It’s not easy going green – environmentally “green” that is. The truth is, most IT shops don’t have the luxury of rushing into more eco-friendly operations. Unless it’s time to swap equipment or re-design facilities, few IT pros can make changes to ease their social consciences. It’s just too expensive.

But there are two big reasons to move toward environmentally-friendly technology: saving money in a stagnant economy and growing storage demands.

IT slow to go green

Although 85% of IT pros in the U.S. say environmental concerns are important in planning IT operations, few say that green IT is part of their evaluation and selection criteria for systems and devices. (See chart, p. 8.)

Industry experts believe IT groups have been slow to go green because of the disconnect between IT and facilities management – FM manages energy cost and availability, while IT’s focused on computing needs.

CIOs know energy savings are important, but their priority is IT operations. And the bill for energy rarely crosses the CIOs desk.

But many IT folks are finding that a move toward a greener profile helps them contribute to organizational savings and boost efficiency.

That’s because even if saving energy isn’t an immediate IT concern, it’s one for folks IT works closely with and for.

Experts predict many upper managers will soon insist everyone contributes to cutting these expenses. As the economy continues to slow down and inch toward a possible recession, and as energy prices mount, those cost-cutting days may be just around the proverbial corner.

Then it will be up to IT to show how they’re helping manage energy costs for the company.

Making room for more data

The other driver for going green will hit IT when data storage demands call for adding new equipment.

IT managers may sit up and take green notice when power and cooling issues prevent them from adding more servers in the data center.

In the meantime, IT managers will be wise to understand that image-conscious CEOs will have to defend the organization’s green reputation.

Having a green initiative, either planned or already in place, will come in handy when the boss wants to know “How green is our IT operation?”

Translation: What do I have to brag about to customers, stockholders or the board when they ask what we’re doing for the environment?

Every little bit helps

For most organizations, the greening of IT will be incremental. Taking baby steps will be less costly and disruptive than trying to change course quickly and dramatically.

Try these inexpensive and easy energy-saving tips to start:
• Opt for energy-saving hardware when replacing old equipment (remember: a thin client uses 15 watts of electricity instead of 150 for a workstation)
• Power down the CPU and all peripherals when not needed
• Choose LCD monitors rather than CRTs whenever possible
• Use power-management features to turn off hard drives and displays after several minutes of inactivity
• Choose notebooks instead of desktops if you can
• Shut off energy-hogging peripherals like laser printers when not needed
• Consider virtualization whenever possible because it can be deployed across existing servers (it’s an incremental solution that has small but immediate payback)
• Dispose of e-waste properly, and
• Minimize paper use and recycle waste paper when possible.

For a free information kit on the “Power of Green,” visit here.