The "Greening" of Information Technology - Notes

Created by Lida L. Larsen (EDUCAUSE) on June 10, 2008

The "Greening" of Information Technology
Speaker: Diana Oblinger, President, EDUCAUSE
EDUCAUSE 2008 Enterprise Information and Technology Conference, May 2008, Chicago, IL

Podcast available at http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/podcastthegreeningofinfor/46820

Notes:

Oblinger began by stating that the largest enterprise of all is the world's environment.

She asked: How we can help in these issues on our campuses? We must step back and look at the big picture in order to "manage the enterprise"

She provided an overview of current environmental issues based on research by Socolow and others in 2004. CO2 emissions have grown 30% in the last 250 years with the greatest increase occurring in the last 50 years and it is expected that they will double again by 2054. 6.2 billion tons of carbon emitted in 2000.

While consumers influence 60% of emissions, 35% are under our direct personal control but Oblinger asks if we can influence the use of electric even within the International community where huge populations are copying the American way of life and 80% of the expected growth in energy consumption will be from developing countries by 2020.

She said that the internet is not energy neutral. We emit the same amount of CO2 as the airline industry and a single server has the same impact as an SUV.

Regarding E-Waste - only 1-10% of electronic devices are recycled. And tons are in landfills.

She demonstrated that the Internet may be part of the solution to our environmental issues.
Dematerialization - ie, news on line instead of paper, online conference instead of flying to a central location.
Reduction in greenhouse gases can be seen in

Telecommuting
E-commerce
Teleconferencing
Replacement of physical media with downloadables

Widespread adoptions of broadband in the US alone may cut energy use by the equivalent of 11% of annual oil imports

Energy use of technology

Data centers - the cost of power doubled in 6 years (2000-2006) and will double again in 5 years. They used 1.2% of US power in 2005. The biggest reason for the power surge is that the number of low-end users has doubled.
Power and cooling - power consumption increases with performance. According to Gartner, 50% of data centers will soon have insufficient power or cooling capacity to meet demands.
Server Virtualization can be a solution. It is one of the most effective tools for cost-effective greener computing. Savings would be $300-600 per year for every server removed through virtualization. This doubles when you count in the savings in cooling.
PC power and monitors make up 1/3 of power consumption and there may be a number of things we can do here: make them more efficient - go to thin clients - power labs off at night.

Green purchasing can help. There is the energy star ratings program for home and other products, building and improvements

Travel -35% expended on Travel
We can make a difference - a lot of travel is discretionary- 2/3 automobile trips and ½ of air travel is discretionary. Teleconferencing alternatives, distance learning opportunities, flexible work schedules can all help reduce CO2 emissions.

Flexible work options
Eliminates or reduces commutes
Reduces office space requirements and can have bigger results than cutting back in travel
Sun telecommuting program saved office 6660 seats and reduced real estate costs. 29K tons of CO2 emissions were avoided.

Campus Housing
Oblinger said that on campus housing is the greenest thing any campus can do.

E-commerce is a positive generating less air pollutants, hazardous waste, greenhouse gases.

Paper consumes 10 times the energy of the printing process and a typical office worker prints 1000 pages or 40 lbs per month.
Process for distribution exacerbates impact of printing - (text books)
In 2007 booksellers returned 400 million books to publishers - shipping, travel, energy use
70% of magazines and most phone books are trashed rather than recycled
The energy costs of mega-e-commerce stores per $100 of sales is greatly reduced.
We can also pay bills electronically. She indicated that email is the likely cause of snailmail declining by 5.9 million pieces thus saving 4.4 million trees.
We can also read online

Space - Green Buildings are becoming more common and include the greening via

Energy management
Automated lighting controls
Daylighting
Low e-paints/e-carpeting

Oblinger discussed a number of barriers to adopting green building principles and noted that lab buildings often have high intensive energy use. However, we must think beyond the short term cost - it's the long term cost that we should focus on.

