Green It
As awareness grows about environmental issues such as pollution, human impact on climate change, so is interest growing in environmentally friendly information technology.
While IT plays an important role in the success of any company and increasing number of companies are using information technology to support their business activities, it has also been causing to environmental pollution. IT became one of the key areas which consume huge amount of energy. Energy used by IT operation and global carbon emissions from IT have been increased dramatically over last decade. Global carbon emissions attributable to IT have been estimated at 2% to 2.5% of world totals and as high as 5-6% of developed nation totals. (GreenIT, n.d.). This percentage will rapidly grow and suffer the environment if we don’t take any action.
In this essay, I will briefly review the history, definition of Green IT, approaches to implement green IT with examples, benefits and costs of Green IT.
History and Definition of Green IT
History of Green IT started with energy star program in 1992 which was designed to encourage and recognize the energy efficiency in the monitors and printing product. Green IT was emerged shortly after the energy star program and the goals of green IT are to reduce the use of hazardous materials, maximize energy efficiency during the product 's lifetime, and promote the recyclability or biodegradability of defunct products and minimize waste.
The idea of Green IT is about environmentally sustainable IT. It is defined as "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing 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." (Murugesan, 2008).
Holistic approach to Green IT
According to Murugesan’s idea, we need to adopt a holistic approach that addresses the environmental
While IT plays an important role in the success of any company and increasing number of companies are using information technology to support their business activities, it has also been causing to environmental pollution. IT became one of the key areas which consume huge amount of energy. Energy used by IT operation and global carbon emissions from IT have been increased dramatically over last decade. Global carbon emissions attributable to IT have been estimated at 2% to 2.5% of world totals and as high as 5-6% of developed nation totals. (GreenIT, n.d.). This percentage will rapidly grow and suffer the environment if we don’t take any action.
In this essay, I will briefly review the history, definition of Green IT, approaches to implement green IT with examples, benefits and costs of Green IT.
History and Definition of Green IT
History of Green IT started with energy star program in 1992 which was designed to encourage and recognize the energy efficiency in the monitors and printing product. Green IT was emerged shortly after the energy star program and the goals of green IT are to reduce the use of hazardous materials, maximize energy efficiency during the product 's lifetime, and promote the recyclability or biodegradability of defunct products and minimize waste.
The idea of Green IT is about environmentally sustainable IT. It is defined as "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing 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." (Murugesan, 2008).
Holistic approach to Green IT
According to Murugesan’s idea, we need to adopt a holistic approach that addresses the environmental
References: Murugesan, S. (2010). Making IT Green. IT Professional, 12(2), 4–5. doi: 10.1109/MITP.2010.60 Ruth, S. (2009). Green it more than a three percent solution?. Internet Computing, IEEE, 13(4), 74-78. doi: 10.1109/MIC.2009.82 Murugesan, S. (2008). Harnessing Green IT: Principles and practices. IT Professional, 10(1), 24-33. doi: 10.1109/MITP.2008.10 Fujitsu Group. (n.d.). Green IT example. Retrieved from http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/environment/communication/report/2009/feature/greenit-casestudies.html IT energy management. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IT_energy_management Green computing. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_IT GreenIt. (n.d.). Why GreenIT?. Retrieved from http://www.greenit.net/whygreenit.html