Collaboration Is Key for Green IT

• By John Lamb
• Apr 17, 2009
• Sample Chapter is provided courtesy of IBM Press

This chapter is from the book
Greening of IT, The: How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment

“The recent focus on energy efficient computing has forced tech giants in Silicon Valley to collaborate more than ever before.”
—Consulting Firm Grove Associates, October 2007

To meet the challenge for effective green IT, collaboration is a must. Green data center technology covers a broad spectrum, from efficient cooling towers and variable speed blowers to the use of energy-efficient IT systems, such as virtual servers, blade centers, and virtual data storage. Significant contributors to the collaboration team include IT technology vendors, data center design businesses, infrastructure technology providers, energy utilities, and governments. This chapter includes descriptions on how to help make this collaboration happen. A key starting point is to have an executive champion for implementing a green data center. Chapter 5, “The Magic of ‘Incentive’—The Role of Electric Utilities,” covers in detail this position on energy utilities and organization. Energy utilities have additional interest in implementing green IT because they can use their experience to help establish rate-case incentives on green computing technology for their customers.

In the previous chapter, the last section (“Resources to Get the Latest Information on Green IT”) included some of the many groups that are involved in green IT. The following sections give additional information on how many of these groups are collaborating.