She believes that EDUCATION is key to

Waste reduction strategies
Technology to monitor room use
Sensors to turn off lights and equipment
Online course materials
Improved HVAC controls
Vending machines that only light up when users are near
More efficient light fixtures

She said we can use technology to mitigate the use of power. We need to have IT products that use less power and fewer toxins. Sometimes the energy to produce the item can be more than the item consumes. We must learn to recycle our electronics appropriately and not continue to dump them into landfills. Environmental consciousness is good business for everyone and today's students are supportive of environmental initiatives. This is a perfect time to foster dialog any place it is not already occuring. We should ask hard questions about:

Greater building utilization
Print-on-demand replace traditional textbooks
Do servers need to reside on campus
Should teleconferencing and telecommuting options be encouraged
Should institutons be encouraged to spend more on efficienet design realizing they will save money in the long term?

Q&A period

Greatest growth is in high performance computing. Where is the balance? One of the classic pieces of cyberinfrastructure is the "sharing" issue. It's better to do shared-use than add more high performance centers. We must collaborate from the beginning.

Massive savings needs demonstrable results. There are still a lot of unknowns and we need good information so we can make appropriate choices. It's a combination of awareness and incentives.

Regarding SUN's telecommuting program. How do you manage telecommuters? You no longer need to see people work, you need to look at the work that is done.

Regarding funding and prioritizing initiatives. Are there new budgeting methods ? Many organizations are looking at options and working on it.

How to get this down into IT?

550 universities signed the carbon neutral agreement - climate action plan - every plan says they will start with green retro-fits, 2nd layer of renewable energy on site, massive # of plans (80%) premised on buying carbon credits ($10 per metric ton when it was signed but now is at $38 per metric ton - where will it go to - maybe to $100)

Berkeley 160K metric tons
Madison 1/2 million metric tons

It's not possible to be carbon neutral so what can we do.

Do everything you can at home first...

The Powerpoint slides for this presentation are available at http://net.educause.edu/upload/presentations/ENT08/GS02/Green%20IT%20v5-HO.pdf

Podcast available at http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/podcastthegreeningofinfor/46820

