioning, datacenters, car and truck fleets (mileage and carbon emission), business travel, vending and recycling. Determine a realistic  benchmark and then set attainable but aggressive targets (perhaps over five or ten years). 3. Benchmark the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of the datacenter.   This This is the rat ratio io of power power enteri entering ng the datacent datacenter er used used to power the IT hardwar hardware, e, and is an established establishe d metric metric for datacenter datacenter efficiency. efficiency. For more information information on PUE, see the Green Grid white paper, The Green Grid Data Center Power Efficiency Metrics PUE and DCiE. 4. Ensure IT and business work together. The pursuit of green IT cannot come at the expense of business needs. Instead, a green IT strategy should fit within, and be aligned with, business needs. Business, however, should understand the potential benefits of pursuing green IT, such as cost-efficiency creation and improved workplace practices. A shared approach is necessary to ensure both green IT and  business objectives can be pursued simultaneously and for mutual benefit. 5. Make achieving targets everyone’s responsibility.

 

Use the company intranet or notice boards to publish regular updates on progress against targets and advise on simple, achievable steps (e.g. recycling, turning off PCs before leaving in the evening). 6. Consider the whole product lifecycle when contemplating technology upgrades. Whil Wh ilee newer newer hard hardwa ware re will will be more more ener energy gy effi effici cient ent,, is this this en enoug ough h to outw outwei eigh gh the the environmental impact of disposing of old hardware, manufacturing new hardware, and having it transported trans ported to your facilities? facilities? Any decision decision will have an environment environmental al impact. impact. Consider Consider all of  the factors to make a green decision. 7. Work with suppliers to improve your IT carbon footprint. Talk to your hardware suppliers suppliers and, if relevant, your datacenter datacenter services supplier. supplier. This should  be more than a cost-based, procurement conversation. Determine what part they can play in improving your IT carbon footprint. Remember, there are benefits in it for them if they can cite your green credentials as a success story. 8. Understand that more IT does not mean less green.  An increase in IT spending and the IT infrastructure does not necessarily mean a larger carbon footprint or a more negative environmental impact. For example, investing in video-conferencing technol tec hnology ogy and collab collabora oratio tion-en n-enabl abling ing softwa software, re, such such as Google Google Apps, Apps, can help help to reduce reduce int intern ernati ationa onall travel travel.. In the office office,, thi thin-c n-clie lient nt deskto desktops ps or PC’s PC’s enable enabled d with with Intel® Intel® vPro™ vPro™ technology can reduce power consumption and noise while control systems can regulate heating, lighting and air-conditioning, thus reducing energy consumption and costs. 9. Take a position on new technology. Cloud and utility computing, virtualization, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Desktop-as-a Service and open source software represent technologies that serve business needs first, yet are also greener than existing technologies. Thin-client desktops and SaaS, for example, reduce the amount of power consumed, and volume of physical hardware and software produced and shipped. shipp ed. From a business business point of view, user mobility mobility is increased and data is centrally centrally stored, stored,  better controlled and more secure.

 

10. Consider enlisting help. Investigate whether a body dedicated to sustainability already exists in your company’s industry sector. It may be able to provide guidance in setting and realizing green goals. In the absence of  (or in addition to) industry-specific bodies, there are many organizations that can help: • Specialist carbon-benchmarking organizations. In many regions, this may be a service available through throu gh national national or local government. government. Otherwise, Otherwise, there is a growing growing number of companies able to offer specialist services. • Business consultants, technology consultants and outsourcers, such as Capgemini, who can  provide guidance on appropriate business practice and technology deployment. • Governmental bodies such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and quasigovernmental bodies like the Carbon Trust in the UK. • Utility companies often have energy-conservation advisors who can be engaged to advise on  practices, green energy tariffs, etc. • Datacenter infrastructure specialists can advise on getting the best out of your datacenter. Sun Microsystems customers can request information on their own datacenter efficiency programs from account managers. • See the Industry Bodies & Regulators section for a list of many more organizations that can help.

Industry Bodies & Regulators There The re are many many indust industry ry bodies bodies,, organi organizat zation ions, s, initia initiativ tives es and progra programs ms around around the world world dedicated to regulating, reducing, monitoring and measuring carbon footprint in one way or  another. Some of these are referenced in this document and so a brief explanation of what they are and what they do has been provided.

California Public Utilities Commission’s California Solar S olar Initiative

 

www.cpuc.ca.gov/puc/Energy/solar 

The California Solar Initiative is part of a state-wide effort to install 3,000 megawatts of new, grid-connected solar systems by 2016. The CPUC-directed program provides $1.167 billion in rebate reb atess and cash cash incent incentives ives on solar solar system systemss to custom customers ers of the Pacifi Pacificc Gas and Electr Electric ic Company Com pany,, Souther Southern n Calif Californ ornia ia Edi Edison son,, and San Diego Diego Gas and Electr Electric ic Com Compan pany. y. These These incentives, combined with federal tax incentives, significantly lower the total cost of a solar  system.

