Cutting the carbon footprint of IT How to deliver measurable savings an IBM study with the support of Defra

Contents

Section 1 Foreword Assessing and reducing carbon footprint and financial waste a fresh, best-practice, fact-based approach. Section 2 A strategy for change The Green Transformational Programme and business value; changing the way we work; people, processes, and infrastructure. Section 3 Measuring and improving the carbon footprint Saving power, saving money; measuring output and the faceplate trap; doing the sums a clear approach to power measurement and prediction; architectural patterns and energy efficiency ratings; the IT landscape availability, survivability, and compliance; financial considerations carbon charge-back; upstream, downstream, and recycling. Section 4 And from here Protecting assets through environmental, social and ethical risk assessment; good behaviour is good business.

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Section 1 Foreword

I believe that the CIO of any organisation has a duty to ensure that distributed IT systems and services are as energy efficient as possible. This is never easy. Based on an in-depth study, the tools and methods this paper proposes have the potential to help by providing CIOs with a good starting point to develop and deliver an effective energy efficiency strategy.
Chris Chant, CIO, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Energy efficiency is an increasingly important part of business efficiency. One of the biggest challenges facing a modern organisation is how to leverage the immense benefits of effective IT systems while keeping their energy consumption to a minimum. Experience shows that wasted energy can cost tens of millions of pounds: environmental awareness goes with a keen eye for the bottom line. Combined with the financial impact of energy efficiency, in the current political climate, the responsible use of energy has serious implications for an organisations public image. This paper explores how an organisation can sustainably reduce its carbon footprint and its costs at the same time. It is a practical study, drawn from real examples and actual observations, and is amongst the most detailed investigation into the management of workplace IT systems ever undertaken. It is presented in order that public sector organisations and businesses alike can share and use this best-practice, fact-based method to assess and reduce both carbon footprint and financial waste. IBMs UK and Ireland Technical Consultancy Group (TCG) would like to thank the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) for their support, insights and in providing access to data and Defra sites.
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The IBM team developed its method for determining the carbon footprint by studying information, computer, and workplace technologies. It analysed in detail the way work patterns were affected by IT, to produce a detailed and effective solution which can readily be applied to both public and private sector organisations. The search for efficiency Ecological responsibility and business responsibility are two sides of the same coin. Both reject waste and profligacy; both embrace the notion of responsible stewardship and investment of assets in order to reap greater returns in the long term, and whilst theres no question that environmental and economic concerns frequently clash, innovation can advance both agendas at the same time. Businesses are already looking at ways to cut waste in their data centres, but there has been little examination of the electrical consumption and carbon footprint of the distributed IT systems and services environment, and how organisations could bring about sustainable improvements.

There is a clear business necessity to reduce carbon emissions and through technology and our ability to innovate, we can achieve this. I am excited by this work which presents organisations with a practical opportunity to help reduce waste and to extend todays finite energy resources.
Larry Hirst, General Manager, IBM (UK)

However, this is where organisations with large distributed infrastructures (geographically dispersed offices for fixed location workers or a base for a mobile workforce) need to look for ways to reduce their carbon emissions not just in offices, but wherever people work. For a modern workforce, this can mean at home, in hotels, or even in the car or on a train wherever workplace equipment draws energy or uses resources. In this paper, we go beyond traditional IT items such as PC, data server and file and printer server to consider additional items such as photo copiers, fax machines, power packs for mobile devices, air conditioning units and communications equipment such as hubs and routers. Many of these devices use more energy than people expect, and use it in unexpected ways its not just how long they are switched on, but the way in which people use them. Establishing how energy-hungry they are, and how their appetite can be reduced without affecting their performance, makes both ecological and business sense. In wasting energy inefficient equipment and inefficient ways of working are wasting money significant amounts of it.

Leading the way Seeking a more energy efficient workplace is a win-win proposition that can reduce costs and reduce environmental damage as well. Some of the most innovative and promising ideas for reducing waste and managing natural resources come from the business community. This paper suggests how those good ideas can be applied in practice. By considering the environmental impact of their endeavours and adopting clean technologies and environmentally sound practices, businesses can save money and reduce their impact on the planet. Drivers for this new behaviour include: Government climate change directives the Climate Change Bill, for example, aims to set in law a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050 Consumers increasingly desire green products Organisations corporate social responsibility objectives New opportunities for improved resource management, financial savings and other indirect paybacks for example, IBM has saved more than $100 million since 1998 by conserving energy.

