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8/4/2019 A Mission for a Better Global Society
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Redefining the Roles of Business, NGOs and
Governments: A Mission for a Better Global Society
Sub Theme:New Frontiers of CSR and Strategic Philanthropy
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Green Corporate Social Responsibility
Vishnupriya Raghavan
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has acquired new dimensions in recent years. It is
not a new concept, but over the past decade its focus has shifted from labor issues and
local philanthropy towards environmental actions. Green is a philosophy and social
concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. As waves of new
technology continue impacting our lives, finding a conscientious way to retire the old
while bringing in the new is key to keep from fouling our land and oceans with harmful
substances. Today, multinational companies are proactively taking up this task under
CSR and thus giving a social value to all their business endeavors. Business software
applications are now emerging to help companies achieve these goals by providing
capabilities to eliminate waste, reduce energy consumption, use alternative materials,
optimize the supply chain and other initiatives. Companies are trying to become Green
by offering energy efficient solutions.
Most of the IT industry stakeholders are looking at devising their own green strategies,
and are zeroing in on innovative measures to achieve their objectives. The measures
include designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and
associated subsystemssuch as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and
communications systemsefficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the
environment. Research continues into key areas such as making the use of computers as
energy-efficient as possible, and designing algorithms and systems for efficiency-related
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computer technologies. The onus of societal development no more lays with the
government alone. The corporate sector is increasingly involved as well and the CSR
activities are being designed in alignment with their business strategies. Further, smaller
IT companies in India have also joined the effort.
According to a UN report, India is the second largest e-waste generator in Asia. India
generated 5.9 million tones of hazardous waste in 2009, posing serious health issues. In
this context, the role played by software companies in India assumes significance.
Software companies across India are considering the importance of Green IT. IT greening
is about using IT more efficiently to achieve reductions in energy consumption, and
therefore, considering the acquisition of energy-efficient IT solutions. IT is so pervasive
that energy efficiency through the implementation of green IT has moved to center stage
and captured the limelight for many companies in their pursuit of environmentally helpful
practices.
The aim of this paper is to develop a framework to understand the best practices of
multinational companies including Dell, Intel and others. Applicability of some of these
best practices to the software companies and consulting firms will be analyzed as well. It
also aims at finding the different Green CSR initiatives of software companies and
independent consulting firms in India. A theoretical framework will thus be developed
for classifying the different approaches to Green CSR adopted by these firms and
examine the alignment of these approaches with their business strategies. The paper will
examine the benefits of these approaches such as better sales, governmental sops and
induction of new technology. The findings could thus help many other software
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companies and consulting firms to embrace green IT and practice it while growing
revenues and profit margins.
Key-words:
Energy-efficient, environment, sustainability, Green-IT, alignment, business strategies,
technology, approaches.
Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Information Systems, Bangalore
Management Academy, Bangalore
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Green
Corporate Social Responsibility: Small Steps, Big Goal.
Introduction:
The notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is experiencing a tremendous surge of
popularity worldwide. CSR involves a companys effort to minimize its impact on the
environment, better engage employees and take care of them in ways beyond a paycheck,
and give back to the community. It is a concept that organizations have an obligation to
consider the interests of customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and
ecological considerations in all aspects of their operations. It is not a new concept, but
over the past decade its focus has shifted from labor issues and local philanthropy
towards environmental actions. It has acquired new dimensions in recent years and is
closely linked with the principles of Sustainable Development, which argues that
enterprises should make decisions based not only on financial factors such as profits or
dividends, but also based on the immediate and long-term social and environmental
consequences of their activities. In todays world, it is rare to find a company website that
does not have sustainability wording. In fact, many websites highlight what the company
has done to contribute to a sustainable environment.
Green is a philosophy and social concern for the conservation and improvement of the
environment. As waves of new technology continue impacting our lives, finding a
conscientious way to retire the old while bringing in the new is key to keep from fouling
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our land and oceans with harmful substances. Carbon dioxide and its equivalents, such as
methane and nitrogen oxide are the main focus of concern for all living in this planet.
These harmful emissions provide a yardstick by which progress on climate change can be
measured. Information Technology (IT) related carbon dioxide emissions have been
estimated at two percent of the worlds total1. Governmental regulations coupled with all
the green IT initiatives can help reduce this figure and most importantly, IT itself can
support the greening of other processes as well (the remaining 98 percent).
