Green computing: principles and environmental applications

¶ … Green IT Fundamentals on Business Performances and the Environmental Sustainability

Green computing is an approach that organizations employ in enhancing environmental friendly and reducing the cost of business operations. In other words, green computing is the use of recycling computing materials to reduce cost of operations. Typically, green computing includes wide variety business strategies to enhance robust and sustainable business optimization. Green business initiatives are also the combination of existing strategy to enhance environmental focus.

Green IT (information technology) is the steps that IT Professionals employ to protect environment and application of various IT methodologies can reduce organizational operating costs. For example, green IT methodologies can assist in reducing power consumption and lower power bills. Typically, the goal of green computing is to reduce hazardous materials. In 2010, the IT data center facilities consume large amount of energy, and account between 1.1% and 1.5% of the global total energy, and data center facilities consume between 100 and 200 times of energy greater than energy consumed by the standard office buildings.

Objective of this paper is to investigate whether green computing can enhance business performances and environmental sustainability. The paper tests the following hypothesis to achieve the research objective.

Hypothesis

H1: Application of green computing can reduce the costs of business operations, enhance environment sustainability and improve business operations.

Ho: Application of green computing is not able to reduce the costs of business operations, enhance environment sustainability and improve business operations.

Investigation of Green IT for Fundamental Business Sustainability

In the contemporary business organizations, increasing number of organizations are implementing different policies to reduce costs of operations to enhance competitive market advantages. Application of green computing is one of the business strategies to reduce cost of business operations and enhance IT sustainability.

"Green IT is the study and practices of using computing resources in ways that help reduce energy and operating costs enable sustainable business practices and reduce the environmental impact of IT practices in the larger community." (CGI, 2011 p 1).

Green computing policy has been identified as an effective e-strategy to enhance business performances. Typically, green IT policies involve varieties of policies to reduce energy consumption of data centers and the costs used in servicing energy of the IT equipment.

Unhelkar, (2011) argues that Green IT is the bottom line of organizational achievement. Typically, a good sustainable IT approach can lead to consolidation of technologies, which consequently lead to cost reductions. For example, the use of recycling IT equipment can reduce the carbon emission, which will lead to environmental sustainability. Fanning, (2011) identifies some of the power-saving initiatives that organizations use in enhancing green IT. These energy saving initiatives include the use of tele-present to reduce the travel expenses of IT employee, and installing solar panel to reduce electricity consumption of high energy IT equipment.

Mitchell, (2011) supported this argument by pointing out Kaiser Permanente Company was able to reduce the energy consumption of overall data operation by 7.2 million kilowatt-hours leading to the reduction of $770,000 power budget in 2011. Apart from using the green IT to reduce costs, the green computing policies can also assist business organizations to comply with regulatory and legal protocols. In the contemporary business environment, different governments are increasingly promulgating the environmental laws to enhance environmental sustainability. By consequence, business organizations that fail to abide to environment law may be liable to fines which will consequently lead to an increase in the cost of operations. For example, Australia has formulated regulations that oblige all organizations not to emit 150 kilo tone of carbon annually. This environmental regulation has made business organizations in Australia to comply with carbon emission requirements. By the end of the 2011, more than 1000 Australian companies were able to abide to the carbon emitting requirement.

Moreover, the United States government has promulgated the ACES ("American Clean Energy and Security") (Unhelkar, 2011 p 13) that mandates all business organizations to reduce carbon emission by 17% by the year 2020 and 80% by 2050. The EU (European Union) also makes a policy to reduce the greenhouse emission by 20% by 2020. More importantly, the UK government has passed a legislation to reduce carbon emission by 26% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. The series of laws promulgated by different governments has forced different organizations across the world to take necessary steps in ensuring that they implement various IT policies in order to enhance green IT. For example, many organizations have implemented IT operations to comply with the stringent regulatory requirements. Typically, organizations are increasingly applying sustainability in procurement of IT infrastructures, as well as applying sustainability in disposing and handling of IT equipment.

"At present a computer and monitor left running 24 x 7 x 365 drawing 60 watts will consume about $50/year in electricity, while a higher-end 300 watt device will cost about $225/year (based on an average U.S. utility rate of $.0855/kWh)." (CGI, 2011 p 3).

A large business organization with 20,000 desktop systems for business operation will consume 200 watts of electricity per day, which is close to a 35 million kWh of energy consumption and the costs will be approximately $3 million per year.