Be a green leader!

In this blog we have talked about many subjects and many aspects of Green IT - from trash disposal, through energy savings, to environmental responsibility on its many forms.

But Green IT is more then some distant content you consume on the internet. If you really care, and you really want to make a difference, you can make and impact.
You can be a GREEN LEADER.

But how?

Using the tools of the internet and social media in specifics, anyone can be an opinion leader and deliver the message. You can make the tone, bind other to the cause, and eventually impact firms and decision makers.

We have shown that Green IT is cost saving for the short term and for the long run, but a great motive for companies to explore this territory is the fact that the public care.

Take this blog for example:
Since we aired earlier this year, we have been doing great efforts to expand our reach to as many people as possible.

We opened a special Facebook page for the blog:

Promoting every week the new blogposts that were uploaded:

Including also other posts that might be related to the subject, to keep it as lively as possible: 

We reached nearly 70 likes for the page from our friends' circles and other that have join later:

 But we didn't stop there - we also used LinkedIn to promote our blog, and even got a response from activists in green groups!

But that just wasn't enough...

We set up a twitter account especially for the blog and started twitting away :)

Buy off course that the possibilities are endless.

In this example we posted in a Green IT special blog, and got some really interesting responses:

In conclusion. the minute you get the word out there, you will be surprised how much impact you can create. Green IT is the future of all of us.

Don't just join the trend - LEAD IT!


From all of us in TheGreenHouse IE,
                                       
                                                         Good luck!

DIGITAL POLLUTION AND DATA CENTERS - HOW IT COMPANIES ARE ACTING

In some previous posts we have seen issues related to electronic devices after their useful life. This is one of the biggest issues related to the Green IT world, but how about energy usage by data centers? What are big IT companies doing to be more sustainable?

Today's digital age requires ultra-fast computer servers to process incredible amounts of information instantaneously. These computer servers are housed in gargantuan facilities called “data centers.” Millions of data centers exist around the world processing every click, tweet, upload, or download generated by some one billion users. Data centers consume stupendous amounts of energy, most of them, in an inefficient manner. Experts say that the wasted power produced by most data centers is taking a very real and lasting toll on the environment.

Recent research shows that data centers produce two percent of global emissions, a consumption equivalent to a country as big as Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asz3FfsoBjA

In 2010 Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Apple said they would focus on using more renewable power to minimize the environmental impact of their services.

In fact, in April 2014 Greenpeace marked Google, Apple, and Facebook as the cleanest data center operators for transparency, policy, efficiency, and advocacy in its April Clicking Clean report.

Google received a B rating for transparency, B for policy, B for efficiency, and A for advocacy.

Apple earned A, A, B, and A, while Facebook managed A, A, A, and B for the same categories. The three companies, alongside Box, Rackspace, and Salesforce, have committed to powering data centers with 100 per cent renewable energy.

Greenpeace's scorecard lists Apple as having already reached a 100% clean energy index, while Google is split; 48% sits within the clean energy index, 13%in natural gas, and 22% and 15% in coal and nuclear energy, respectively. Facebook is divided 49%, 7%, 25% and 16% along the same categories.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace places Amazon Web Services (AWS) among the "dirtiest and least transparent companies in the sector." AWS has zero reporting of its energy or environmental footprint. Twitter falls under the same bracket.

Besides using renewable energy, another solution to reduce digital pollution can be found in innovation.

A growing number of data centers are redirecting the heat from their hot aisles to nearby homes, offices, greenhouses and even swimming pools. The ability to re-use excess heat from servers is being built into new data centers, helping to improve the energy efficiency profile of these facilities.

Here are some examples of heat recycling data centers:

Telecity (France)

Telehouse West (United Kingdom)

IBM (Switzerland)

IBM and Syracuse University (New York)

Notre Dame University (Indiana)

Quebecor (Canada)

Knowing the huge impact they can have, make sure you choose wisely when selecting which data center to work with?

Reuse instead of Recycle – Good for the environment. Good for others.

In an earlier post, we have seen that proper disposal of unwanted or broken electronic devices, the so-called “Technotrash”, is an important part of Green IT. Very often, these devices are not even recycled, but instead end up in landfills releasing heavy metals into our land, water and air. 

What if we choose to reuse computers instead of recycling them? It's more earth-friendly than recycling as reuse extends the life of a working computer significantly. It's easy on the environment as no hazardous materials are exported and no parts end up in landfills.

 Reusing just one computer with a CRT monitor will save:

·         30 lbs of hazardous waste

·         77 lbs of solid waste

·         147 lbs (17.5 gallons) of water from being polluted

·         32 tons of air from being polluted

·         1,333 lbs of CO2 from being emitted

·         7,719 kilowatts of energy (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

You might wonder who would like to reuse old computers and how companies manage to find these people? There are several organizations around the world that can help with that. One of them is Interconnection, a Seattle-based organization that helps non-governmental organizations and poor communities around the world by providing high-quality refurbished desktop and laptop computers. As Interconnection states on its website: “Old desktops or laptops might be ready to retire but they can still travel the world on important missions.” In the past 15 years, InterConnection has provided tens of thousands of computers to organization in 40 countries and reached over 250,000 people.

 

More than 750 companies partner with Interconnection, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies since Interconnection does not offer only professional IT Asset Disposition service, but also charitable reuse. Companies even have the power to direct refurbished computers towards a cause of their choice. Interconnection makes it easy for companies to join: free national pickups and secure data destruction.