Is going green worth it

Malaysian Business, Sep 16, 2008 by Cynthia Ann Peterson

GREEN IT HAS BECOME THE TOPIC OF the moment in technology as rising energy costs and environmental concerns become mainstream issues. Some industrialised nations have already taken steps to reduce their carbon footprints where public and private sector IT procurements are concerned, and such policies have made energy efficiency a key requirement. How has the trend caught on in this region, and are companies seeing green as a way to stay in the black? IDC shares some of its research insights into the issue with.

BET ON IT

Despite the continual discussion surrounding Green IT, it is still too soon to tell how pervasive it will be in the near future.

`It is not yet mainstream, and it is the beginning of a trend based on organisations seeing tangible business benefits from Green IT, and the positive environmental outcome,' says Philip Carter, principal of Green IT Research, IDC Asia/Pacific.

IDC defines Green IT as an interplay of business, energy and technology (BET), and Carter says while the focus so far has been on technology, the research organisation prefers a more extended view.

Organisations around the region have yet to really get a handle on Green issues, as IDC's Asia/Pacific Green Poll, an on-going user survey focusing on Green IT awareness and adoption, yielded some interesting results.

Some 77% of organisations did not have a Green IT policy in place although 80% were aware of the environmental impact IT has on the planet. Half of those polled do consider a vendor's Green position while 38% do put Green requirements in their request for proposals (RFPs).

The positive economic aspects of Green technology, with its energy- efficiency features are beginning to resonate within the business community. It's debatable how environmentally-conscious companies really are, but the cost saving benefits cannot be ignored. The IDC poll showed that 75% saw cost as a driver for Green IT, with nearly 60% citing CSR as a driver. Technology affects business competitiveness, and Green IT's attributes are a route towards more environmentally-friendly products.

However, where the cost mostly comes from can be difficult to determine as the IT department will not have an electricity bill of its own. The energy bill tends to be for overall usage, and Carter says that while energy consumption across the organisation is outside the normal realms of IT, this presents the CIO with an opportunity to be seen as an innovator.

HIGH PRIORITY

It is no surprise that data centres are a high priority for CIOs in the region due to escalating power and cooling costs. For example, in the US alone, electricity usage by data centres is 1.5% of total national consumption, and is projected to go up to 2.9% by 2011.

`Power and cooling is also a key focus in Malaysia. Overall, between 1996 and 2011, new server spend is expected to be stagnant, but power and cooling is projected to be eight times new server spend over the forecast period,' says Carter.

Continual infrastructure building adds pressure on electricity consumption, as data centres are assessed by its equipment and power needs.

The solution to reducing cost cannot be a narrow, knee-jerk approach however.

`We advocate taking a holistic view, and aspects of reduction, prediction and measurement of power needs data centre design and energy conservation need to be taken as a whole. A majority go from measurement to reduction, but there are significant benefits of looking at the overall design of the data centre. It is important to look at the issue from different angles says Carter.

Savings can be as much as 50%, and there is a cascading effect all round, from hardware to efficiency.

SUSTAINABLE IT PROCUREMENT

IDC predicts that sustainable IT procurement will become mainstream in three years as the tangible benefits such as reduced electricity consumption are seen more pervasively. This is an opportunity for technology to be used in a positive sense, and overall in Green IT, cost and the positive environmental impact are the main drivers in this space.

`In Asia, the focus is on a win-win situation and no one is going to choose between the two. In Europe, CSR is more accepted in business and there is more leeway to pay a premium for Green technology.

Overall, there is a greater awareness of the environment, including here in the country, and the need to reduce the impact of IT on it.