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Measure and record: Organisations should start measuring the power consumption across the company. Dig out the power bill for the company for the past three months, and compare it with those of earlier quarters. Dig deeper to find out who the biggest guzzlers are. Make an energy map based on this research.
Powering off: Standby mode is the one of biggest tragedies that could have happened to computing. It is estimated that close to 40% of employees keep their PCs on standby mode when leaving for home. The solution is to tweak the system to go into a shut off mode after a fixed time span. Usually this can be done at the network level itself and poses no technical challenge.
Virtual is real: Data centres use massive amounts of electricity; large ones can use megawatts of power. The interesting thing about these data centres is that a bulk of the power, around 60% of it, goes not in the processing of information but in the cooling of the equipment. The key words here are: consolidate and virtualise to reduce power consumption.
Take the soft(ware) road: While it might not be popular yet, but there are lots of software application that aid and abet green. Ideally, once the energy consumption pattern has been mapped, and virtualisation done, the next step is to go in for software solutions that help better manage the existing infrastructure. One of the most common approaches is to host applications on the cloud. This is not only cost effective but also carbon effective.
Purchase green: Buy green should be the new mantra. So, whenever any RFP is floated make sure it has some green parameters in it as well. Also, whenever you are asked to evaluate a product or a technology solution dig deeper into the carbon footprint of the product, the disposal, and other things. Make it a point to make green an important and integral part of your evaluation.
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