A few figures
Combined emissions from PCs, servers, cooling, local area networks, telephones and mobiles total 2% of global carbon emissions the same as aviation (Source: Gartner)

One tonne of CO2 = 509 cubic metres, enough gas to fill almost six double decker buses The UKs annual 559 million tonnes output of CO2 would cover the City of London to a depth of nearly 2.5 kilometres For every person in the UK 9.3 tonnes of CO2 is produced annually enough to fill nearly two Olympic sized swimming pools. (Source: Energy Saving Trust) These issues are important today, and they will be still more important tomorrow. Energy prices are rising, and clients are reporting that energy supplies are now under stress. Carbon taxes are on the political agenda: businesses increasingly need to demonstrate environmental responsibility, both to fulfil their legal and social obligations, and to enhance the brand and corporate image. CEOs are concerned about corporate image, CFOs about the cost of energy, and CIOs about the environmental impact of IT systems.


Companies now compete in an increasingly green market, and therefore need to position themselves appropriately.

These are not just matters for the traditional power hungry manufacturing industries. They are important for all organisations running significant IT infrastructures. Through this study, we have developed a programme for change a way in which organisations can meet these challenges. In Section 2, we outline a strategy by which carbon impact and financial waste can be reduced, and in Section 3 we set out a method of determining the actual carbon footprint of the distributed office environment, and measuring the actual savings made through various reduction methods.

Section 2 A strategy for change

So what is the strategy for achieving environmental change? How can an organisation start the process of green transformation and achieve the resulting benefits of efficiency and cost savings? What is the method that a project team could follow? The study team has developed a Green Transformational Programme (GTP) which is the first step in the strategy for change. It shows how environmental awareness can be converted into real business value. At the start of the programme, members of the organisations nominated leadership team including those tasked with Corporate Social Responsibility gather in a workshop to identify and prioritise areas where improvements and innovations can be made.

Step 1 strategy workshop Agree the organisational scope of the study, for example line of business department, or a geographical area Agree the boundary to be investigated; the upstream and downstream parameters Agree the scope of technology process and the extent of peoples behaviour to be investigated.

Step 2 planning workshop Using the component map, agree where IT effort and spend is being directed Agree which components are core, critical, differentiating and non-essential to IT Correlate the component map to the organisational target Consider whether to adopt carbon charge-back model and maturity level of implementation Baseline build model and report through a programme

The diagram on page 7 shows 17 green components which might be considered in a typical organisation. Other organisations will have different examples, but a similar component map structure will help to identify the individual components so that the leadership team can focus on them as the most profitable areas to achieve carbon improvements. The expertise, information and techniques described later in this paper will help to inform the discussion. Decisions on the strategic importance and performance of the various components however, come from the workshop participants themselves. Since the entire IT leadership participates, the conclusions they reach will have wide acceptance within the organisation.

of continuous improvement.

By considering each individual business area the green areas on the map and comparing the amount of energy committed to it with the benefit it provides to the organisations operations, it will be possible to highlight areas where energy savings could be made to the greatest possible advantage. The potential solutions that the team identify can then be prioritised, analysed for impact, and integrated into an overall action plan. By the end of the workshop, the team will have set out priorities for reform that can be understood and embraced by the organisations whole leadership team.

However, the GTP is a positive source of business benefits rather than a support function. Deciding on these potential areas for change is only the first step in the process. The aim is to produce savings in energy consumption and spending that are clear, identifiable, and

measurable, and so the teams proposals need to be tested by looking at working patterns and taking actual measurements of energy usage in the specific areas they have selected. Savings in power use can be measured from electricity meters and individual

devices, but reduced travel, reduced wastage, and increased recycling also need to be considered. These factors may all form part of the final technique for measuring the success of the new green strategy which will emerge from the priorities drawn up in the workshop.

