Linda posted on August 15, 2008 14:40
One of the sessions at last week's Breakaway that was interesting to me was titled "Greening the Desktop". What was surprising to me, however, was that this session was not widely attended, with only about 6 people showing up to learn how we as technology consultants can help our clients save money and reduce energy consumption.
Large enterprises - like Dell, Google and IBM - have garnered lots of press for stating that they intend to focus on greening their data centers. But the term 'data center' is pretty much a foreign concept to small business, so how can small business become green?
One way is to consider replacing older systems with newer, more efficient models. Power supply manufacturers have started producing power supplies that adher to the 80 Plus standards. Power supplies must be at least 80% efficient to earn this designation. Additionally, the EPEAT registry allows manufacturers to earn green designations and allows consumers and businesses to determine which desktops and notebooks are the most energy efficient. There may be a slight premium to purchase a greener system, but typically it is less than $20 per desktop. Of course, you are also going to end up with a faster system, so your employees may be more productive as well.
If you still have older CRT's taking up a large chunk of desktop real estate, consider replacing them with LCD screens. This conversion can reduce carbon emissions by as much as 15% over 5 years. And your employees will be thrilled to have the space on the desk AND a clear, crisp image. Be sure that you look for an LCD with the Energy Star designation to be sure you are getting an efficient model.
Of course, power management is another area where you can reduce. As the industry has pushed towards providing desktop managment during off hours, more desktops are being left on 24 hours a day. We need to be looking for ways to perform routine maintenance and then put the desktop to sleep until morning, preferrably waking them up just before employees arrive at work so they won't be waiting for their machines to load up. Intel vPRO technology is one way to accomplish this, but there are other ways as well, and I will be exploring them to determine how to put these tools to use for my customers.
If you are on the fence between a desktop and a notebook, consider that a notebook produces 5 times less greenhouse gas than a desktop over a five year usage period. (Fraunhofer Institute) Typically a notebook has a slower hard drive (less energy to spin) and a smaller screen, both of which lead to lower power requirements. Of course, we all want longer battery life, so much effort has been put into making laptops efficient.
Future technology will almost certainly increase our green capabilities. As solid state drives are released, adopted and inevitably drop in price, there will be no need to spin a drive at all, further reducing energy requirements.
Of course, green isn't just about saving energy. It is also about disposal. If you are going to replace existing equipment, what will you do with what you already have? We take systems that end up in our office to the local Goodwill collection center. Goodwill has partnered with Dell on the Reconnect Program to insure that old computers do not just end up in landfills. You can also contact the Cristina Foundation who will match your donation with a non-profit and arrange to have the equipment picked up at your location. Of course, you will want to be sure that the hard drive does not contain your data before you donate it.