Opinion: the 'greenlight effect'

In fact, school districts and universities - institutions that are routinely underfunded - are finding new technological implementations greenlighted because of the greenlight effect.

A representative of Kansas City-based Rockhurst University noted: "I get to work with computers that cost less, have little to no maintenance, have centrally administered policies, and save the school money on energy."

PCs are emerging as the main culprit, both on cost and energy consumption.

While the data centre has received the bulk of attention on the green IT initiatives, The Climate Group estimates that in 2007, PCs and related peripherals consumed close to three times the amount of energy and related CO2 emissions as the data centre.

Another organisation, Climate Savers, states: "The average desktop PC wastes half of the energy it consumes. This wasted electricity needlessly increases your electric bills and contributes to global warming."

The "salary" of a PC is significantly higher than its capital cost, and far higher than that associated with a virtual desktop device. What if the countless administration costs associated with PCs went away, and some of the savings helped a business keep its valuable employees?

The expense of PCs, combined with the hidden, environmental, costs is becoming more apparent today: from production, through use, and finally in disposal at end-of-life.

An average desktop computer with monitor requires about 10 times its weight in chemicals and fossil fuels to produce.

During use, a computer's electricity consumption and, to a lesser degree, heat output, are the most critical impacts on the environment.

Finally, when a computer is at the end of its useful life, hazardous substances and materials contained in it such as heavy metals and brominated compounds place a burden on the environment.

We have seen energy costs, once a general company overhead cost, moving to the IT budget. Departments need new categories of information and new tools to measure computing energy consumption.

As IT departments look closely at their energy usage, some very troubling trends reveal themselves - not least of which is the fact that costs and demand are both increasing.

Today, we have an environment where CIOs are only approving expenditures that save money and save energy.

This is the opportunity I refer to as the greenlight effect, enabling organisations simultaneously to reduce costs and improve the technology infrastructure.

The greenlight effect is one reason why I am so excited as we begin 2009.