Green IT Made Real
It’s not unforeseeable that one day, your company’s future will depend on its ability to adapt to a green economy.
Across the globe, financial markets are in turmoil. The daily news of downward-sliding stock indices and entire countries potentially on the verge of bankruptcy played an enormous role in both the Canadian and U.S. 2008 federal elections.
Citizens expressed their fears at the ballot box, voting for candidates they felt could best resolve the current crisis. Consumers have also started voting with their wallets, pressuring the companies they do business with to engage in environmentally sustainable business practices. Businesses, in turn, have begun to demand that their suppliers disclose the energy efficiency of their products.
For most organizations, a global trend in rising energy prices continues to exert pressure to cut energy costs wherever possible. Case in point: major European utility companies announced plans in January to raise prices by up to 27 per cent as a result of dramatically higher wholesale energy prices. As well, government regulation increasingly requires it. The United Kingdom, for example, has set targets to reduce greenhouse gases by 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050 – including aviation and shipping.
Finally, the IT industry is catching up, with products and solutions aimed at reducing the hardware, space, energy and manpower required to operate equipment; increasing processor utilization; maximizing the potential of intelligent networks; and enabling reuse of existing equipment.
In this first installation of “Green IT Made Real,” learn about how three unique organizations used green IT to deal with necessary cost reductions, rising energy prices, and environmental pressures and priorities.
