Green IT – The Good Aspect of a Recession
Green Technology Might Benefit from the Economic Downturn
Mar 30, 2009
Computers and other machinery are real monsters, when the energy they consume is taken into account. Energy is used not only to power computers but also to cool them.
This is especially of a problem in data centers, where there are thousands of machines, which consume really a lot of electricity. While managers generally won't always admit that savings are the primary reason to turn to green technology, this is the major reason why managers invest in eco-friendly technologies and equipment.
Why Eco-friendly Technology and Equipment Help to Save Money
The number of eco-friendly technologies and equipment is growing exponentially, because the demand for green technology products is also on the rise. Green technologies and equipment come in many varieties but the three most important are:
- Energy saving hardware and software. The concept behind energy saving hardware and software is simple – computers need more energy when they are performing tasks than when they are in an idle state. Nowadays most computers have some or many parts that apply this energy saving principle, while computers years ago didn't have such perks and they consumed a lot of electricity even when they were not working at full throttle.
- Virtualization. Virtualization allows to run multiple logical servers on one physical machine, this way reducing the number of physical machines in an enterprise. The savings from virtualization are especially tangible for environments, where there are hundreds or even thousands of non-virtualized computers. After a virtualization product is deployed, the number of physical machines can be substantially reduced in number.
- PC Recycling. PC recycling is an industry in its own now. Many companies deal with recycling PC components and extracting the usable parts from them. For companies PC recycling is a tangible way to save money because when a computer is sent to a recycling depot, the company gets some money for it.
When totaled, the three above mentioned green IT approaches could reduce the costs of a company in half. This is certainly impressive! Maybe in better economic situations many managers wouldn't be eager to save money exactly like that but now every cent one can save matters.
Saving the Environment While Saving Money
In addition to saving money, green IT helps to save the environment as well. Well, it should be the other way round – the environment should be the primary concern, but it seems concern about the environment is too abstract (unless one is personally affected).
When a company consumes less energy, this has a positive effect on the environment because less energy is produced. To put it simply, energy production is not eco-friendly, so the less energy is required by companies and individuals, the better. In this aspect maybe the recession should be thanked to because of the good eco developments it will boost.
