Going Green in IT

There is a lot that we in IT can do to help the environment. One thing that we are doing right now is phasing out traditional desktop computers. We are moving to be a laptop-only workplace for several reasons. It makes sense for contingency operations, but they use less power and have a somewhat smaller footprint. If we could just convince the manufactures to put them in smaller boxes we would be even better. The really big deal, in my opinion is that we recycle all of our old equipment. Most of it goes to schools (after a careful sanitization). What doesn't go to schools gets recycled.

We have a lot of support for Alternate Work Schedules (AWS) and I can see the difference on the roads. Mondays and Fridays especially seem to have a lot less cars. This is due in large part to people working 4-10 hour days or people working 9-9 hour days (and having a day off every other week). I used to work the 4-10 schedule and it was great. I had every Wednesday off and spent it with my kids. It was a lot of fun. But it doesn't work for all roles in the organization and I found myself working on Wednesdays. Thus I came back to the more traditional schedule. But a lot of roles in IT are a great fit for AWS.

A little further on this point, I am a lover of Live Meeting. I have accomplished the same thing that formerly cost a lot of money and had people flying all over the place and staying in hotel rooms because Live Meeting is so good. As a service it is virtually 100% reliable, there has only been one instance in probably 50 meetings in which it didn't work perfectly. I can sync up people from across the country and and walk and talk them through the work, and it is very effective. Bear in mind, it can't replace all of the in-person meetings, there is still a lot to be had from shaking someone's hand, but Live Meeting can be extremely effective for getting the work done and in a way that is kind to the planet.

As with most things, there is a lot of opportunity to perform efficiently when you scale the operation. How many servers are supporting Outlook in the government? I'll bet a lot. How many servers would we be able to retire if we switched to something like Gmail? I understand that there is a risk, but that risk is no greater than the risk that existed when we first powered up Outlook or CC Mail years ago. That risk can be mitigated by bright, creative people who find solutions. The Google server farms operate at a significantly higher level of efficiency than what most government server rooms can. We should be looking at the services that can scale and focus on aggregating them in Centers of Excellence and turn off servers.

The newest thing I'm interested in is the footprint from my PDA. I am now convinced that I would be much less effective without it and could never go back. But I plug it in at night and it pulls power even when it doesn't need it. I wish there was a way for these devices to pull power and then just go to sleep when they are full.