Component business map for the business of running IT

Plan and manage IT customer relationship management IT business management Business technology strategy Enterprise architecture Portfolio management Technology innovation Business performance planning Tactics Controlling Demand management Financial management Business technology performance and value Business resilience Business resilience strategy Regulatory compliance strategy Integrated risk strategy Continuous business operations Regulatory compliance Integrated risk management Information and knowledge management Information management strategy Development strategy Knowledge management strategy Deployment strategy IT support strategy Build Service and solution development Service and solution deployment Run Service delivery and support Services delivery strategy

Directing

Business enablement service and solution strategy

Strategy

Information architecture Information resource management Knowledge resource management

Services and solutions lifecycle planning

Change planning

Operations planning Infrastructure resource planning

Security, Communications Human resources privacy and data planning management protection Business performance management Executing IT services and solution marketing IT financial management Staff administration and development Supplier and contract administration Business resilience remediation Regulatory compliance remediation

Services and solutions architecture

Release planning

Support services planning Support services management Infrastructure resource management Infrastructure operations

Operations

Data and content management

Service and solution creation Service and solution maintenance

Change implementation

Knowledge capture and availability

Release implementation

When is workplace transformation considered?

Workplace transformation is typically considered: To reinforce a culture change programme To support a business process transformation programme To anticipate the growth or contraction of the organisation To introduce non-territorial working When real estate is old and due for significant refurbishment To reduce property costs.

Changing the way we work In drawing up a strategy, the team will have to look at the way the organisation works at its employees, its premises, and how office and workplace equipment is used.

Is it being used at home? In the office? During peak hours? All these factors affect the amount of electricity and other resources consumed, and the consequential carbon output. Organisations have to consider smart

It is people who determine how much power an item of equipment uses, and how big its carbon footprint is. Its not just how they use it whether they use equipment in active or standby mode, or whether they turn it off when it is not in use its also where and when they use it.

working satellite offices or working from home, for instance and shared services, and how they will affect the carbon footprint. As we shall see, the calculations can be complicated. What is needed to minimise energy use, save costs, and reduce the impact on the environment is nothing less than the transformation of each and every work space.

Strategic scope

People

Roles Skills Performance measures Management practices

Business strategy

Core business processes Support processes

Physical environment Virtual environment

Processes

Infrastructure

The environmental strategy, like the business strategy, involves people, processes and infrastructure. There needs to be change in all three areas to bring about green improvements.

For example, the provision of a video-conference room, will encourage more virtual meetings, cutting the carbon cost of unnecessary travel. There also needs to be a feedback

Screen savers. A PC may use 60W when running a screen saver programme, compared to 40W when the normal Windows desktop is displayed, and just 1-2W in hibernate mode. The lights are on but no-ones at home. Many PCs are left on after the users have left the office. Even in hibernate mode a PC will draw some power, especially if any of the attached devices, such as an optical mouse, have LEDs. Office-bay printers are left switched on when the bay is unoccupied. Press the button. At many desks power blocks are left on when they have an obvious on/off switch. Over-provision. Multiple photocopiers may be left on when only one is needed.

Changing habits If it is people who are largely responsible for the way that energy is used or wasted in the working environment, it follows that one of the biggest challenges is to change the way that people work. However, organisations can encourage and facilitate change by providing a suitable IT infrastructure. One option is to treat carbon usage in the same way that financial expenditure is often treated that is, to allocate CO2 targets to department heads, with rewards for underspending and corresponding charges for overuse. Such a policy will encourage senior staff to pay greater attention to energy consumption and they can then spread this attitude through their departments by making energy efficient working easier and more convenient.

mechanism so that users can see how they are performing against their targets. This could be built in to any metering system. Of course, employees have a part to play too. As part of this organisationwide drive to meet carbon targets, they need to change the way they use devices. Despite recent improvements, on the whole office equipment is still not designed for energy efficiency. The chip architecture of desktops, for instance, has been described as similar to driving a car by putting your foot hard on the accelerator and lifting the clutch to control the forward speed. But the way devices are used can have a big effect on overall energy consumption.

Real estate gains The most effective way of using real estate to reduce the carbon footprint is to concentrate the workforce and operations into the minimum amount of space they need to do their work efficiently and effectively. Every square metre of space saved reduces the environmental impact of the organisation. However, this has to be carefully balanced against the operational delivery model adopted by the organisation concerned. Saving space assuming the building itself is already efficient means working flexibly by sharing desks, centralising print hubs, introducing bookable formal meeting space and free-access informal space, and providing the IT infrastructure to make home working attractive.

This is a significant cultural change for an organisation and the impact on staff should not be underestimated but if the whole programme is carried out alongside the installation of more energy efficient IT and support equipment, it can generate significant financial and environmental benefits.

