a mission for a better global society

8/4/2019 A Mission for a Better Global Society

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Redefining the Roles of Business, NGOs and

Governments: A Mission for a Better Global Society

Sub Theme:New Frontiers of CSR and Strategic Philanthropy


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Green Corporate Social Responsibility

Vishnupriya Raghavan

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has acquired new dimensions in recent years. It is

not a new concept, but over the past decade its focus has shifted from labor issues and

local philanthropy towards environmental actions. Green is a philosophy and social

concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. As waves of new

technology continue impacting our lives, finding a conscientious way to retire the old

while bringing in the new is key to keep from fouling our land and oceans with harmful

substances. Today, multinational companies are proactively taking up this task under

CSR and thus giving a social value to all their business endeavors. Business software

applications are now emerging to help companies achieve these goals by providing

capabilities to eliminate waste, reduce energy consumption, use alternative materials,

optimize the supply chain and other initiatives. Companies are trying to become Green

by offering energy efficient solutions.

Most of the IT industry stakeholders are looking at devising their own green strategies,

and are zeroing in on innovative measures to achieve their objectives. The measures

include designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and

associated subsystemssuch as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and

communications systemsefficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the

environment. Research continues into key areas such as making the use of computers as

energy-efficient as possible, and designing algorithms and systems for efficiency-related


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computer technologies. The onus of societal development no more lays with the

government alone. The corporate sector is increasingly involved as well and the CSR

activities are being designed in alignment with their business strategies. Further, smaller

IT companies in India have also joined the effort.

According to a UN report, India is the second largest e-waste generator in Asia. India

generated 5.9 million tones of hazardous waste in 2009, posing serious health issues. In

this context, the role played by software companies in India assumes significance.

Software companies across India are considering the importance of Green IT. IT greening

is about using IT more efficiently to achieve reductions in energy consumption, and

therefore, considering the acquisition of energy-efficient IT solutions. IT is so pervasive

that energy efficiency through the implementation of green IT has moved to center stage

and captured the limelight for many companies in their pursuit of environmentally helpful

practices.

The aim of this paper is to develop a framework to understand the best practices of

multinational companies including Dell, Intel and others. Applicability of some of these

best practices to the software companies and consulting firms will be analyzed as well. It

also aims at finding the different Green CSR initiatives of software companies and

independent consulting firms in India. A theoretical framework will thus be developed

for classifying the different approaches to Green CSR adopted by these firms and

examine the alignment of these approaches with their business strategies. The paper will

examine the benefits of these approaches such as better sales, governmental sops and

induction of new technology. The findings could thus help many other software


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companies and consulting firms to embrace green IT and practice it while growing

revenues and profit margins.

Key-words:

Energy-efficient, environment, sustainability, Green-IT, alignment, business strategies,

technology, approaches.

Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Information Systems, Bangalore

Management Academy, Bangalore


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Green

Corporate Social Responsibility: Small Steps, Big Goal.

Introduction:

The notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is experiencing a tremendous surge of

popularity worldwide. CSR involves a companys effort to minimize its impact on the

environment, better engage employees and take care of them in ways beyond a paycheck,

and give back to the community. It is a concept that organizations have an obligation to

consider the interests of customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and

ecological considerations in all aspects of their operations. It is not a new concept, but

over the past decade its focus has shifted from labor issues and local philanthropy

towards environmental actions. It has acquired new dimensions in recent years and is

closely linked with the principles of Sustainable Development, which argues that

enterprises should make decisions based not only on financial factors such as profits or

dividends, but also based on the immediate and long-term social and environmental

consequences of their activities. In todays world, it is rare to find a company website that

does not have sustainability wording. In fact, many websites highlight what the company

has done to contribute to a sustainable environment.

Green is a philosophy and social concern for the conservation and improvement of the

environment. As waves of new technology continue impacting our lives, finding a

conscientious way to retire the old while bringing in the new is key to keep from fouling


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our land and oceans with harmful substances. Carbon dioxide and its equivalents, such as

methane and nitrogen oxide are the main focus of concern for all living in this planet.

These harmful emissions provide a yardstick by which progress on climate change can be

measured. Information Technology (IT) related carbon dioxide emissions have been

estimated at two percent of the worlds total1. Governmental regulations coupled with all

the green IT initiatives can help reduce this figure and most importantly, IT itself can

support the greening of other processes as well (the remaining 98 percent).

