Editor’s Note: It Can Be Easy Being Green

Lafe Low

Contrary to what Kermit says (you know you get that reference), it can be easy being green, and you can do so without going overboard with spending or crazy new initiatives that otherwise wouldn’t make sense if they weren’t considered part of the green spectrum.

You don’t have to spend a ton of money to reduce your carbon footprint. You don’t have to completely rearrange your IT infrastructure. You can simply continue to do some of the things you were already doing to save money. You’ll be going green with respect to the environment and saving your organization a little green in the process.

I found myself nodding in agreement when first reading our green IT features this month from Don Jones and Ric Merrifield. As Don points out, just by being a good corporate citizen and saving your company money on power, you can also be a good citizen of the Earth and conserve energy resources. It can be, as Ric states, a trap that’s easy to fall into. You feel like you have to do something. Just be careful what you choose to do. Chances are, if you focus on the green of the balance sheet, you’ll also be doing something for the green of the environment.

It will be interesting to watch how the green IT market evolves in the coming years. With increased emphasis on going green, the market is naturally responding with consulting services, products and best practices. A recent report entitled “Green IT Services: A Global Strategic Business Report,” published by Global Industry Analysts estimates the worldwide green IT services market will reach $5.01 billion (U.S.) by the year 2015. While currently a nascent market, there’s a rapidly expanding portfolio of technologies and services, mostly centered on datacenter development and operations and software management technologies.

I’m as big an environmentalist as anyone, but I’m also pragmatic. You can be green with your work, just be careful and choose the right green upon which to focus.

Are You Going Green?

So what is your organization doing to go green? Re-designing your datacenter? Deploying server virtualization to consolidate servers? Embarking on reduced power usage initiatives? Tell us your green story. We’re also interested in hearing about case studies from the real world—what’s worked and just as importantly what hasn’t worked so others can learn from what’s happened.

Please send us your feedback whenever you have comments. Visit our LinkedIn group, send us an e-mail at tnmag.microsoft.com or e-mail me directly at the address listed below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Lafe Low is the editor in chief of TechNet Magazine*. A veteran technology journalist, he’s also the former executive editor of 1105 Media’s* Redmond magazine. Contact him at llow@1105med.