IT is the central nervous system not only of our businesses but also of our governmental
and social infrastructure. IT depends on electricity and as it continues to grow, its
unchecked consumption of power is threatening the financial resources of the
organization it serves. To date, our IT has been focused on human needs without thought
for the environment. Just as it has been the instrument for our plight, IT may be the
mechanism for our salvation. IT must find a way to be green as we need to leave the
planet worth living on for our descendants.
Today, multinational companies are proactively taking up this task under CSR and thus
giving a social value to all their business endeavors. Business software applications are
now emerging to help companies achieve these goals by providing capabilities to
eliminate waste, reduce energy consumption, use alternative materials, optimize the
supply chain and other initiatives. Companies are trying to become Green by offering
energy efficient solutions. IT greening is about using IT more efficiently to achieve
reductions in energy consumption, and therefore, considering the acquisition of energy-
efficient IT solutions. IT is so pervasive that energy efficiency through the
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implementation of green IT has moved to center stage and captured the limelight for
many companies in their pursuit of environmentally helpful practices. Going Green is a
process and it is the beginning of what is needed for true sustainability. It may also be the
shortest path to economic savings and the overall health of an organization.
Green IT:
Green IT encompasses a wide range of environmental challenges: efficiency, recycling of
materials, reduction/elimination of toxic compounds in manufacturing, renewable energy
and a variety of management systems (such as decision support systems in an airline
industry or to manage traffic flow and systems to optimize information streams over the
Internet).
Green IT is more than an initiative to improve the efficiency and reduce the
environmental impact of an organizations computing operations. Because of the
universal nature of IT infrastructure touching every location and almost every employee
IT has a unique capability to substitute (low-carbon) infrastructure for (carbon-
intensive) processes like business travel or building HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air
Conditioning) systems.
Much research has shown the many benefits of changing to greener products or systems
in terms of money. Many Green IT initiatives have also resulted in benefits in terms of
brand value. These benefits have made other organizations sit up and begin greening their
IT infrastructure and operations.
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Most of the IT industry stakeholders are looking at devising their own green strategies,
and are zeroing in on innovative measures to achieve their objectives. The measures
include designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and
associated subsystemssuch as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and
communications systemsefficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the
environment. Research continues into key areas such as making the use of computers as
energy-efficient as possible, and designing algorithms and systems for efficiency-related
computer technologies. The onus of societal development no more lays with the
government alone. The corporate sector is increasingly involved as well and the CSR
activities are being designed in alignment with their business strategies. Further, smaller
IT companies in India have also joined the effort.
According to a UN report, India is the second largest e-waste generator in Asia. India
generated 5.9 million tones of hazardous waste in 2009, posing serious health issues2. In
this context, the role played by software companies in India assumes significance.
Software companies across India are considering the importance of Green IT. According
to NASSCOM report, for Green IT to achieve a sustainable impact, most Indian firms
need to transform their approach to Green IT from obligation to opportunity. Indian
firms should use IT pro-actively to holistically transform into green businesses rather
than only focusing on making IT infrastructure, services and products green.
There is a divide between our current technology-driven lifestyle and our call for
sustainability. Yet technology growth is fueling the business world and is possibly the
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most dominant force for change in todays markets and society. Clearly, the next
generation of green IT needs to adopt a holistic view of the environment and technology.
Organizations have multiple motives for undertaking Green IT initiatives, and its
welfare effects are highly contingent on the institutional context in which it is
undertaken3. Most organizations expect several outcomes from improving the
sustainability of their IT operations and infrastructure; lower operating expenses,
reduction or avoidance of capital expenditures; alignments with corporate green
initiatives that are aimed at improving customer perception and appealing to current and
prospective employees, and complying with existing and, especially, prospective
regulations.
Successful green IT initiatives go well beyond purchasing new, more energy-efficient IT
hardware and software. To reduce their environmental impact, organizations have to put
policies and practices in place that makes IT infrastructure and operations more energy
efficient; and enable IT to perform sustainability improvements in business processes
across the entire organization. Achieving the sustainability objectives also requires
process and behavior change4.
Green IT initiatives and strategy must be aligned along the following three vectors:
1. Cleaning up IT and make it green: Environmental impact of IT can be reduced by
looking at the whole life implications of products at the time of their purchase.
Opportunities for reusing or recycling products must be looked at. Adoption of green
technologies and practices using green buildings, energy efficient data centers, power
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efficient computers, shared data centers, and addressing issues like e-waste management
will help make IT green.