IT is the central nervous system not only of our businesses but also of our governmental

and social infrastructure. IT depends on electricity and as it continues to grow, its

unchecked consumption of power is threatening the financial resources of the

organization it serves. To date, our IT has been focused on human needs without thought

for the environment. Just as it has been the instrument for our plight, IT may be the

mechanism for our salvation. IT must find a way to be green as we need to leave the

planet worth living on for our descendants.

Today, multinational companies are proactively taking up this task under CSR and thus

giving a social value to all their business endeavors. Business software applications are

now emerging to help companies achieve these goals by providing capabilities to

eliminate waste, reduce energy consumption, use alternative materials, optimize the

supply chain and other initiatives. Companies are trying to become Green by offering

energy efficient solutions. IT greening is about using IT more efficiently to achieve

reductions in energy consumption, and therefore, considering the acquisition of energy-

efficient IT solutions. IT is so pervasive that energy efficiency through the


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implementation of green IT has moved to center stage and captured the limelight for

many companies in their pursuit of environmentally helpful practices. Going Green is a

process and it is the beginning of what is needed for true sustainability. It may also be the

shortest path to economic savings and the overall health of an organization.

Green IT:

Green IT encompasses a wide range of environmental challenges: efficiency, recycling of

materials, reduction/elimination of toxic compounds in manufacturing, renewable energy

and a variety of management systems (such as decision support systems in an airline

industry or to manage traffic flow and systems to optimize information streams over the

Internet).

Green IT is more than an initiative to improve the efficiency and reduce the

environmental impact of an organizations computing operations. Because of the

universal nature of IT infrastructure touching every location and almost every employee

IT has a unique capability to substitute (low-carbon) infrastructure for (carbon-

intensive) processes like business travel or building HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air

Conditioning) systems.

Much research has shown the many benefits of changing to greener products or systems

in terms of money. Many Green IT initiatives have also resulted in benefits in terms of

brand value. These benefits have made other organizations sit up and begin greening their

IT infrastructure and operations.


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Most of the IT industry stakeholders are looking at devising their own green strategies,

and are zeroing in on innovative measures to achieve their objectives. The measures

include designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and

associated subsystemssuch as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and

communications systemsefficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the

environment. Research continues into key areas such as making the use of computers as

energy-efficient as possible, and designing algorithms and systems for efficiency-related

computer technologies. The onus of societal development no more lays with the

government alone. The corporate sector is increasingly involved as well and the CSR

activities are being designed in alignment with their business strategies. Further, smaller

IT companies in India have also joined the effort.

According to a UN report, India is the second largest e-waste generator in Asia. India

generated 5.9 million tones of hazardous waste in 2009, posing serious health issues2. In

this context, the role played by software companies in India assumes significance.

Software companies across India are considering the importance of Green IT. According

to NASSCOM report, for Green IT to achieve a sustainable impact, most Indian firms

need to transform their approach to Green IT from obligation to opportunity. Indian

firms should use IT pro-actively to holistically transform into green businesses rather

than only focusing on making IT infrastructure, services and products green.

There is a divide between our current technology-driven lifestyle and our call for

sustainability. Yet technology growth is fueling the business world and is possibly the


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most dominant force for change in todays markets and society. Clearly, the next

generation of green IT needs to adopt a holistic view of the environment and technology.

Organizations have multiple motives for undertaking Green IT initiatives, and its

welfare effects are highly contingent on the institutional context in which it is

undertaken3. Most organizations expect several outcomes from improving the

sustainability of their IT operations and infrastructure; lower operating expenses,

reduction or avoidance of capital expenditures; alignments with corporate green

initiatives that are aimed at improving customer perception and appealing to current and

prospective employees, and complying with existing and, especially, prospective

regulations.

Successful green IT initiatives go well beyond purchasing new, more energy-efficient IT

hardware and software. To reduce their environmental impact, organizations have to put

policies and practices in place that makes IT infrastructure and operations more energy

efficient; and enable IT to perform sustainability improvements in business processes

across the entire organization. Achieving the sustainability objectives also requires

process and behavior change4.

Green IT initiatives and strategy must be aligned along the following three vectors:

1. Cleaning up IT and make it green: Environmental impact of IT can be reduced by

looking at the whole life implications of products at the time of their purchase.

Opportunities for reusing or recycling products must be looked at. Adoption of green

technologies and practices using green buildings, energy efficient data centers, power


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efficient computers, shared data centers, and addressing issues like e-waste management

will help make IT green.

