Powering your IT hardware often costs more than double the price of the actual machine. While this fact alone motivates businesses to build more energy efficient data centers, IBM's Project Big Green details the additional operational and social benefits for businesses. Read more on IBM's holistic approach to reducing your IT energy use to save you money.
Save money and reduce your company's impact on the environmentJanuary 2008
IBM solutions for energy
efficient and environmentally
responsible green initiativesSave money and reduce your company's impact on the environmentPage 2
IntroductionBusiness growth has traditionally been based on the expansion of IT infrastructures. Until recently, theresult is that the demand for better performance and higher pro?ts took precedence over efficiency. Thisusually meant costly investments in hardware upgrades and server capacity. Over the past decade, however,environmental and conservation issues have quickly become major factors in business decisions relating toIT and operational issues. And after decades of spending on technology and bigger infrastructures,businesses have come to realize that environmental responsibility is not only good for the environment, butit also makes good business sense.
It's a widely known fact that data centers or server rooms are probably the biggest culprits when itcomes to issues of IT inefficiency and excessive power usage. If you cannot accommodate new IT resourcesbecause of power availability or infrastructure constraints, bringing new capabilities online can become amajor ?nancial challenge. Furthermore, businesses are realizing that environmental concerns and successcan go hand in hand. A green, environmentally friendly business strategy can actually be one of the bestways to accommodate growth while positively offsetting total IT cost of ownership.
The good news is there are clear quanti?able bene?ts for you to move to a greener IT:? Financial-Cost savings from lower electricity that can be reinvested? Operational-Manageability of baseline costs, consumption pattern and trending? Social-Reduction of environmental impact, improvement of employee moralSave money and reduce your company's impact on the environmentPage 3
Why do green IT and energy efficiency matter?Rising energy costs. Government and industry-imposed regulations. An abundance of under-utilizedhardware. No way to dispose of old equipment safely. These concerns are but a few of the issues facingbusinesses as the drive toward environmental awareness is making companies rethink the role of their ITinfrastructure. But how much do you actually know about your IT?
Take a look at some facts:? 138% of U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) comes from the generation of electricity.? 2IT accounts for 2% of CO2 emissions globally.? America's servers have consumed about 61,000,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity since 2006, which3is about 1.5% of the total electricity consumption in the country.? 4Data centers have doubled their energy use in the past ?ve years.
A recent survey conducted by Digital Realty Trust found that 55% of large North American companieshave developed a green data center strategy, with 80% of those implementing strategies that cover not onlyhardware, but also facilities design and operations. The survey also found that 73% of companies said they5weren't sure what constitutes a green data center.
Although the concerns of energy-efficiency and environmental responsibility are becoming critical issuesfor businesses of all sizes, it's even more evident in mid-sized companies that have excessive spaceconcerns and ?nancial constraints.
According to Andrew Fanara, team leader for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star"6program, "For every dollar spent on IT equipment, $3 to $4 is spent on operating it through life. That is astaggering fact: The cost to power your hardware is more than double the cost of the actual machines. Andthat cost only continues to rise as companies need more computing and storage capacity to keep up withindustry demand.Save money and reduce your company's impact on the environmentPage 4
Becoming a "green" business is not something that happens overnight. You need to ?nd the rightstrategy that works for your business. There is no right or wrong answer; however, knowing where you areand where you want to go provides a solid foundation for any environmentally-conscience initiative. Askyourself these questions:? How do I currently assess power usage and efficiency when it comes to my company's data center orserver room con?guration?? Do I have a plan to address the concerns of rising energy consumption in my data center or serverroom?? Do I have a plan in place to keep critical systems up and running in the event of a po... [download for more]