2. Greening through IT: IT can clean up its own act but greater gains can come from
using computers to reduce emissions and other undesirable effects outside of IT.
Organizations can deploy IT solutions such as cloud computing, video conferencing,
webinars, intelligent transport systems, and motion and heat detection sensors.
3. Taking action and make green warriors: Setting printers to double sided printing,
setting PCs to standby or sleep following minutes of inactivity, encouraging staff to
participate in webinars to reduce travel are a few examples of organizations ready to take
action towards achieving Green IT objectives. In addition, organizations have to
encourage its employees to adopt a green life style that will make them become change
agents to catalyze transformation and create a sustainable impact in the society around
themselves.
The value of introducing green IT initiatives cannot be dismissed when it comes to
corporate image, marketing and public relations. Environmentally friendly businesses are
rewarded by the news of their social commitments and good corporate citizenship. It is
not only important to understand and realize how valuable green IT solutions are, it is
also equally important for organizations to find out which solutions provide the greatest
benefits5.
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Parameters of Green IT:
A good way for organizations to clean up their IT is to include environmental questions
in their purchasing requests. Checking if the products hold ISO 14001 certification, and if
the devices meet energy or environmental certification will go a long way in meeting
green IT objectives6. There are many parameters of Green IT that exist today and Energy
Star is one of the oldest environmental programs devised with co-operation from the
government of a country in an effort to reduce the pollution caused by electronic
appliances. All devices that carry this particular label are at least 10 % more efficient than
other appliances.
Source: http://www.energystar.gov/
Energy star parameters are updated every year, and it is required that the manufacturer
should also renew their certification if they want to continue using the label. The
stringent emission norms coupled with regular updates do make this a versatile standard
that is very important in the process of greening IT or any network hardware.
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Following the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) Energy Star guidelines, Dell has
created several desktop and notebook products that consume less than 5 watts in low
power mode7. Another way to cut down on power use is to curtail use of screen savers, as
they are power drains. PCs must be defaulted to stand by or sleep modes following
specified minutes of inactivity. Microsoft Windows Vista on the desktop, power
management features are turned on by default. The Linux community and Intel have
teamed up to reduce reliance on the power grid. There are power saving features in
development for Intel processors using Linux, with the goal of using less power on
desktop mobile and server platforms. Linux users can also enable power management
features in Wi-Fi and SATA (Serial ATA) and by using Gigabit Ethernet speeds only
when needed8.
The Green Electronics Council advises organizations to checkwww.apeat.net for ranking
of different products in terms of their environmental and performance attributes.
Cut use of Toxins:
According to a research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, there are about 70
million computers in U.S landfills and there is about 40 percent of lead that is present in
these landfills. Apple has banned toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury and
asbestos in its products. It has also eliminated lead from its batteries.
Engineers at Intel place appropriate substitutes to agents known for emitting greenhouse
gases. Isopropyl alcohol is used during Intels manufacturing process and engineers are
working towards replacing this solvent, as it is known to contribute to smog9.
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The ever shrinking resource pool as well as ever increasing carbon footprint caused by
the IT industry is our main motivation for this paper. Large networks like data centers
account for a significant portion of carbon emission today.
GIB Services in Switzerland is using excess heat from its datacenter to heat a local public
swimming pool! A mining company in Canada is using its excess datacenter heat to
warm its warehouses during the cold Canadian winters10
!
Data centers consume and expel a lot of electricity. Many server computers run at less
than 30 percent capacity
11
. Considering the fact that servers are seldom utilized to an
efficient level, it would make sense to use a single computer to host more than one
service. Virtualization takes advantage of this and enables a single system to run multiple
services and even more than one operating system simultaneously.
Why Virtualize? :
Virtualization is one of the easiest paths to green, because when there is more than one
application running on a server called as application consolidation, the number of servers
required to support these applications are reduced. The reduction in the number of
physical servers is server consolidation. With virtualization, there is less power
consumption and hence lower energy requirement for cooling the servers. In a data
center, having fewer servers translates to less rack space and hence a smaller footprint by
the organization.
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Going Green and SOA:
The virtualization model demands an SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and a
simplified infrastructure that coordinates technologies. SOA a business model with the
idea of reuse built in is definitely one practice leading to successful green IT initiatives.