Carbon Disclosure Project www.cdproject.net The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organization aimed at creating a lasting relationship between shareholders and corporations regarding the implications for shareholder value and commercial operations presented by climate change. Its goal is to facilitate dialogue, supported by quality information, from which a rational response to climate change will emerge.

Climate Action Network Europe www.climnet.org Climate Action Network Europe (CAN-E) is recognised as Europe’s leading network working on climate and energy issues. With over 100 members in 25 european countries, CAN-E unites to work to prevent dangerous climate change and promote sustainable energy and environment  policy in Europe. CAN-E is part of The Climate Action Network (CAN), a worldwide network  of over 365 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to promote government, private sectorr and individual secto individual action to limit limit human-induce human-induced d climate climate change to ecologically ecologically sustainabl sustainablee levels. CAN is based on trust, openness and democracy.

Climate Savers Computing Initiative www.climatesaverscomputing.org Started by Google and Intel in 2007, the Climate Savers Computing Initiative is a non-profit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations. The Initiative was started in the spirit of the WWF’s Climate Savers program which has mobilized over a dozen

 

companies since 1999 to cut carbon dioxide emissions, demonstrating that reducing emissions is good business. The group’s goal is to promote development, deployment and adoption of smart technologies that can both improve the efficiency of a computer’s power delivery and reduce the energy consumed when the computer is in an inactive state.

EICC www.eicc.info The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) is a group of companies working together  to create a comprehensive set of tools 76 Industry Bodies & Regulators and methods that support cr credi edibl blee im impl pleme ement ntat atio ion n of th thee EI EICC CC Code Code of Condu Conduct ct thro through ughou outt the the Elec Electr tron onic icss and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) supply chain. Membership in the EICC is open to all electronic manufacturers, software firms, ICT firms, and manufacturing service providers, including contracted labor, that design, market, manufacture and/or provide electronic goods. ENERGY STAR  www.energystar.gov Focused on the domestic and commercial arenas, ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy that aims to save money and protect the environment through the use of energy-efficient products and practices. The EPA’s ENERGY STAR partnership offers an energy management strategy that assists in the measurement measu rement of current current energy performance, performance, setting goals, track tracking ing savings, savings, and rewarding rewarding improvement impr ovements. s. The EPA provides provides an energy performance performance rating system system which businesses businesses have already applied to more than 62,000 buildings across the US The EPA also recognizes top performing buildings with the ENERGY STAR.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - Ireland www.epa.ie Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency is an independent public body established under the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992. The EPA has responsibility for licensing and control of large scale waste and industrial activities to ensure that they do not endanger human

 

health or harm the environment; national environmental policing; monitoring, analysing and reporting on the environment; regulating Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions; environmental resear res earch ch and develop developmen ment; t; str strate ategic gic enviro environme nmenta ntall assess assessmen ment; t; enviro environme nmenta ntall planni planning, ng, education and guidance and proactive waste management.

EPA – Climate Leaders www.epa.gov/stateply Climat Cli matee Leader Leaderss is an EPA indust industryry-gove governm rnment ent partne partnersh rship ip tha thatt wor works ks with with compan companies ies to develop develo p comprehensi comprehensive ve climate climate change strategies. strategies. Partner Partner companies companies commit commit to reducing reducing their  impact on the global environment by completing a corporate-wide inventory of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on a quality management system, setting aggressive reduction goals and annually reporting their progress to the EPA. Through program participation, companies create a credible record of their accomplishments and receive EPA recognition as corporate environmental leaders. EPA - Green Power Partnership www.epa.gov/grnpower  The EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program aimed at helping to increase the use of green green power power among among leadin leading g US organi organizat zation ions. s. These These organi organizat zation ionss are encoura encouraged ged to  purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impact associated with conventional electricity use. The Green Power Partnership works with hundreds of leading US organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, local, state, and federal government agencies, manufacturers and retailers, trade associations, as well as a growing number of colleges and universities. Partners purchase billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which has the equivalent impact of removing the emissions of hundreds of thousands of passenger cars from the road each year.

EPA – SmartWay Transport Partnership www.epa.gov/smartway The SmartWay Transport Partnership is a collaborative, voluntary program between the EPA and industry, including manufacturers who ship products, freight carriers and logistics companies, to

 

improve the energy efficiency and reduce the GHG associated with transport. The EPA Green Power Partners List, a voluntary partnership between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US freight industry, targets reductions in fuel consumption, GHG emissions and other air emissions. By 2010, the EPA expects to remove at least 33 million tones of CO2e emissions a year via this program.

