Nowadays, it’s hard to start a business without needing computers and servers.
Many employees take for granted where all those e-mails and documents are stored — often in a data center where the servers are left running. When workers go home, many desktop computers also keep sucking up energy.
Information technology systems are a significant investment, but more money could be saved if this technology was used more efficiently, said Terell Jones, director of infrastructure for EcomNets at Wednesday’s “Danville Green IT Economic Summit” at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
“We’re talking about saving money,” Jones said. “The offshoot of that is we save the environment and energy costs.”
In 2006, data centers consumed 1.5 percent of U.S. electricity, he said. That’s expected to double to 3 percent this year. Yet, 30 percent of servers storing data aren’t really being used and are essentially dead.
“Right now, IT is the problem with energy efficiency,” Jones said. “IT is also the solution. We just need to use it correctly.”
Herndon-based EcomNets, which plans to manufacture Verdio green computers in Airside Industrial Park, also offers green IT solutions.
Going green in IT isn’t costly, and for some strategies the return on investment comes within three to six months, Jones said. Cutting the electric bill by half could make or break a company today, he added.
While there is no silver bullet, Jones offers these strategies:
More energy is used at the desktop level. Use software to turn off the computers on the evenings and weekends. PCs are idle 75 percent of the time in a 9-to-5 workweek, Jones said.
Move servers into the virtual world and consolidate them. This allows for more flexibility. Applications running on separate computers may not fully use the resources of the computer.
Be aggressive about storage and get rid of redundant data.
For more info, visit www.ecomnets.com. Perform a green IT assessment and calculate savings at www.wesavepower.org.
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