2. Greening through IT: IT can clean up its own act but greater gains can come from

using computers to reduce emissions and other undesirable effects outside of IT.

Organizations can deploy IT solutions such as cloud computing, video conferencing,

webinars, intelligent transport systems, and motion and heat detection sensors.

3. Taking action and make green warriors: Setting printers to double sided printing,

setting PCs to standby or sleep following minutes of inactivity, encouraging staff to

participate in webinars to reduce travel are a few examples of organizations ready to take

action towards achieving Green IT objectives. In addition, organizations have to

encourage its employees to adopt a green life style that will make them become change

agents to catalyze transformation and create a sustainable impact in the society around

themselves.

The value of introducing green IT initiatives cannot be dismissed when it comes to

corporate image, marketing and public relations. Environmentally friendly businesses are

rewarded by the news of their social commitments and good corporate citizenship. It is

not only important to understand and realize how valuable green IT solutions are, it is

also equally important for organizations to find out which solutions provide the greatest

benefits5.


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Parameters of Green IT:

A good way for organizations to clean up their IT is to include environmental questions

in their purchasing requests. Checking if the products hold ISO 14001 certification, and if

the devices meet energy or environmental certification will go a long way in meeting

green IT objectives6. There are many parameters of Green IT that exist today and Energy

Star is one of the oldest environmental programs devised with co-operation from the

government of a country in an effort to reduce the pollution caused by electronic

appliances. All devices that carry this particular label are at least 10 % more efficient than

other appliances.

Source: http://www.energystar.gov/

Energy star parameters are updated every year, and it is required that the manufacturer

should also renew their certification if they want to continue using the label. The

stringent emission norms coupled with regular updates do make this a versatile standard

that is very important in the process of greening IT or any network hardware.


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Following the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) Energy Star guidelines, Dell has

created several desktop and notebook products that consume less than 5 watts in low

power mode7. Another way to cut down on power use is to curtail use of screen savers, as

they are power drains. PCs must be defaulted to stand by or sleep modes following

specified minutes of inactivity. Microsoft Windows Vista on the desktop, power

management features are turned on by default. The Linux community and Intel have

teamed up to reduce reliance on the power grid. There are power saving features in

development for Intel processors using Linux, with the goal of using less power on

desktop mobile and server platforms. Linux users can also enable power management

features in Wi-Fi and SATA (Serial ATA) and by using Gigabit Ethernet speeds only

when needed8.

The Green Electronics Council advises organizations to checkwww.apeat.net for ranking

of different products in terms of their environmental and performance attributes.

Cut use of Toxins:

According to a research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, there are about 70

million computers in U.S landfills and there is about 40 percent of lead that is present in

these landfills. Apple has banned toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury and

asbestos in its products. It has also eliminated lead from its batteries.

Engineers at Intel place appropriate substitutes to agents known for emitting greenhouse

gases. Isopropyl alcohol is used during Intels manufacturing process and engineers are

working towards replacing this solvent, as it is known to contribute to smog9.


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The ever shrinking resource pool as well as ever increasing carbon footprint caused by

the IT industry is our main motivation for this paper. Large networks like data centers

account for a significant portion of carbon emission today.

GIB Services in Switzerland is using excess heat from its datacenter to heat a local public

swimming pool! A mining company in Canada is using its excess datacenter heat to

warm its warehouses during the cold Canadian winters10

!

Data centers consume and expel a lot of electricity. Many server computers run at less

than 30 percent capacity

11

. Considering the fact that servers are seldom utilized to an

efficient level, it would make sense to use a single computer to host more than one

service. Virtualization takes advantage of this and enables a single system to run multiple

services and even more than one operating system simultaneously.

Why Virtualize? :

Virtualization is one of the easiest paths to green, because when there is more than one

application running on a server called as application consolidation, the number of servers

required to support these applications are reduced. The reduction in the number of

physical servers is server consolidation. With virtualization, there is less power

consumption and hence lower energy requirement for cooling the servers. In a data

center, having fewer servers translates to less rack space and hence a smaller footprint by

the organization.


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Going Green and SOA:

The virtualization model demands an SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and a

simplified infrastructure that coordinates technologies. SOA a business model with the

idea of reuse built in is definitely one practice leading to successful green IT initiatives.