EPEAT www.epeat.net The Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a system dedicated to helping helpi ng purchasers purchasers in the public and private private 78 Industry Industry Bodies & Regulators Regulators sectors sectors evaluate, evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for  efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its products. Global Reporting Initiative www.globalreporting.org The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has pioneered the development of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework and is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide. This framework sets out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental and social performance.

Green Grid www.greengrid.org The Green Grid is a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in datacenters and business computing ecosystems. In furtherance of its mission, the Green Grid is focused on the following: following: defining meaningful, meaningful, user-centric user-centric models models and metrics; metrics; developing developing standards, standards, measurement measu rement methods, processes processes and new technologies technologies to improve improve datacenter datacenter performance performance against the defined metrics; and promoting the adoption of energy-efficient standards, processes, measurements and technologies.

 

Scottish Environmental Protection Agency www.sepa.org.uk  The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) is Scotland’s environmental regulator  and advisor, responsible to the Scottish Parliament through Ministers. As well as a role in controlling pollution, SEPA works with others to protect and improve the environment.

United Nations Global Compact www.unglobalcompact.org The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of  human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. By doing so, business, as a primary agent driving globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere.

US Green Building Council – LEED www.usgbc.org The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ encour enc ourage agess and accele accelerat rates es global global adopti adoption on of sus sustai tainabl nablee green green buildi building ng and develop developmen mentt  practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

World Resources Institute www.wri.org The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people’s lives. The WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect the Earth’s environment and its capacity to  provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Because people are inspired by ideas, empowered by knowledge, and moved to change by greater understanding, the WRI provid provides es – and helps helps other other insti institut tution ionss provid providee – object objective ive inform informati ation on and practi practical cal  proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development.

 

Green IT for India For Green IT to achieve a sustainable impact, Indian firms need to transform their approach to Green IT from ‘Obligation’ to ‘Opportunity’. In other words, the firms should use IT proactively to holistically transform into “Green” businesses rather than only focusing on making IT infrastructure, services and products “Green”.  Needless to say, IT products and services need to become more environment friendly but that cannot and should not be the only focus area. IT can play the role of a catalytic change agent for  firmss to make their entire firm entire value chains Green. Focusing Focusing on Green IT pro-actively pro-actively will create create ‘blue sky’ business innovation opportunities for firms. Additionally, as IT adoption increases in India, we also need to ensure that Green IT is inculcated right from the beginning in order to avoid avo id a sit situat uation ion where where the nation nation gets gets saddle saddled d with with a legacy legacy and obsole obsolete te inf infras rastr truct ucture ure..

 NASSCOM has recently announced its ‘Green IT’ initiative and NASSCOM’s Green IT strategy is broadly aligned along the following three vectors: 

Make IT Green: Adoption by industry of Green technologies and practices including

Green buildings, Green computing infrastructure e.g. energy efficient data centers, power  efficient computers, sharing infrastructure e.g. shared data centers, addressing issues like e-waste management 

Make Green Happen Through IT:  Deploy IT solutions which help firms become

Green including like Cloud Computing, Co mputing, video-conferencing, intelligent transport systems, web-conferencing, motion and heat detection sensors etc 

Make Green warriors: Encourage the over 2 million employees of the IT-BPO industry

to adopt a Green life-style and thereby become change agents to catalyze transformation and create a sustainable impact in the society around themselves.

 

Conclusion The ubiquity of IT in business provides the sector with a unique opportunity to drive innovative change while actively reducing greenhouse gas emissions. New technologies allow businesses and consumers to control and reduce their carbon footprint, creating a platform for radical change in the way that products and services are produced and delivered. The challenge awaiting the industry is to effectively demonstrate how IT can be used not just for individual process changes, but instead for large-scale strategic efforts.

The majority of IT organizations recognize that there is a fundamental need to be able to demonstrate IT’s value and contribution to overall emissions reduction and that measurements, standards and innovation need to be promoted to ensure the desired outcomes are measurable and achievable. A solid data-driven approach is required to articulate the value and benefits of green IT innovation and solid business cases will need to be built to ensure that both economic and environmental concerns are addressed.

In the course of building these metrics, however, it will be critical for the industry to explore any offset value produced through new technologies. While these technologies may emit emissions, their implementation in other industries may lead to a net n et reduction in total CO2 emissions.

Carbon metrics should become a fundamental part of performance metrics within the boardroom. This will allow organizations to better understand, control and measure the environmental impact of projects and initiatives across the organization and across industries. IT has too often been considered a “driver for the business”, and as such has been viewed in the silo of the specific  project for which it is needed. By viewing IT strategically across the entire organization, IT can  become the “engine of the business”.

 

References

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Gartner   –  Focus Less on IT as an Environmental Liability and More on How IT Can Improve Gartnerr Press Release, Release, Egham UK, October  October  Your Company’s Carbon Footprint, Says Gartner , Gartne 4th, 2007

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