SOA can be helpful in developing green enterprise solutions because it combines
environmentally friendly concepts with good business sense. SOA makes it easier to
adapt IT to changing business conditions in a dynamic market place of today thereby
increasing business agility.
Greening through IT:
IT can help companies become greener. Energy efficiency can be accomplished by a
number of ways. Travel can be substituted with tools such as video conferencing and web
conferencing. HP prevented 145 metric tons of carbon emissions by the use of HPs Halo
telepresence solution and cut an estimated 44 international employee trips. In 2006, Cisco
was able to reduce all of its air travel worldwide by 10 percent by encouraging remote
collaboration. Ciscos TelePresence meetings incorporate high-quality audio and life-like
video in a specially tuned environment. It helped Cisco reduced its gross GHG emissions.
Video conferencing, a way to green IT has also improved customer responsiveness at
Cisco, resulting in $ 96 million in incremental margin in 200912
.
Web meetings and webinars are great ways towards greening IT operations as people can
share content and interact with each other through their web cams and PC screens.
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Telecommuting to work also reduces the emissions associated with the daily commute
and gives employees a better lifestyle.
IBMs work-at-home program, leveraging IBMs collaboration tools conserved more
than eight million gallons of fuel and avoided more than 68,000 tons of carbon dioxide
emissions in 2006. IBM was also able to save $ 97 million in travel costs using
collaboration tools. IBM claims another $ 16.5 million in cost savings from using instant
messaging instead of the phone13.
Green Document Management:
Collaboration on business documents reports, presentations, budgets are done with the
help of document management systems. Google Docs, Zoho Writer and IBM Lotus
Quickr provide efficient document sharing that can help people share information in new
ways. Sharing links instead of sending email attachments reduces storage requirements
and paper consumption.
Besides using collaborative tools for document management, HP has also set its universal
print driver defaults to double-sided printing. HPs 300,000 employees save 800 tons of
paper every year. It also offers its customers, a carbon assessment of their use of desktops
and printers. This can help users evaluate their carbon footprint and develop an optimal
IT configuration. 14
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Collaborating in the Cloud:
Storage, document processing, email, web conferencing and high-end processing can be
done on the cloud. Cloud computing allows users to access information and services from
devices including laptops, iPhones, BlackBerries and any IP-enabled device and hence
may be a green solution for organizations. Many organizations have their ERP and CRM
applications on the cloud. Many even have their data on the cloud. Organizations
including Animoto, Netflix, McKesson Corporation, IBM, and Dell have reaped many
benefits by moving to the cloud. Moving to the cloud has the potential to greatly simplify
IT management by providing scalable resources on demand. Cloud computing can help
minimize energy consumption on premises and reduces carbon emissions.
Many universities across the world have already moved to the SaaS model for email.
Many academic institutions including Bangalore Management Academy, a leading B-
school in Bangalore, embraced Google Apps for email, document collaboration, shared
calendars, chat and instant messaging. It plans to use SaaS for Web conferencing and
social media solutions and is already using SaaS for its ERP application. Harvard
University has audacious goals for a Green campus and the Markley Data Center in its
medical school utilizes and takes advantage of many infrastructure systems that support
the universitys Green IT initiatives. 95% of Harvard Medical Schools server
environment has been virtualized. 148 physical servers have been virtualized into 14
hosts. The energy utilization of their server room was reduced by 50 KW and saves
approximately $ 6000 a month for the university15.
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Cloud computing infrastructure, platforms, and applications fit education like hand to
glove. The use of web based technology can truly transform the education scene not only
in terms of its reach, scale and flexibility but also in terms of proving to be a greener
endeavour. Enormous amount of paper is used worldwide by educational and training
institutes. The use of paper is intensified during examinations and assignment
submissions.
Conservetree.com, a recycled paper seller, gives the following statistics
(www.conservatree.com)16
. One tonne of new or non-recycled paper(commonly used in
educational institutes) uses 24 trees, whereas that of newsprint uses 12 trees. 10 reams
of virgin or new paper requires 0.6 trees. On an average a ream has 500 pages. Consider a
scenario where an educational institution has 250 students and four term exams. Each
term has four papers and on an average a student uses 4 pages for writing the exam. The
total yearly consumption of one educational institute would be 200x4x4x4 =16000 pages
ie 16000/500= 32 reams ie 1.92 trees. Thus if such an educational institution goes
paperless, it could save 2 trees a year. This can be achieved by a course management
system like Moodle. Moodle being an open source Course Management System also
means significant reduction in costs.