IT provision is always an important element of a workplace transformation project. End users need confidence that they will have the IT they need to be able to do their work properly, and organisations have to consider the overall cost of provision. With shared desks, for instance, there

Optimising real estate and IT devices at the same time offers real reductions in the carbon footprint. For real estate the most effective way of achieving gains is to concentrate operations into a smaller space; for workplace devices, radical rethinking of the standard operating and support environment will drive out electrical inefficiencies.

is always a decision to be made between the provision of a desktop machine like the one a fixed worker might have, a docking station for a laptop, or the more flexible but more expensive option of combining both. Experience now reveals that the docking station solution frequently results in the provision of several different stations to accommodate different laptops. The default solution is to provide a thin client computer on the desk, so that laptop users can plug into Ethernet links, keyboard and screens as appropriate. Cultural change is vital to achieving transformation success and can only be achieved by working with staff and ensuring they feel involved in the process. The new systems and workplace have to address their needs. The diagram below illustrates a commonly used approach.

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The overall picture Most important, however, is reaching a view of the overall energy consumption of the workplace environment. This involves looking beyond the energy consumed by the office equipment itself, and to the energy consumed in its manufacture, as well as what the eventual carbon cost of its disposal will be.

These calculations are complex, and IBM believes no-one has looked at them in detail before but making them accurately is an essential part of devising an effective strategy. The rest of this paper concentrates on ways to do just that. The IBM study team devised a technique, detailed in Section 3, which specifically aims to reach an authoritative view of how much energy is consumed, and how savings can be made.

It enables an organisation not only to save energy, but to know how much energy has been saved and also to see how those savings can be reflected in improved profitability. Through measurement of these savings, any organisation can easily see not only the implications for its corporate social responsibility and its public image, but also the impact on its bottom line.

Cultural transformation roadmap

Start-up phase Survey/interviews Benefits, identification and analysis Occupancy tracking Maturity profiling Policies and principles Systems gap analysis and design Implementation phase Implementation best practices Benefits tracking Lessons learnt Risk and issue management Interdependency management Knowledge sharing workshop System implementation Programme management tools Post-programme Post occupancy surveys Workshop feedback Handover

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Section 3 Measuring and improving the carbon footprint

Saving power, saving money The results of the research proved that making some simple improvements can make an immediate impact. By simply switching off equipment at the end of the day or when it is not in use has a significant effect on overall consumption; so does choosing energy efficient equipment, such as flat-screen monitors, which can draw up to 55% less power than conventional CRT models. Operating adjustments are also important a reduction of around 10% in screen brightness/contrast might save 3 watts power consumption without degrading the quality of display. Up to a third of printers and photo copiers are under-utilised, and non-critical or sensitive equipment is often kept in air-conditioned rooms unnecessarily. For example, Defra has rationalised printer provision, with the use of multi-function devices and software to provide automatic switch-offs. Such changes, along with PC operating systems that manage power consumption more efficiently, are worth considering as potential low-cost and simple ways to reduce expense and improve the carbon footprint.

But any energy-saving programme needs to go far beyond these quick, easy, and low cost gains. To achieve sustainable improvements it is necessary as a first step to find ways of measuring how much power is actually being used in the distributed IT systems. The faceplate trap To understand how to reduce energy consumption, it is also necessary to consider the question How much power do individual devices use? and the answers can be surprising. The last few years have seen tremendous improvements in the power, functionality, and versatility of office equipment, leading to better all-round performance whether in an office building or out on the road. Manufacturers are increasingly considering energy efficiency in the design process in order to gain competitive advantage, meet new legal requirements, and cut energy costs. Designers of systems which use office equipment must now carefully consider how best to take advantage of these advances. However, despite these advances, much of the equipment on the market still does not conform to any energy efficiency standard.

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Most equipment will be stamped with a faceplate detailing some of the electrical characteristics of the device. However, basing an assessment of power consumption and carbon footprint simply on a reading of the wattage rating printed on the faceplate is not satisfactory. The study found that more specific observations were required; simply taking the plate wattage rating of the device as a guide to power consumption and CO2 footprint can be misleading, for example: The plate rating often indicates the maximum amount drawn but for several classes of device, the actual power varied considerably from that figure Technical specifications often detail the power output, not the power input, which could be higher. A spot reading of the electricity being drawn by the device will not confirm the amount used over a longer period Even when a device is apparently not switched on, or a charger is plugged in with no device attached to it, they can still use electricity.

