First of all, we wish all a Merry Christmas and cheers to a better year ahead! We have been busy so apologies for not updating the site as often.

Let’s start this last week of 2008 with Green IT. Take a look at the video from TechRepublic for a belief introduction of what Green IT is and what it implies.

The main objectives of Green IT is to minimise energy use, reduce CO2 emission, better manage electronic waste and ultimately to reduce costs.

Here are 10 tips gathered from TechRepublic on going green for your IT department.

1. Buy energy efficient hardware

Major hardware vendors are gradually introducing more products that meet the Energy Star guidelines for lower power consumption. Also take a look at the list of participating manufacturers who have good EPEAT ratings. The ratings use standards set by the IEEE to measure “environmental performance”. All EPEAT-registered products must meet Energy Star 4.0 criteria.

Do you also know that while multicore processors increase processing output, they do not substantially increase energy usage? Also take note for your IT purchases at high efficiency (80%) power supplies, variable speed temperature controlled fans, small form factor hard drives, and low voltage processors.

2. Use power management technology and best practices

Modern operating systems incorporate power-saving features that allow you to configure monitors and hard disks to power down after a specified period of inactivity. Systems can be set to hibernate when not in use, thus powering down the CPU and RAM as well. So do remind yourself and your colleagues to make use of this power-saving feature to reduce energy consumption, whether in office or at home. Make it a habit to hibernate your computers when not in use.

3. Use virtualisation technology to consolidate servers

One of the most popular technology now - virtualisation. You can reduce the number of physical servers, and thus the energy consumption by using virtualisation technology to run multiple virtual machines on a single physical server. Have a look at the two leading products - VMWare and Microsoft’s Hyper-V.

4. Consolidate storage with SAN/NAS solutions

Just as server consolidation saves energy, so does consolidation of storage using storage area networks (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS) solutions. The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) proposes such practices such as powering down selected drives, using slower drives where possible, and not overbuilding power/coolong equipment based on peak power requirements shown in label ratings.

5. Optimise data centre design

Data centres are huge consumers of energy, and cooling all the equipment is a big issue. Data centre design that incorporates hot aisle and cold aisle layout, coupled cooling (placing cooling systems closer to heat sources), and liquid cooling can tremendously reduce the energy needed to run the data centre.

Another way to “green” the data centre is to use low-powered blade servers and more energy-efficient uninterruptible power supplies, which can use 70 percent less power than a legacy UPS.

Optimum data centre design for saving energy should also take into account the big picture, by considering the use of alternative energy technologies (photovoltaics, evaporative cooling, etc) and catalytic converters on backup generators, and from the ground up, by minimising the footprints of the buildings themselves. Energy-monitoring systems provide the information you need to measure efficiency.

6. Use thin clients to reduce GPU power usage

Another way to reduce the amount of energy consumed by computers is to deploy thin clients. Because most of the processing is done on the server, the thin clients use very little energy. In fact, a typical thin client uses less power while up and running applications than an Energy Star compliant PC uses in sleep mode. Thin clients are components to be dealt with at the end of their lifecycles.

Last year, a Verizon spokesman said the company had decreased energy consumption by 30 percent by replacing PCs with thin clients, saving about $1 million per year.

7. Use more efficient displays

Time to get rid of your old CRT monitors. Replacing them with LCD displays can save up to 70 percent in energy costs. However, not all LCD monitors are created equal when it comes to power consumption. High efficiency LCDs are available from several vendors.

8. Recycle systems and supplies

To reduce the load on already overtaxed landfills and to avoid sending hazardous materials to those landfills, old systems and supplies can be reused, repurposed, and/or recycled.

You can start by repurposing item within the company; for example, in many cases, when a graphics designer or engineer needs a new high end workstation to run resource-hungry programs, the old computer is perfectly adequate for use by someone doing word processing, spreadsheets, or other less intensive tasks. This hand-me-down method allows two workers to get better systems than they had, while requiring the purchase of only one new machine (thus saving money and avoiding unnecessary e-waste).

Old electronics devices can also be reused by those outside the company. You can donate old computers and other devices still in working order to schools and nonprofit organisation, which can still get a lot of use out of them. Finally, much electronic waste can be recycled, the parts used to make new items. Things like old printer cartridges, old cell phones, and paper can all be recycled.

Some computer vendors, such as Dell, have programs to take back computers and peripherals for recycling.

9. Reduce paper consumption

Another way to save money while reducing your company’s impact on the environment is to reduce your consumption of paper. You can do this by switching from a paper-based to an electronic workflow: creating, editing, viewing, and delivering documents in digital rather than printed form. Send documents as email attachments rather than faxing.

And when printing is unavoidable, you can still reduce waste and save money by setting your printers to use duplex (double-sided) printing. An internal study conducted by HP showed that a Fortune 500 company can save 800 tons of paper per year (a savings of over $7 million) by printing on both sides.

10. Encouraging telecommuting

The ultimate way to have a greener office is to have less office. By encouraging as many workers as possible to telecommute, you can reduce the amount of office space that needs to be heated and cooled, the number of computers required on site, and the number of miles driven by employees to get to and from work. Telecommuting reduces costs for both employers and employees and can also reduce the spread of contagious diseases.

Sources: TechRepublic, Green IT Tools