Moodle, (created by created by Martin Daugiamas, a computer scientist at the university
in Australia) is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning
Environment17
.
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Moodle is a course management system runs on a server and can be accessed using a web
browser. Course management systems allow an instructor to create a website for a course
and grant access to only students who are a part of it. These websites allow sharing of
various material, discussions, quizzes, surveys, and assignments as well as recording
grades.
According to Moodle website, there are 49533 registered sites of Moodle in 211
countries. The total number of courses is 3914256 with 38118549 users. Around
59862449 quizzes have been conducted (www.moodle.org)18
. If we translate these
numbers into the paper saved, this has resulted in the conservation of many trees already.
Although, Moodle was not developed with the environmental perspective, this good side
effect could be a valuable contribution to the environment. This and such type of course
management systems can yield significant results if they are adopted on a large scale.
Additionally, these types of software could be made mandatory by law to further enhance
the scale and scope of such green and socially responsible initiatives. Many educational
institutes in India are already using Moodle. Some of them include BITS Pilani, IIT
Bombay, Goa University, and Christ University.
As alternative, more sustainable energy is being considered; use of information
technology can replace cumbersome manual paper based processes and can enable,
expedite and make more efficient processes in an organization. Digital documents, e
forms, digital signatures, and collaborating with the help of social networking sites are
some of the ways an organization can go green with the help of IT.
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Developing a Green IT Management Strategy:
Organizations need to establish clear goals to ensure all green IT implementations bring
quantifiable value to the business. These goals should include power reduction,
regulatory compliance, decreased carbon footprint, and operational cost savings.
Establishment of the scope of these goals is of utmost importance to determine at what
point appropriate return on investment has been achieved. Measurements have to be set
and have to be monitored continuously to determine the on-going success of the
implementation. Many green IT solutions such as energy efficient products,
virtualization, cloud computing, usage of thin clients, power management can be
incorporated into an overall green IT strategy.
Many organizations have been accused of green washing as well at their level of
addressing green IT issues. Many have jumped on-board the green IT bandwagon in an
attempt to increase their brand value or corporate image. Hence, standardizing on a
solution that helps develop and incorporate green IT goals and strategies into existing
business and IT processes and policies is essential to developing an enterprise-wide green
IT policy.
This paper also surveyed small midsize firms in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India.
Bangalore located in the state of Karnataka known for its power deficits. Bangalore in
particular, pays a huge price for energy consumption. All the fifteen respondents who
completed the questionnaire were Chief Information Officers (CIO) or Chief Executive
Officers (CEO) of small mid size firms in Bangalore. The respondents are distributed
across education, IT consulting firms, finance and architectural firms. They were asked
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twelve questions to rate their green initiatives and the relevance of various aspects of
Green IT to their business. Most of the respondents reported that for them, Green IT
means lowering electric and cooling costs, as well as sustainable energy practices. The
findings are:
Green IT is essential:
It is no longer the case where Green IT seemed more of a wish list item for
organizations that they would look to implement when it became convenient. These small
mid size firms are now actively pursuing Green IT solutions and most of them are in the
discussion stage while 33 percent are in the implementation process. Environmental
responsibility (79%) followed by cost savings (43 %) was the leading outcomes of a
successful Green IT initiative.
Does your organization have a Green IT Strategy to reduce energy consumption?
Have a plan to do so 36% In discussion stage29% No plans to do so14% Other 21%
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Overall, which stage best describes your organizations implementation of a Green
IT orSustainability Computing Strategy?
Already implemented 0% Implementation in progress 29% In trial stage 7% In discussion stage 50% Not considering 14%
How important to a successful green IT is the following outcomes to your
organization?
Cost savings 43% Brand recognition 29% Customer perception 21% Environmental responsibility 79%
IT at the heart of enterprise green efforts:
IT finds itself at the center of an organizations green efforts. IT should play a significant
role in minimizing the companys environmental footprint. As Green IT and energy
efficiency have become important, CEOs have reported a willingness to pay extra for
products that are energy efficient. Energy efficiency is valuable not only for large
organizations but for small mid size firms too. Fifty seven percent of the respondents are
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willing to pay more for an energy efficient product if it pays back in one year or less.
Fifty seven percent said that an IT products energy efficiency would be an important
factor in their purchasing decisions.
When would you be willing to pay more for an energy efficient product of
equivalent functionality?
