How can I make my IT truly sustainable?

It's not just about setting computers to sleep overnight; Nik Rawlinson finds out how to minimise your overall environmental impact

- Nik Rawlinson

How green is your IT department? Almost certainly less than you think. Cloud computing alone is responsible for around 3% of all global emissions, and when you consider the rest of your IT estate, rolling in hardware manufacture, transportation, use and disposal, your impact on the environment could well be significant.

Yet sustainability needn't just be good for the planet - it can be good for business as well. In a Salesforce survey of 2,300 adults in the UK and US, four in five respondents stated that a business' values would impact their spending decisions. Close to 60% believed they had the power to influence change in businesses through boycotts and other action.

Thus, making responsible choices, and not being afraid to shout about it, can help to drive revenue. Even where it doesn't, it can reduce costs, as we'll discuss below. So, if you oversee procurement, how can you make sure your organisation's IT really is worth shouting about? And, if you don't, what arguments could you use to influence change where it's most needed?

Power, and where it comes from

When we think about "green" technology, we tend to focus on the energy a device consumes while in use, and the environmental impact of generating it. Historically that's been a big concern, as the vast majority of our energy has come from burning fossil fuels. Things are getting better on that front, however: almost a third of the world's electricity now comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar, and in the UK it's easy to find a green tariff.

The energy directly consumed by a device is only part of the equation, however. The University of Oxford calculates that only 15% of the emissions associated with using a typical computer are attributable to in-use energy consumption. Most of the environmental cost of a desktop PC is incurred initially in its manufacture, and eventually in its disposal.