Accurate measurements are possible, although difficult, to carry out. But the point is that individual measurements are in any case not enough all they provide is a snapshot of a single device. The crucial technique is building on the snapshot to reach a view of overall consumption across the IT system. Doing the sums A clear approach to power measurement and prediction is needed for an accurate picture of how much energy is used by IT components. There are two key factors which affect the energy consumption of any device: The actual power consumption of the specific devices; How the devices are used. The plate values (maximum power consumption values) found on most devices do not relate directly to the actual amount of power they consume in everyday use. There does not appear to be a simple way of estimating actual consumption for example one PC may use 60% of the plate value in normal use, while another may use as little as 5%.

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The ideal answer is to take actual measurements from any devices which occur in significant volume. Since this is impractical, the solution is to measure a few, and use them as a model from which to estimate overall consumption. Doing that, however, is complicated by the fact that the way devices are used will depend on the job they are carrying out, and upon who is using them. It is not possible to assume that one device will have the same power consumption as a precisely similar device being used elsewhere. Variables such as how long the machine is idle; which hours it is operational; how often the fan is running; how often the disk is spinning and what type of printing is being carried out all affect the machines consumption levels.

It is not only a matter of what the power consumption may be when the machine is in its various modes, but also of what proportion of time it spends in each one. The way the working environment is organised in the office itself, or among staff who work outside also affects the amount of power used. For example, does the organisation use centralised network printers, distributed desktop printers, or both? A final consideration involves remote or non-office working. This saves money for an organisation by reducing the amount of space required, and also creates environmental benefits such as reducing the number of car journeys to work.

In a large organisation which may have tens of thousands of people working in it, it is going to take too long and cost too much to gather all the information for each device. It is quicker, more cost-effective, and probably more accurate to reach a conclusion based on testing a sample of the equipment. Architectural patterns Energy efficiency ratings Householders have long used energy efficiency ratings (EERs) to help them make decisions about what electrical goods to buy for the home. Decisions about IT equipment need to be made in much the same way. In particular, it would be useful to apply EER assessments to the architectural patterns of an IT system the way that hardware and software components are structured, and how each component interacts with the others.

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So what would the benefits be? Energy efficiency ratings would help to determine the long term energy costs of running and maintaining an IT system They would help to decide the best overall solution to a given business problem. These benefits could be ongoing. For instance, guidance about energy efficiency for use during the outline and design of a solution could also be used during maintenance of existing systems to reduce energy consumption. The principle that the polluter pays is gaining widespread acceptance. Determining how much carbon is being consumed by an end-user organisation with a given IT system would make it possible to levy charges based on the carbon profile, thus linking business activity with the environmental cost of the IT supporting it.

Greening the IT landscape We have seen that the usage of a device and the operational processes, practices and procedures operated by an organisation will all affect the carbon footprint of the distributed IT infrastructure. Whilst there have been many discussions on sustainability and the impetus on organisations to have low carbon footprint, there is little common acknowledgement concerning what is good practice as regards green requirements for a organisations standard operating and support environment? Indeed, there has been little, if any, new thinking in this area up to now.

Availability and disaster survivability Traditional means to improve system availability frequently depend on standby systems which will take over in the event of a failure. Frequently these systems are idle or used for workloads that can be sacrificed if a failure occurs. Possible ways of making them more efficient include: Not having idle backup machines which are switched on but not conducting useful work. If the recovery times allow for it, these backup machines should be switched off. Otherwise, they should be fully utilised Having a higher ratio of active machines to standbys. Most modern availability solutions are capable of supporting N+1 type availability configurations. Generally, there is no reason why a single backup could not be used for eight or more active machines Use spare capacity in existing production machines to take on production services if and when another machine fails. Modern partitioning techniques allow for capacity to be allocated to virtual machines that can take on these workloads from failed systems.

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Compliance Standards compliance is a key attribute of many systems, allowing interoperability and many other non-functional requirements to work. The organisation needs a set of environmental standards that carry equal weight with the other IT standards being used. Compliance with these standards is then a key attribute of the system and its components.

Portability Portability is closely related to standards compliance. If applications conform to the appropriate standards then they can easily be moved from platform to platform as business needs change. In the green future, this becomes an even more powerful tool. A new system with dramatically better green credentials which supports the appropriate standards could take over workloads from less efficient systems to take full advantage of the advances. Choice of IT standards should be made with such a possibility in mind.

