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Going green saves, but proving it's tough

by Valerie Helmbreck, Finance Tech News

20 April 2011

Seems like going green is going mainstream. That???s the word from a new study that finds organizations have started to realize the bottom line benefits that go along with energy conservation.

Organizations are making a concerted effort to buy information technology (IT) products that are power consumption friendly and easy to dispose of, according to new research released this week by CompTIA, the non-profit association for the IT industry.

More than three-quarters of organizations surveyed for CompTIA???s Second Annual Green IT and Insights study said they factor green into their IT purchase considerations for products such as desktop and laptop computers, printers, monitors, servers, data storage and other networking equipment.

???In particular they???re concerned with factors like power consumption, with two-thirds of companies rating this as a major factor in their IT purchase decisions,??? said Seth Robinson, director, information technology analysis, CompTIA.

Other highly rated green factors impacting purchase decisions include a product???s power management capabilities (63%) and ease of disposal/recycling (58%).

In addition to buying energy-efficient IT products, more companies are encouraging green behaviors:

• 73% encourage nightly computer shutdowns, and

• 68% encourage users to use their computers??? energy savings and sleep mode settings

Though many companies are encouraging green behaviors, far fewer are monitoring results. Just 16% of respondents in the CompTIA study said they use software to monitor and measure energy consumption or similar environmental issues. However, 48% said they have plans to start using the software.

???Systems administrators can use these software programs to monitor power usage by device over time, allowing policies to be set that reduce energy without disrupting business,??? said Robinson, adding that even more comprehensive programs to monitor and control lighting, HVAC and other building facilities are available as well.

The adoption of new software tools for energy monitoring and reduction has the potential to further expand the roles and responsibilities of internal IT staff and external IT contractors and solution providers, Robinson noted.

???Areas such as lighting and HVAC are typically not a part of the IT infrastructure, but as companies use software to monitor and control their use, IT personnel will be utilized for running the software and connecting the network components,??? he said. ???For organizations to optimize their costs savings and return on investment in green solutions, energy consumption must be a joint effort among IT, operations and finance.???

Cost savings top the list of drivers for implementing green initiatives, with 71% of organizations in the CompTIA survey identifying it as a significant driver. Reduced energy consumption (70%) was a close second.

Dollars and cents issues also top the list of challenges organization face in implementing green IT practices. The CompTIA survey reveals that 83% of organizations cite implementation costs as their top IT challenge. Nearly three-quarters (72%) say that difficulty proving the return on investment of green initiatives hurts their efforts to implement such programs.

http://www.financetechnews.com/going-green-saves-but-proving-its-tough/