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		The "Greening" of Information Technology - Notes Created by Lida L. Larsen (EDUCAUSE) on June 10, 2008 The "Greening" of Information Technology Speaker: Diana Oblinger, President, EDUCAUSE EDUCAUSE 2008 Enterprise Information and Technology Conference, May 2008, Chicago, IL Podcast available at http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/podcastthegreeningofinfor/46820 Notes: Oblinger began by stating that the largest enterprise of all is the world's environment. She asked: How we can help in these issues on our campuses? We must step back and look at the big picture in order to "manage the enterprise" She provided an overview of current environmental issues based on research by Socolow and others in 2004. CO2 emissions have grown 30% in the last 250 years with the greatest increase occurring in the last 50 years and it is expected that they will double again by 2054. 6.2 billion tons of carbon emitted in 2000. While consumers influence 60% of emissions, 35% are under our direct personal control but Oblinger asks if we can influence the use of electric even within the International community where huge populations are copying the American way of life and 80% of the expected growth in energy consumption will be from developing countries by 2020. She said that the internet is not energy neutral. We emit the same amount of CO2 as the airline industry and a single server has the same impact as an SUV. Regarding E-Waste - only 1-10% of electronic devices are recycled. And tons are in landfills. She demonstrated that the Internet may be part of the solution to our environmental issues. Dematerialization - ie, news on line instead of paper, online conference instead of flying to a central location. Reduction in greenhouse gases can be seen in Telecommuting E-commerce Teleconferencing Replacement of physical media with downloadables Widespread adoptions of broadband in the US alone may cut energy use by the equivalent of 11% of annual oil imports Energy use of technology Data centers - the cost of power doubled in 6 years (2000-2006) and will double again in 5 years. They used 1.2% of US power in 2005. The biggest reason for the power surge is that the number of low-end users has doubled. Power and cooling - power consumption increases with performance. According to Gartner, 50% of data centers will soon have insufficient power or cooling capacity to meet demands. Server Virtualization can be a solution. It is one of the most effective tools for cost-effective greener computing. Savings would be $300-600 per year for every server removed through virtualization. This doubles when you count in the savings in cooling. PC power and monitors make up 1/3 of power consumption and there may be a number of things we can do here: make them more efficient - go to thin clients - power labs off at night. Green purchasing can help. There is the energy star ratings program for home and other products, building and improvements Travel -35% expended on Travel We can make a difference - a lot of travel is discretionary- 2/3 automobile trips and ½ of air travel is discretionary. Teleconferencing alternatives, distance learning opportunities, flexible work schedules can all help reduce CO2 emissions. Flexible work options Eliminates or reduces commutes Reduces office space requirements and can have bigger results than cutting back in travel Sun telecommuting program saved office 6660 seats and reduced real estate costs. 29K tons of CO2 emissions were avoided. Campus Housing Oblinger said that on campus housing is the greenest thing any campus can do. E-commerce is a positive generating less air pollutants, hazardous waste, greenhouse gases. Print Paper consumes 10 times the energy of the printing process and a typical office worker prints 1000 pages or 40 lbs per month. Process for distribution exacerbates impact of printing - (text books) In 2007 booksellers returned 400 million books to publishers - shipping, travel, energy use 70% of magazines and most phone books are trashed rather than recycled The energy costs of mega-e-commerce stores per $100 of sales is greatly reduced. We can also pay bills electronically. She indicated that email is the likely cause of snailmail declining by 5.9 million pieces thus saving 4.4 million trees. We can also read online Space - Green Buildings are becoming more common and include the greening via Energy management Automated lighting controls Daylighting Low e-paints/e-carpeting Oblinger discussed a number of barriers to adopting green building principles and noted that lab buildings often have high intensive energy use. However, we must think beyond the short term cost - it's the long term cost that we should focus on. She believes that EDUCATION is key to Waste reduction strategies Technology to monitor room use Sensors to turn off lights and equipment Online course materials Improved HVAC controls Vending machines that only light up when users are near More efficient light fixtures She said we can use technology to mitigate the use of power. We need to have IT products that use less power and fewer toxins. Sometimes the energy to produce the item can be more than the item consumes. We must learn to recycle our electronics appropriately and not continue to dump them into landfills. Environmental consciousness is good business for everyone and today's students are supportive of environmental initiatives. This is a perfect time to foster dialog any place it is not already occuring. We should ask hard questions about: Greater building utilization Print-on-demand replace traditional textbooks Do servers need to reside on campus Should teleconferencing and telecommuting options be encouraged Should institutons be encouraged to spend more on efficienet design realizing they will save money in the long term? Q&A period Greatest growth is in high performance computing. Where is the balance? One of the classic pieces of cyberinfrastructure is the "sharing" issue. It's better to do shared-use than add more high performance centers. We must collaborate from the beginning. Massive savings needs demonstrable results. There are still a lot of unknowns and we need good information so we can make appropriate choices. It's a combination of awareness and incentives. Regarding SUN's telecommuting program. How do you manage telecommuters? You no longer need to see people work, you need to look at the work that is done. Regarding funding and prioritizing initiatives. Are there new budgeting methods ? Many organizations are looking at options and working on it. How to get this down into IT? 550 universities signed the carbon neutral agreement - climate action plan - every plan says they will start with green retro-fits, 2nd layer of renewable energy on site, massive # of plans (80%) premised on buying carbon credits ($10 per metric ton when it was signed but now is at $38 per metric ton - where will it go to - maybe to $100) Berkeley 160K metric tons Madison 1/2 million metric tons It's not possible to be carbon neutral so what can we do. Do everything you can at home first... The Powerpoint slides for this presentation are available at http://net.educause.edu/upload/presentations/ENT08/GS02/Green%20IT%20v5-HO.pdf Podcast available at http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/podcastthegreeningofinfor/46820 Diana Oblinger \| EDUCAUSE_ENT08 \| Green IT \| Sustainability Lida's blog Login or register to post comments 793 reads
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