Green IT

According to the article Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices,  green IT  is the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green IT starts with manufacturers producing environmentally friendly products and encouraging IT departments to consider more friendly options like virtualization, power management and proper recycling habits. However, manufactures alone cannot bring the change, everyone has to contribute to make green IT to make a difference.

A lot of energy is being wasted, power consumption is increasing and if we do not take green IT in account we are sure to face problems in near future. PCs left on overnight in USA and UK alone wastes twenty billion kWh of energy. This also has resulted to a lot of unwanted carbon dioxide emissions. Total energy usage (of 2007) is predicated to be doubled by the year of 2012. Similarly, energy bills for it data senders have started to approach the cost of infrastructures. IT accounts for roughly 2% of carbon dioxide emissions which is roughly the same as the carbon dioxide emission by aviation industries.

Green IT aims for reducing usage and cost of energy, increasing capacity and performance of computers, maintaining power and cooling issues, achieving social responsibility by reducing carbon foot print. Reducing the use of hazardous materials, maximizing energy efficiency during the product's lifetime, and promoting the recyclability or biodegradability of defunct products and factory waste are also major goals of green IT.

Recycling is also one of the major parts of green IT. Electronic wastes contain a lot of chemicals. For instance, some electronic scrap components, such as CRTs, may contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants. Thus, recycling of e-wastes is very important.  However, out of 15million tons of e-waste produced only 15% to 20% of e-waste is recycled every year.  Recycling policies for e-waste has not still been made in our nation. In our part of the world only paper, plastics and batteries like things are being recycled. E-wastes are thrown out which is completely against WEE detractive.

We can also contribute a lot to green IT. Powering down all the CPUs and peripherals during extended periods of inactivity saves a lot of energy. Trying to do computer related tasks during contiguous, intensive blocks of time and leaving hardware off at other times also helps IT go green. Using liquid crystal display monitors rather than cathode-ray tube monitors can also makes a huge difference. Besides theses we can contribute to green IT by minimizing the use of paper, disposing of e-waste according to federal, state and local regulations. We should buy recyclable and less energy consuming goods.