SOA can be helpful in developing green enterprise solutions because it combines

environmentally friendly concepts with good business sense. SOA makes it easier to

adapt IT to changing business conditions in a dynamic market place of today thereby

increasing business agility.

Greening through IT:

IT can help companies become greener. Energy efficiency can be accomplished by a

number of ways. Travel can be substituted with tools such as video conferencing and web

conferencing. HP prevented 145 metric tons of carbon emissions by the use of HPs Halo

telepresence solution and cut an estimated 44 international employee trips. In 2006, Cisco

was able to reduce all of its air travel worldwide by 10 percent by encouraging remote

collaboration. Ciscos TelePresence meetings incorporate high-quality audio and life-like

video in a specially tuned environment. It helped Cisco reduced its gross GHG emissions.

Video conferencing, a way to green IT has also improved customer responsiveness at

Cisco, resulting in $ 96 million in incremental margin in 200912

.

Web meetings and webinars are great ways towards greening IT operations as people can

share content and interact with each other through their web cams and PC screens.


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Telecommuting to work also reduces the emissions associated with the daily commute

and gives employees a better lifestyle.

IBMs work-at-home program, leveraging IBMs collaboration tools conserved more

than eight million gallons of fuel and avoided more than 68,000 tons of carbon dioxide

emissions in 2006. IBM was also able to save $ 97 million in travel costs using

collaboration tools. IBM claims another $ 16.5 million in cost savings from using instant

messaging instead of the phone13.

Green Document Management:

Collaboration on business documents reports, presentations, budgets are done with the

help of document management systems. Google Docs, Zoho Writer and IBM Lotus

Quickr provide efficient document sharing that can help people share information in new

ways. Sharing links instead of sending email attachments reduces storage requirements

and paper consumption.

Besides using collaborative tools for document management, HP has also set its universal

print driver defaults to double-sided printing. HPs 300,000 employees save 800 tons of

paper every year. It also offers its customers, a carbon assessment of their use of desktops

and printers. This can help users evaluate their carbon footprint and develop an optimal

IT configuration. 14


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Collaborating in the Cloud:

Storage, document processing, email, web conferencing and high-end processing can be

done on the cloud. Cloud computing allows users to access information and services from

devices including laptops, iPhones, BlackBerries and any IP-enabled device and hence

may be a green solution for organizations. Many organizations have their ERP and CRM

applications on the cloud. Many even have their data on the cloud. Organizations

including Animoto, Netflix, McKesson Corporation, IBM, and Dell have reaped many

benefits by moving to the cloud. Moving to the cloud has the potential to greatly simplify

IT management by providing scalable resources on demand. Cloud computing can help

minimize energy consumption on premises and reduces carbon emissions.

Many universities across the world have already moved to the SaaS model for email.

Many academic institutions including Bangalore Management Academy, a leading B-

school in Bangalore, embraced Google Apps for email, document collaboration, shared

calendars, chat and instant messaging. It plans to use SaaS for Web conferencing and

social media solutions and is already using SaaS for its ERP application. Harvard

University has audacious goals for a Green campus and the Markley Data Center in its

medical school utilizes and takes advantage of many infrastructure systems that support

the universitys Green IT initiatives. 95% of Harvard Medical Schools server

environment has been virtualized. 148 physical servers have been virtualized into 14

hosts. The energy utilization of their server room was reduced by 50 KW and saves

approximately $ 6000 a month for the university15.


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Cloud computing infrastructure, platforms, and applications fit education like hand to

glove. The use of web based technology can truly transform the education scene not only

in terms of its reach, scale and flexibility but also in terms of proving to be a greener

endeavour. Enormous amount of paper is used worldwide by educational and training

institutes. The use of paper is intensified during examinations and assignment

submissions.

Conservetree.com, a recycled paper seller, gives the following statistics

(www.conservatree.com)16

. One tonne of new or non-recycled paper(commonly used in

educational institutes) uses 24 trees, whereas that of newsprint uses 12 trees. 10 reams

of virgin or new paper requires 0.6 trees. On an average a ream has 500 pages. Consider a

scenario where an educational institution has 250 students and four term exams. Each

term has four papers and on an average a student uses 4 pages for writing the exam. The

total yearly consumption of one educational institute would be 200x4x4x4 =16000 pages

ie 16000/500= 32 reams ie 1.92 trees. Thus if such an educational institution goes

paperless, it could save 2 trees a year. This can be achieved by a course management

system like Moodle. Moodle being an open source Course Management System also

means significant reduction in costs.