Always 14% If it pays back in one year 57% If it pays back in three years 14% Will not pay more 14%
How important do you think an IT products energy efficiency will be in your
purchasing decisions over the next 12 months?
Important 57% Neutral 43% Not important 0%
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How significant a role should IT play in minimizing your organizations
environmental footprint?
Important 69% Neutral 31% Not important 0%
Green IT initiatives need to be a priority:
The recent push for Green IT is driving multiple initiatives. Ninety three percent of
respondents are interested in reducing energy consumption, carbon footprints and cooling
costs. Most are considering Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a part of their strategy to
reduce power consumption. However, twenty nine percent of the respondents are not
considering the same and another twenty nine percent of the respondents have said they
do not know about SaaS. This shows that more education is also needed towards
promoting Green IT initiatives.
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How interested is your organization in reducing energy consumption, reducing its
carbon footprint, and reducing cooling costs?
Interested 93% Neutral 7% Disinterested 0% Other 0%
Is your company considering SaaS (Software as a service, cloud computing) as a
part of its strategy to reduce power?
Yes 43% No 29% Don't know about SaaS 29%
This questionnaire was designed to gauge respondents interests in, and plans for
deploying strategies and solutions to help reduce e-waste associated with computer
hardware, software, facilities, and planning, and ultimately reduce the organizations
carbon footprint. (Refer Appendix for other questions)
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There are many organizations including non-profit ones such as Electronic Recycling
Association that work towards reducing electronic waste through the reuse and recycling
of unwanted computers and electronic equipment19. Oracle has recently, launched new
tools for reducing e-waste. Oracle Depot Repair has been founded to help organizations
protect the environment, improve sustainability initiatives and streamline compliance20
.
Their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions include reporting tools and analytics
to aggregate and parse comprehensive return and disposition data, including information
collected directly from third-party logistics providers, processors and recyclers.
Atea Group is another organization that has developed targets and goals for reducing its
own environmental impact and is certified according to the ISO 14001. With the
goitgreen concept this group aims to provide environmentally optimized Green IT to all
its customers, by focusing on the total IT product life cycle from IT policies, products,
consultancies, logistics, solutions and recycle. In 2009, goitgreen projects have helped
its customers save 218,669 tons of CO2 or the emission of more than 17,218 Nordic
households21.
By far the best way to minimize the environmental impact of computers is by extending
their lifespan - either through complete or partial reuse, or by ensuring further use. The
goitloop and recycling concepts aim to extend the lifetime of any obsolete
equipment. Atea aims to reuse or resell around 50% of all IT equipment received; recycle
99.7% of all equipment and dispose of the remaining 0.3% in an environmentally
responsible manner.
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Source: www.atea.com
Hara, Environment and Energy Management Software enables organizations to identify
and implement sustainability initiatives across stakeholders to increase operational
efficiency maximize shareholder value and mitigate risk. The software helps customers
identify millions of dollars in savings from energy, water and waste abatement strategies
while reducing their carbon emissions. Hara shows that digital solutions can be built and
used to save water, money, energy and the planet overall. This highlights the greening of
IT and shows large corporations are ready to use IT to make their businesses more eco-
friendly and save money. Coke uses Hara software in one of its subsidiaries that is
building 15 power plants in Eastern Europe and Africa, to measure the energy used by the
plants22. Safeway, Intuit, News Corporation, Brocade, Akamai are amongst the list of
organizations that have deployed Hara for environmental and energy management.
Challenges:
Besides the budgetary challenges towards Green IT, there may be other challenges facing
organizations towards the adoption of Green IT. Green practices are different in different
parts of the world and could pose as a challenge in measuring network efficiencies. Also,
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IT equipment manufacturers do not have a particular measure of being green to adhere to.
A global standard is the need of the hour to which equipment manufacturers can adhere
to and this will make it easier to implement green solutions for real world cases.
Education is of primary concern in Green IT initiatives. When end users are more
educated on how they can also contribute to going green, carbon emissions will be
reduced significantly.
While green research as of today is mainly limited to technological problems, it is very
important that future research is done to address on developing regulations on going
green and to enforce them. Unless there is a law that is enforced on people, few
organizations would make significant changes in the way they do their business.
