Greener Computing in times of Austerity

In hard times and when budgets are tight it's often the services people see as non-essential that are the first to go. Is Greener Computing one of these? Adam Clamp at The Green IT Company investigates...

There is no denying that the initial investment in greener technologies can be far higher than its less green rivals. Even those really committed to being greener can find it hard to justify the higher costs of green technologies. However, long term payback can be far higher in many ways, not just in financial terms. But in times of austerity we all look to what we can really afford and with less money available to invest, more people are looking at the cheapest they can find.

But, maybe these austere times are a good thing for us, as we will start to look harder at making the most of and appropriateness of the resources we consume. Instead of instantly replacing older equipment, are there any ways its life can be extended? Can it be upgraded? Or can certain peripherals just be replaced? Holding off on buying new equipment might be a bad thing for some manufacturers, but not for the planet.

Manufacturers have been pushing products in our direction for many years without any responsibility for their (end of life) take-back or recycling. The WEEE directive has done something to change this, but alas I still think that attitudes have not changed that much, and the real reason companies run take-back schemes is because of regulation in Europe. But another is that these companies can make vast amounts of money from the materials they recover. However, couldn't organisations be financially rewarded for them getting those materials? This would not only incentivise them but could help cover some of the costs of purchasing new (or refurbished) equipment. At the moment as a business you have to pay for e-waste to be recycled - but at least it's not going to landfill...

You could also look to the world of cloud or thin client computing. There are so many offerings that claim to be green but are they really? The greenest approach in my opinion is to buy only what you really need and look for scalability in a product. Some web hosting companies are offering monthly cloud services for dedicated servers whereby you pay monthly for only the amount of time they are actually used. This can be a very cost effective and environmentally sound way of doing business. Just think of all those servers grinding away using all that energy to be online when nobody is using anywhere near their quota – it’s a very inefficient way of doing things.

I think this time is good for us and the planet as we are likely to become smarter in the way we use technology and not look to replace things so quickly. Maybe when these times of financial hardship come to an end we will have developed ways in which we can harness the great things computing brings whilst helping to minimise its impact upon the planet.