Moodle, (created by created by Martin Daugiamas, a computer scientist at the university

in Australia) is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning

Environment17

.


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Moodle is a course management system runs on a server and can be accessed using a web

browser. Course management systems allow an instructor to create a website for a course

and grant access to only students who are a part of it. These websites allow sharing of

various material, discussions, quizzes, surveys, and assignments as well as recording

grades.

According to Moodle website, there are 49533 registered sites of Moodle in 211

countries. The total number of courses is 3914256 with 38118549 users. Around

59862449 quizzes have been conducted (www.moodle.org)18

. If we translate these

numbers into the paper saved, this has resulted in the conservation of many trees already.

Although, Moodle was not developed with the environmental perspective, this good side

effect could be a valuable contribution to the environment. This and such type of course

management systems can yield significant results if they are adopted on a large scale.

Additionally, these types of software could be made mandatory by law to further enhance

the scale and scope of such green and socially responsible initiatives. Many educational

institutes in India are already using Moodle. Some of them include BITS Pilani, IIT

Bombay, Goa University, and Christ University.

As alternative, more sustainable energy is being considered; use of information

technology can replace cumbersome manual paper based processes and can enable,

expedite and make more efficient processes in an organization. Digital documents, e

forms, digital signatures, and collaborating with the help of social networking sites are

some of the ways an organization can go green with the help of IT.


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Developing a Green IT Management Strategy:

Organizations need to establish clear goals to ensure all green IT implementations bring

quantifiable value to the business. These goals should include power reduction,

regulatory compliance, decreased carbon footprint, and operational cost savings.

Establishment of the scope of these goals is of utmost importance to determine at what

point appropriate return on investment has been achieved. Measurements have to be set

and have to be monitored continuously to determine the on-going success of the

implementation. Many green IT solutions such as energy efficient products,

virtualization, cloud computing, usage of thin clients, power management can be

incorporated into an overall green IT strategy.

Many organizations have been accused of green washing as well at their level of

addressing green IT issues. Many have jumped on-board the green IT bandwagon in an

attempt to increase their brand value or corporate image. Hence, standardizing on a

solution that helps develop and incorporate green IT goals and strategies into existing

business and IT processes and policies is essential to developing an enterprise-wide green

IT policy.

This paper also surveyed small midsize firms in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India.

Bangalore located in the state of Karnataka known for its power deficits. Bangalore in

particular, pays a huge price for energy consumption. All the fifteen respondents who

completed the questionnaire were Chief Information Officers (CIO) or Chief Executive

Officers (CEO) of small mid size firms in Bangalore. The respondents are distributed

across education, IT consulting firms, finance and architectural firms. They were asked


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twelve questions to rate their green initiatives and the relevance of various aspects of

Green IT to their business. Most of the respondents reported that for them, Green IT

means lowering electric and cooling costs, as well as sustainable energy practices. The

findings are:

Green IT is essential:

It is no longer the case where Green IT seemed more of a wish list item for

organizations that they would look to implement when it became convenient. These small

mid size firms are now actively pursuing Green IT solutions and most of them are in the

discussion stage while 33 percent are in the implementation process. Environmental

responsibility (79%) followed by cost savings (43 %) was the leading outcomes of a

successful Green IT initiative.

Does your organization have a Green IT Strategy to reduce energy consumption?

Have a plan to do so 36% In discussion stage29% No plans to do so14% Other 21%


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Overall, which stage best describes your organizations implementation of a Green

IT orSustainability Computing Strategy?

Already implemented 0% Implementation in progress 29% In trial stage 7% In discussion stage 50% Not considering 14%

How important to a successful green IT is the following outcomes to your

organization?

Cost savings 43% Brand recognition 29% Customer perception 21% Environmental responsibility 79%

IT at the heart of enterprise green efforts:

IT finds itself at the center of an organizations green efforts. IT should play a significant

role in minimizing the companys environmental footprint. As Green IT and energy

efficiency have become important, CEOs have reported a willingness to pay extra for

products that are energy efficient. Energy efficiency is valuable not only for large

organizations but for small mid size firms too. Fifty seven percent of the respondents are


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willing to pay more for an energy efficient product if it pays back in one year or less.

Fifty seven percent said that an IT products energy efficiency would be an important

factor in their purchasing decisions.

When would you be willing to pay more for an energy efficient product of

equivalent functionality?

