Kick the Habit: A UN Guide to Climate Neutrality

square meter using as much power as an entire average US home. Cool- ing is about 60 per cent of the power costs in a data centre because of inefficiency. The IT industry has realised the need for action which at the same time is of course a business opportunity for many. It has responded by developing more efficient and therefore more environmentally friendly products, known as “Green Computing” or “Green IT” . The work habits of computer users and businesses can be modified to minimize environmental damage. Here are some steps you can take: power down the CPU and all peripherals during extended periods of inactivity; try to do computer-related tasks during continuous, intensive blocks of time, leaving hardware off at other times; power up and power down energy-intensive peripherals such as laser printers only when you need them; use liquid crystal display (LCD) rather than cathode-ray-tube (CRT) monitors; use notebooks rather than desktop computers whenever possible; use the power-management features to turn off hard drives and displays after several minutes of inactivity; minimize the use of paper, and properly recycle waste paper; dispose of e-waste properly; use alternative energy sources for computing workstations, servers, networks and data centres. Best Practices for Data Centres – Lessons Learned from Benchmarking 22 Data Centres: http://eetd.lbl.gov/emills/PUBS/PDF/ACEEE-datacenters.pdf . Greening The Data Centre – A Five-Step Method for CIOs and Data Center Managers: http://greenit.net/downloads/GreenIT-Greening-Data-Center-5-Step- Process.pdf . IBM for example in May 2007 launched its “Project Big Green” in which the company is redirecting US$1 thousand million per year across its businesses, mobilising its resources to dramatically increase the level of energy efficiency in IT. The plan includes new products and services for IBM and its clients to sharply reduce data centre energy consumption, transforming the business and public technology infrastructures into “green” data centres. The company reports that the savings are substantial – for an average 25 000 square foot data centre, clients should be able to achieve 42 per cent energy savings. Based on the energy mix in the US, this saving equates to 7 439 tonnes of carbon emissions saved per year.

KICK THE HABIT THE CYCLE – REDUCE

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