Going Green

In different lexicons, "green" means different things. In business terms, we think profits. In environmental terms, sustainability. But today, the term green is just as applicable to dollars as it is to saving the environment. That's because environmental sustainability, once little more than a moral incentive for companies, is now an imperative to doing business. And that means it's an imperative for IT too.

Regardless of environmental impact, data center efficiency is one of the most prominent issues on the CIO's radar right now. Gartner estimates that most large IT orgs spend 5% of their total IT budgets on energy, a figure that could increase by two or three times within the next five years. But while the data center eats away at the green (environmental sustainability and profits alike), it's only one of the environmental challenges facing IT. It's also not the only place IT can have an impact on the company's environmental sustainability.

In fact, Gartner says that the CIO is in a unique position when it comes to environmental initiatives. While carbon emissions from the data center and toxic substances, such as cadmium and lead from e-waste, add to environmental problems, IT also has a chance to have a direct impact on environmental wellbeing. Through limiting those carbon emissions, launching e-cycling initiatives, utilizing virtualization and using BI tools to manage environmental compliance information, for instance, IT is actually in a position to have a huge impact on the overall sustainability of the company.

My new Green IT blog for CIO.com will address the environmental issues facing IT, the reasons why such issues can't be ignored, and how addressing them can actually help your company's bottom line.

What are some of the environmental issues facing your IT department? And what are some of the ways IT is helping environmental sustainability at your company? Let the discussion begin.

From: Cio.com