Conclusion:
Greening IT is attracting a huge interest worldwide mainly due to the increasing demand
to power data centers. However, Green IT is not just about running efficient data centers
or organizations moving to the cloud. It encompasses Information Technologys overall
role in causing and tackling emissions and covers policies, technologies and practices
from sourcing to disposing23
. While there are a number of short surveys on Green IT, this
paper, albeit limitations discussed below, offers a comprehensive empirical investigation
with the directors of small mid size firms in Bangalore, one of the cities in India hosting
the maximum of IT companies.
Due to the limited number of responses, it is not possible to generalize from the findings
of the study. The findings can only be considered at best preliminary and require further
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data before any generalization can be attempted. It does show that even small mid size
firms do not have their printers defaulted to double side and have not made attempts for
their PCs to switch on standby mode while idle. Many have not adopted SaaS as a
strategy for Green IT initiatives. This shows education remains a concern with going
green. However, within the bounds of the limitations of the study, the paper does also
show that the adoption of Green IT in small mid size firms is on the rise and highlights
the need for more education towards Green IT. This paper provides a foundation upon
which other studies might build their framework. Finally, it is of importance to observe
that end user knowledge is vital to a successful Green IT initiative.
Organizations must consider Green Corporate Social Responsibility as a hygiene factor
rather than a motivator. Attention to Green CSR should be viewed as a competitive
necessity rather than a competitive differentiator.
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References:
1 David Tebbutt, Martin Atherton and Tony Lock. Green IT For Dummies, Wiley Publications, I Edition,2008.
2 , Nasscom Report 2009,Retrieved on September 01, 2010
3 Thomas P.Lyon and John W. Maxwell. Does green corporate social responsibility benefit society?,,Retrieved on September 12, 2010
4 Enterprise Green IT initiatives, , Retrieved onOctober 30, 2010
5
Going Green: A strategic guide to Green IT Management, EMA White paper, EMA, September 2008.6 Rajath Chouta, Tae Oh, Jungwoo Ryoo, Young B. Choi. Parameters of Green IT, 2010 NortheastDecision Sciences Institute Proceedings, March 2010. Pages 236-242.
7 IT Planner:5 Steps to Green IT, eweek, October 15, 2007. Accessed onSeptember 12, 2010.
8 IT Planner:5 Steps to Green IT, eweek, October 15, 2007. Accessed onSeptember 12, 2010.
9How Green is Your IT? Save cost, better image, , Retrieved on November 01, 2010.
10 William M. Sinnett. Green IT is more than a feel good issue, Financial Executive, March 2010. Pages60 63
11 Smart 2020:Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, A report by The Climate Group onbehalf of the Global esustainability Initiative (GeSI),
12 David Tebbutt, Martin Atherton and Tony Lock. Green IT For Dummies, Wiley Publications, IEdition, 2008.
13 Carol Baroudi. Green IT for Dummies, IBM Limited Edition, Wiley Publications, I Edition, 2009.
14 David Tebbutt, Martin Atherton and Tony Lock. Green IT For Dummies, Wiley Publications, I
Edition, 2008.
15 Harvard Medical schools Green IT initiatives. . Retrieved on October 15, 2010.
16 www.conservatree.com, ,Retrieved on November 23, 2010
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17 Jason Cole, Helen Foster. Using Moodle. USA: O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2008.
18 www.moodle.org. , Retrieved on 23 November 2010
19 www.era.org, Accessed on 10 November 2010.
20 Oracle Launches Tools For Reducing E-Waste And Simplifying Regulatory Compliance, BizTech,September 24, 2010, .com,
21 CSR and Green IT. . Retrieved on October 10, 2010.
22 Fost, Dan. Techies hit the green button, , June 01, 2009.
23 Molla Alemayehu. The Extent of Green IT Adoption and its driving and inhibiting factors: Anexploratory study, Journal of Information Science and Technology, JIST 6(4) 2009, 2009.
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Appendix:
In your organization, are PCs configured for saving power when idle?
Yes 86 % No 14 %
Does your organization make extensive use of tools such as video conferencing or
web conferencing as an alternative to travel?
Yes 64 % No 36 %
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Do the printers in your organization print double side by default?
Yes 36 % No 64 %
Which explicit goals, if any, are included in your organizations general Green
Policy?
Reduce carbon emissions 7% Reduce energy and cooling consumption 57% None of the above 36%
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Overall, which stage best describes your organizations implementation of a Green
IT or Sustainability Computing Strategy?
Already implemented 0% Implementation in progress 29% In trial stage 7% In discussion stage 50%Not considering 14%