Always 14% If it pays back in one year 57% If it pays back in three years 14% Will not pay more 14%

How important do you think an IT products energy efficiency will be in your

purchasing decisions over the next 12 months?

Important 57% Neutral 43% Not important 0%


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How significant a role should IT play in minimizing your organizations

environmental footprint?

Important 69% Neutral 31% Not important 0%

Green IT initiatives need to be a priority:

The recent push for Green IT is driving multiple initiatives. Ninety three percent of

respondents are interested in reducing energy consumption, carbon footprints and cooling

costs. Most are considering Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a part of their strategy to

reduce power consumption. However, twenty nine percent of the respondents are not

considering the same and another twenty nine percent of the respondents have said they

do not know about SaaS. This shows that more education is also needed towards

promoting Green IT initiatives.


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How interested is your organization in reducing energy consumption, reducing its

carbon footprint, and reducing cooling costs?

Interested 93% Neutral 7% Disinterested 0% Other 0%

Is your company considering SaaS (Software as a service, cloud computing) as a

part of its strategy to reduce power?

Yes 43% No 29% Don't know about SaaS 29%

This questionnaire was designed to gauge respondents interests in, and plans for

deploying strategies and solutions to help reduce e-waste associated with computer

hardware, software, facilities, and planning, and ultimately reduce the organizations

carbon footprint. (Refer Appendix for other questions)


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There are many organizations including non-profit ones such as Electronic Recycling

Association that work towards reducing electronic waste through the reuse and recycling

of unwanted computers and electronic equipment19. Oracle has recently, launched new

tools for reducing e-waste. Oracle Depot Repair has been founded to help organizations

protect the environment, improve sustainability initiatives and streamline compliance20

.

Their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions include reporting tools and analytics

to aggregate and parse comprehensive return and disposition data, including information

collected directly from third-party logistics providers, processors and recyclers.

Atea Group is another organization that has developed targets and goals for reducing its

own environmental impact and is certified according to the ISO 14001. With the

goitgreen concept this group aims to provide environmentally optimized Green IT to all

its customers, by focusing on the total IT product life cycle from IT policies, products,

consultancies, logistics, solutions and recycle. In 2009, goitgreen projects have helped

its customers save 218,669 tons of CO2 or the emission of more than 17,218 Nordic

households21.

By far the best way to minimize the environmental impact of computers is by extending

their lifespan - either through complete or partial reuse, or by ensuring further use. The

goitloop and recycling concepts aim to extend the lifetime of any obsolete

equipment. Atea aims to reuse or resell around 50% of all IT equipment received; recycle

99.7% of all equipment and dispose of the remaining 0.3% in an environmentally

responsible manner.


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Source: www.atea.com

Hara, Environment and Energy Management Software enables organizations to identify

and implement sustainability initiatives across stakeholders to increase operational

efficiency maximize shareholder value and mitigate risk. The software helps customers

identify millions of dollars in savings from energy, water and waste abatement strategies

while reducing their carbon emissions. Hara shows that digital solutions can be built and

used to save water, money, energy and the planet overall. This highlights the greening of

IT and shows large corporations are ready to use IT to make their businesses more eco-

friendly and save money. Coke uses Hara software in one of its subsidiaries that is

building 15 power plants in Eastern Europe and Africa, to measure the energy used by the

plants22. Safeway, Intuit, News Corporation, Brocade, Akamai are amongst the list of

organizations that have deployed Hara for environmental and energy management.

Challenges:

Besides the budgetary challenges towards Green IT, there may be other challenges facing

organizations towards the adoption of Green IT. Green practices are different in different

parts of the world and could pose as a challenge in measuring network efficiencies. Also,


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IT equipment manufacturers do not have a particular measure of being green to adhere to.

A global standard is the need of the hour to which equipment manufacturers can adhere

to and this will make it easier to implement green solutions for real world cases.

Education is of primary concern in Green IT initiatives. When end users are more

educated on how they can also contribute to going green, carbon emissions will be

reduced significantly.

While green research as of today is mainly limited to technological problems, it is very

important that future research is done to address on developing regulations on going

green and to enforce them. Unless there is a law that is enforced on people, few

organizations would make significant changes in the way they do their business.

