Social Pressures Are Demanding Green IT Solutions
Significant social pressure exists for organizations to remain environmentally conscience by implementing green IT solutions. “The pressure exerted on international corporations is so great that total responsibility management (TRM) teams have become commonplace” (Satterlee, 2013, pp. 19). Sources causing the pressure to be economically conscience include political atmospheres, economic conditions, competitors, and even the public’s perception, which is concerned with the rapid growth in energy consumption from data centers and IT infrastructures.
Several reports such as Koomey’s, Growth in data center electricity use 2005 to 2010, have calculated that 1.1%-1.5% of the entire world’s electricity is consumed by data centers alone. Likewise, energy is the largest operating cost for data centers. Which is why leading industry companies such as Google continue to innovate. Implementing green IT solutions, Google data centers consume 50% less energy of a normal data center. Google continues to set the standard for green data centers, which places a significant amount of pressure on other organizations to follow suit.
How does this apply to small businesses?
Power is a large cost even for small businesses. Following in Google’s footsteps, small businesses can save thousands every year by adjusting their power policy. For example, most small businesses disable standby and hibernation to allow computers to install updates overnight. The following comparison highlights the financial impact of keeping computers on 24/7.
Traditional IT Power Policy Cost
- Organizational Size = 50 Computers
- Average Business Grade Computer Energy Consumption in Watts = 550 or 0.550 kW
- 24 hours per day of active use (the removal of hibernation and standby)
- U.S. Average Price per kWh in cents = 10.71
- Cost to operate 50 computers per year = $25,140.722
Green IT Power Policy Cost
- Organizational Size = 50 Computers
- Average Business Grade Computer Consumption in Watts = 550 or 0.550 kW
- 10 hours per workday (M-F) for approx. 251 working days per year
- U.S. Average Price per kWh in cents = 10.71
- Cost to operate 50 computers per year = $7,385.682
1average cost of kWh retrieved from the U.S. Energy Information Administration
2formula = watts x hours per day x days per year x price per kW x number of computers
We Just Saved You $17,755.04 Per Year
(hypothetically)
Green IT solutions can be simple! Implementing something as trivial as a power policy reduces the energy cost of operating 50 computers by nearly 70%. Often the simplest solutions offer the greatest impact for a small business. Implementing green IT solutions is just one of the many ways ITA helps its clients save money and grow their business.
Implementing A Power Policy for Your Small Business
Would you like to achieve the same results? We’d be happy to show you how and still be able to install updates overnight and remotely connect to your computers anytime. Drop us a line and we’ll get started in transforming your business.