Sustainability

I have often struggled with the question of social sustainability in the IT industry.  We can work diligently to reduce the environmental impact of the equipment and electricity we use in IT and we can measure this impact in CO2 emission reductions, kWh and against best practices.  In the area or social sustainability, it is much more difficult to see the impact.  We can make sure that we are purchasing equipment from responsible manufacturers who are not polluting water sources where they operate, we can look at the social impact of technology such as web 2.0 and the buildin

In his new book The Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook: How to Transform Your Company, Bob Willard presents models and practices from the best available personal, organizational and cultural management theories. Mr. Willard masterfully distils and connects frameworks from thought leaders such as Peter M. Senge, Stephen R. Covey, Peter R. Scholtes, Bob Doppelt, Andrew Savitz, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, J.M. Fisher, Doug McKenzie-Mohr, John Kotter and others.

How does an organization design a holistic green IT program? Terrabytes recommends a project framework with four categories: policies and performance reporting (e.g. responsible purchasing policy), energy consumption (ways to reduce energy usage), strategic asset management (looks at what and how much hardware you have and how you upgrade) and green business support (how IT can support greener business operations).

How do you define your green IT project areas? What areas have you looked at?

At Terrabytes we believe that the solution to our current world situations will be made up of a multitude of creative, innovative and thoughtful acts on behalf of individuals and organizations.  When there is no 'silver bullet', getting started can be challenging.  To help organizations get started even with small steps, we recommend the following five easy ways to get started with greening your IT.  If you have questions, please feel free to contact us by filling out the Contact Us form on the left-hand side of this article.

In a recent article titled "Is Green IT Your Emporor With No Clothes", Forrester associate Doug Washburn posits that "technology is not green and never will be."  Washburn adds that although the technology itself is not green, enterprises have much to gain from greening initiatives including financial and environmental performance improvments.