Conclusion:

Greening IT is attracting a huge interest worldwide mainly due to the increasing demand

to power data centers. However, Green IT is not just about running efficient data centers

or organizations moving to the cloud. It encompasses Information Technologys overall

role in causing and tackling emissions and covers policies, technologies and practices

from sourcing to disposing23

. While there are a number of short surveys on Green IT, this

paper, albeit limitations discussed below, offers a comprehensive empirical investigation

with the directors of small mid size firms in Bangalore, one of the cities in India hosting

the maximum of IT companies.

Due to the limited number of responses, it is not possible to generalize from the findings

of the study. The findings can only be considered at best preliminary and require further


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data before any generalization can be attempted. It does show that even small mid size

firms do not have their printers defaulted to double side and have not made attempts for

their PCs to switch on standby mode while idle. Many have not adopted SaaS as a

strategy for Green IT initiatives. This shows education remains a concern with going

green. However, within the bounds of the limitations of the study, the paper does also

show that the adoption of Green IT in small mid size firms is on the rise and highlights

the need for more education towards Green IT. This paper provides a foundation upon

which other studies might build their framework. Finally, it is of importance to observe

that end user knowledge is vital to a successful Green IT initiative.

Organizations must consider Green Corporate Social Responsibility as a hygiene factor

rather than a motivator. Attention to Green CSR should be viewed as a competitive

necessity rather than a competitive differentiator.


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References:

1 David Tebbutt, Martin Atherton and Tony Lock. Green IT For Dummies, Wiley Publications, I Edition,2008.

2 , Nasscom Report 2009,Retrieved on September 01, 2010

3 Thomas P.Lyon and John W. Maxwell. Does green corporate social responsibility benefit society?,,Retrieved on September 12, 2010

4 Enterprise Green IT initiatives, , Retrieved onOctober 30, 2010

5

Going Green: A strategic guide to Green IT Management, EMA White paper, EMA, September 2008.6 Rajath Chouta, Tae Oh, Jungwoo Ryoo, Young B. Choi. Parameters of Green IT, 2010 NortheastDecision Sciences Institute Proceedings, March 2010. Pages 236-242.

7 IT Planner:5 Steps to Green IT, eweek, October 15, 2007. Accessed onSeptember 12, 2010.

8 IT Planner:5 Steps to Green IT, eweek, October 15, 2007. Accessed onSeptember 12, 2010.

9How Green is Your IT? Save cost, better image, , Retrieved on November 01, 2010.

10 William M. Sinnett. Green IT is more than a feel good issue, Financial Executive, March 2010. Pages60 63

11 Smart 2020:Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, A report by The Climate Group onbehalf of the Global esustainability Initiative (GeSI),

12 David Tebbutt, Martin Atherton and Tony Lock. Green IT For Dummies, Wiley Publications, IEdition, 2008.

13 Carol Baroudi. Green IT for Dummies, IBM Limited Edition, Wiley Publications, I Edition, 2009.

14 David Tebbutt, Martin Atherton and Tony Lock. Green IT For Dummies, Wiley Publications, I

Edition, 2008.

15 Harvard Medical schools Green IT initiatives. . Retrieved on October 15, 2010.

16 www.conservatree.com, ,Retrieved on November 23, 2010


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17 Jason Cole, Helen Foster. Using Moodle. USA: O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2008.

18 www.moodle.org. , Retrieved on 23 November 2010

19 www.era.org, Accessed on 10 November 2010.

20 Oracle Launches Tools For Reducing E-Waste And Simplifying Regulatory Compliance, BizTech,September 24, 2010, .com,

21 CSR and Green IT. . Retrieved on October 10, 2010.

22 Fost, Dan. Techies hit the green button, , June 01, 2009.

23 Molla Alemayehu. The Extent of Green IT Adoption and its driving and inhibiting factors: Anexploratory study, Journal of Information Science and Technology, JIST 6(4) 2009, 2009.


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Appendix:

In your organization, are PCs configured for saving power when idle?

Yes 86 % No 14 %

Does your organization make extensive use of tools such as video conferencing or

web conferencing as an alternative to travel?

Yes 64 % No 36 %


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Do the printers in your organization print double side by default?

Yes 36 % No 64 %

Which explicit goals, if any, are included in your organizations general Green

Policy?

Reduce carbon emissions 7% Reduce energy and cooling consumption 57% None of the above 36%


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Overall, which stage best describes your organizations implementation of a Green

IT or Sustainability Computing Strategy?

Already implemented 0% Implementation in progress 29% In trial stage 7% In discussion stage 50%Not considering 14%

a mission for a better global society

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