Posted May 13, 2009
The Green IT Perspective
By Preston Gralla
Every day, computers, electronic devices, and IT hardware use more and more energy, so much so that they have become a major contributor of CO2 emissions. We all know that, of course, and it’s one of the driving factors behind the move to Green IT. But the use of those technologies, including the Internet and corporate networks, also helps reduce CO2 emissions as well in many ways, such as videoconferencing reducing travel, online shopping reducing driving, and Web-based searching reducing the use of paper-based sources of information.
The question is this: Does the Internet, IT, and similar technologies lead to greater CO2 emissions overall, or does it reduce them?
The debate over that has been raging for quite some time. Google, as you might imagine, says that overall, ICT (Information and communications technology) actually reduces CO2 emissions, rather than increases them. In my blog, “Google: We’re Greener than Newspapers and OJ” I give the low-down on Google’s reasoning, including some very entertaining facts, such as that a single daily newspaper produces the same amount of CO2 emissions as 850 Google searches.
I think that Google is right on this one, even if some of its reasoning is self-serving. And, as I explain in my blog, at the core of that energy savings is Green IT.
Also this past week on my blog, I wrote about a way for IT pros to beat the recession: Become a Green IT consultant. As I explain in “Beat the Recession: Become a Green IT Consultant,” Forrester reports that the market for Green IT consulting services will grow at 60% per year for the next several years, and will reach $4.8 billion by 2013. That’s just one more reason for you to green your data center and enterprise now — it can be very good for your career.
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