Top 8 ways feds (and corporate users) can take advantage of green IT

GAO report outlines key federal green IT initiatives
How does the federal government go about implementing green IT? According to a report out today from the Government Accountability Office, the feds have adopted a number of practices that are useful not just for government IT but all manner of private and public company IT groups as well. These include everything from dedicated funding for green products, to improved employee training and reducing use of paper.

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4. Procure IT equipment that meets the most stringent Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standard available, if economically practical. EPEAT is a tool to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT-registered products must meet 23 required environmental performance criteria. The products are then rated gold, silver or bronze based on whether the products met 75% or greater, 50% to 74%, or less than 50%, respectively, of 28 optional criteria. The three EPEAT level ratings differ to a small, but measurable, extent in their environmental benefits. As the GAO reported in 2009, if federal agencies replaced 500,000 non-EPEAT rated laptop computers and computer monitors with either EPEAT bronze-rated, silver-rated or gold-rated units, the federal government would achieve energy savings equivalent to 182,796 U.S. households, 183,151 households or 183,570 households, respectively. In the non-federal government sector, in March 2009 the city of San Francisco upgraded its environmental requirement for IT purchases to the EPEAT gold level as its procurement baseline whenever possible.

5. Provide appropriate personnel with sufficient green IT training. As part of a 2010 private-sector survey of federal chief information officers, industry officials also offered some observations, including that agencies should work with the Office of Personnel Management to improve the IT workforce. The survey noted that, in doing so, government organizations should use existing best practices, such as those found at the Department of Defense, to train employees and develop new leaders.

6. Evaluate and prioritize green IT options. With various green IT options available, lifecycle return on investment can be a useful tool for determining which options provide the greatest return on investment in an environment of reduced agency budgets. According to a 2009 survey of IT professionals by a national IT services and solutions provider, IT departments may be foregoing large, long-term savings by ranking factors such as cost over energy efficiency in their purchasing decisions. One recommendation from the survey is that organizations need to prioritize their actions based on costs and benefits.

7. Align green IT with the organization's budget. According to a 2007 industry report on creating a green IT action plan, green IT must fit within an organization's anticipated budget. In recognition of the importance of adequate funding to program success, the 2009 executive order states that, starting in fiscal year 2011, strategic sustainability efforts, which include electronics stewardship, should be integrated into the agency's strategic planning and budgeting process, including the agency's strategic plan.

8. Obtain senior management commitment. Senior management commitment can remove potential obstacles when implementing green IT initiatives and establishing goals. For example, according to a 2009 study of the key drivers of green IT, research showed that identifying an executive sponsor who will champion the green IT initiative will help to remove the road blocks to implementation.