Scalability Traditionally scalability has been achieved either by scaling-up (adding more capability inside the box) or scaling-out (adding additional instances of capability alongside the box). Both of these consume extra power and have a larger carbon footprint. Emerging technology solutions, particularly in the area of accelerators, allow for large amounts of additional systems capability to be added without massive extra power consumption. In fact, some of these emerging technology systems provide significant savings in power consumption.

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Financial considerations Paying the bill carbon charge-back Increasingly, government, businesses, and the general public are agreeing that the polluter should pay, and are starting to look at carbon dioxide and environmental damage as chargeable commodities.

One possibility is that an end-user organisation could be allocated a certain quota of carbon tokens its carbon budget, to be spent as the computing services of an organisation consume power and therefore create an associated CO2 output. Such a mechanism would allow

Four phases Reaching a satisfactory carbon charge-back system could be carried out in four stages: Phase 1: Understanding consumption of distributed IT assets A power consumption profile is drawn up from a handful of samples taken from various classes of device around the distributed infrastructure. This approach is simple and flexible, but since it does not include data centre devices, it remains incomplete. It also depends on estimates of which user uses what proportion of shared IT resources.

Installed IT architectures may have an identifiable carbon cost, and departments and even individuals could be given carbon budgets to meet.

a organisations consumption of IT resources to be linked directly with their environmental impact, and would justify investment in the IT infrastructure which would improve the efficiency and thus the carbon footprint of the IT architecture.

Carbon charge-back maturity model

Monitoring by transaction

Monitoring of shared infrastructure

Metering

Augmenting with data centre consumption and power density factors

Approximating

Understand consumption of distributed IT assets

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While some assume that cutting carbon dioxide emissions costs businesses money, we have found just the opposite. Addressing climate change makes business sense. We have saved more than $100 million since 1998 by conserving energy. When you consider the significant environmental benefits also achieved, cutting emissions is a win-win proposition.
Wayne Balta, Vice President Corporate Environmental Affairs and Product Safety, IBM

Phase 2: Augmenting with data centre consumption and power density factors Data Centre devices and other factors including Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) are also significant, along with lighting, monitoring systems and other facilities infrastructure. Up to now, the most common approach in the industry up to now has been to define capacity by averaging the theoretical maximum consumption across the whole installation and arriving at a power density rating measured in watts per square metre. However, because of the inaccuracy of name plate figures, a more satisfactory result might be gained by multiplying those figures by 0.67, to reflect an approximation of their power consumption in actual use. This approach has all of the advantages of Phase One and considerably improves accuracy.

Phase 3: Monitoring of shared infrastructure Within the data centre, more powerful servers, grid technology and virtualisation technology mean that it is now possible for many end-user organisations to share a physical device or collection of devices. Using existing tools, it is possible to monitor the consumption of system resources by specified applications on particular devices. From this, the carbon chargeback can be determined either on an average user basis (assumption based) or on a by use basis (metered). Phase 4: Monitoring by transaction Where shared infrastructure and applications are involved, the measurement becomes more complex. Gathering the transaction volume and other data will allow apportioning of power consumption by organisation or user. Different devices in the infrastructure have different ongoing downstream costs, such as replacement parts, printer cartridges, toner, and other consumables. In this phase of the carbon charge-back process, the basic power consumption of different categories of device would be multiplied by a given factor to reflect these costs.

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The wider picture Given the current climate of public opinion, any significant IT programme must take into account corporate responsibility and environmental legislation. Every device purchased has an environmental cost, from sourcing the raw materials, transportation, assembly, distribution, commissioning, operational use and the disposal and salvaging of components for recycling.

Upstream There are many different factors which make it difficult to determine exactly how much energy is used in the manufacture and distribution of specific items of workplace equipment. This includes the energy required to create such components as chips, memory, and disc drives, the energy required during assembly, and the energy used in the distribution process. Information is available from several

and downstream The downstream effect includes the energy used in running the IT infrastructure and keeping it cool. There is also the question raised by new legislation and by environmental good practice of its possible, eventual recycling and reuse. In the past landfills have been used for obsolete IT equipment, but these are a major source of pollution. The legal position EU regulations ban the sale of any new electrical and electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. Manufacturers need to understand these regulations to ensure that their products fully comply and project teams should be aware of the law.

