We finally live in a world where we are mindful of our impact on the environment around us. Reducing your carbon footprint isn’t a nicety, it’s our duty. And not just for the big players, everyone can, and should, play their part. Green IT is grabbing the attention of executives around the world and goes a long way to helping your business operate in a responsible way. Saving the planet while saving you money.
We’ve come up with some suggestions that could be very easy to implement and may help your business a little eco-friendlier.
Embrace the cloud
The first and most obvious way to reduce the impact of your IT equipment on the environment, is to reduce your IT equipment itself. Not only does embracing cloud technologies improve your resilience while making your data more accessible, but it can also reduce the amount of paper and ink you use. Moving your infrastructure to the cloud can have an enormous impact on your power consumption too, especially when you factor in the costs of cooling servers and other key network equipment. Of course, this isn’t only limited to hardware, are you still advertising on paper? Consider turning to digital marketing instead of posters, pamphlets and flyers – that more often than not end up in landfill. It’s proven to be far more effective, cost-effective, and much kinder to the environment.
Go paperless
If you can, see if you can go completely paperless. Apart from a couple of utilities/services incapable of dragging themselves into this century, most of us have gone all but entirely paperless at home. Printers can be a waste of energy; they waste paper and ink cartridges are a landfill nightmare. Ask yourself if you really need to print something out, only to throw it away again the same day? If you absolutely must use a printer, consider setting it to print on both sides and using recycled paper and ink cartridges.
Turn it off
Even in low power mode, a number of desktops left powered on overnight will still use enough power to gasp at the wastage when you add it all up over the course of a year. Equally, monitors and printers not in use can also burn through a fair amount of energy over the course of the year. Turn them off when you’re not using them. If you can’t turn them off entirely for any reason, enable sleep mode on all devices that will allow it. Speak to your IT team to enforce this mode using device policies, so users can't disable it either.
Recycle
In the same way that you would recycle plastics, glass and metals, why wouldn’t you consider recycling your IT equipment? It is, after all, made of plastics and metals (maybe a little glass?).
Keeping physical equipment out of landfills is a great way to do your bit for the planet. We offer our customers an asset disposal service at a very low cost that not only ensures data protection compliance by providing them with a certificate of destruction, but also recycles the hardware once the data is securely wiped. We even arrange WEEE certificates for those who need them. Most of the equipment is then donated to under-privileged children who wouldn’t otherwise have the means to afford computing devices. Everyone wins.
Replace old equipment
It’s widely accepted that over the years your larger household appliances have become more energy efficient. When your energy bills are skyrocketing at home, you naturally start to consider replacing your boiler, or finally getting rid of that old flat screen TV. Why is it hard to believe that company IT equipment should be any different? Continued pressure placed on manufacturers around the world means that most technology devices are becoming more energy efficient. Have you considered that it may not increase your overall costs by replacing the hardware in your server room or the desktops that have been sitting under your desks for so many years?
Consider your suppliers
You may find that you really want to play your part but are convinced that you are limited on the positive impact you can have. Perhaps you’re a micro-company? You can still make a difference. Consider how green your suppliers and partners are. If they’re a larger organisation and are not actively trying to make a difference, do you need to partner with them at all?
Buy fair trade coffee
Okay, so this one isn’t technically related to your IT equipment, but anyone working in IT will know just how much coffee IT professionals consume on a daily basis. If your company employs technical staff, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. Sometimes the small differences add up just enough for us to feel proud about the legacy that leave behind.