Those people within an organisation who are responsible for corporate social affairs should be involved in assessing the delicate balance that exists between this cost and the value of the device. Striking that balance means looking at the wider picture.

non-governmental organisations on the amount of energy consumed in the manufacture of a device. In determining the current carbon footprint of a distributed IT infrastructure, the simplest solution is to accept whats there as it is. You cannot change what has already happened.

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Watching your waste Analysts predict that as many as 10 million computers and also most other office equipment such as printers, photocopiers, network routers and fax machines could be discarded over the next two years in the UK alone. These will all have to be recycled, posing a problem for businesses looking to meet the latest recycling regulations. The continued cycle of new software introduction means that many existing systems may be unable to operate the latest features and functions. Disposing of such equipment further complicates any cost and value exercise. As the general public becomes increasingly aware of the importance of the whole-life ecological impact of equipment, so IT departments will have to refresh their purchasing strategy to take account of the carbon cost of manufacture and disposal of individual items the upstream and downstream costs.

The ethical option Companies can meet their corporate social responsibility requirements, obey the latest regulations, and also maintain a positive public profile in an increasingly environment-conscious world by avoiding dumping obsolete equipment in landfill sites. One option is to give redundant hardware to a charity that can arrange for it to be recycled or reused. Computer Aid International, for example, refurbishes PCs for use in the developing world. Reuse is a practical solution because a computer is rarely obsolete after the three- or four-year lifespan of a typical business desktop upgrade cycle. Extending its life by a further three years not only provides an extra 6,000 hours of usage to people who would not otherwise have access to IT, but also effectively halves its environmental footprint. Charities are working to ensure that the security of corporate information is not jeopardised by recycling. For instance, Computer Aid International says it employs market-leading, data-destruction software.

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Section 4 And from here

As global financial markets respond to the changes in energy supply and environmental conditions which now shape all organisations, this work demonstrates IBMs proactive leadership in developing solutions and options to address this critical challenge.
Andrew Spencer, IBM Vice President, Global Technology Services for Financial Markets

Good behaviour is good business Currently, there is no UK legislation directly relating to the carbon footprint of computer equipment, but the Governments draft Climate Change Bill, following the Stern Report, aims to cut CO2 emissions by 26%-30% by 2020, on the way to 60% cuts by 2050. These cuts will have the force of law, and will be accompanied by five-yearly limits on emissions. The European Union, meanwhile, has agreed to reduce the 1990 level of CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020. Such measures are not aimed specifically at computing equipment but there is no doubt that new restrictions and requirements covering all energy-using devices will be on the way. It is more economical and efficient to treat such regulations proactively in the planning, designing, and implementation phases of IT solutions and other office and workplace equipment, rather than waiting to react to them once they are announced. Sustainability starts with protecting assets through environmental, social and ethical risk assessment.

But preparing for such a major change in attitude requires a credible and persuasive green sustainability strategy. It needs clear objectives and reliable information about how the strategy is working, along with transparency and accountability. There is a strong business case for change, but it needs to be made clearly, allowing fair comparisons to be drawn. Reliable principles built on agreed priorities will provide this; and over time, government-led guidelines may offer a structured, fact-based approach. Organisations will be committed to systematic sustainability improvements and detailed reporting about them. On the surface, the question What is the carbon footprint of a distributed IT infrastructure? appears to be very simple to answer but, as we have seen, there are real complexities to be considered.

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This paper offers a data-based assessment of the issue; it provides insights, approaches and techniques which should enable an organisation to reach an answer with confidence.

The inconvenient truth is that we are spending more on energy than we realised; that we are spending it in ways that we dont fully understand; and that we are going to have to do better. But by tackling the green issues of carbon footprint and environmental footprint, we can achieve real business benefits, cut costs, and increase value. Making the change will be a journey but the inconvenient truth is a convenient starting point.
Taking a green approach towards IT issues fits in with the growing awareness of the problems of climate change and sustainability. It is in line with public opinion, and improves the public profile of the organisation. And by minimising waste, it has positive financial implications. We can be rewarded for being good. Good behaviour, in fact, is good business. IBM is committed to environmental leadership in all of its business activities. For further information see ibm.com /ibm/environment/

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 By tackling the green issues of carbon footprint and environmental footprint, we can achieve real business benefits.

Contact Richard Lanyon-Hogg Chief Technology Officer Green Technologies IBM UK Ltd Mobile: +44 (0)7710 063452 E-mail: HOGGR @ uk.ibm.com

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Cert no. SGS-COC-0912

FPUK01932-0