The Future is Green

In the last two years, green has become the most used term across industries.
Its no longer a hype, rather its real and happening. Today, green is not just
about saving the environment, it is about significant cost savings as well.
Energy-efficient productssomething that has caught tremendous momentum over the
yearshave bought in substantial cost-savings in terms of power consumption and
performance. So every organization with a focus on cost-savings has put in place
a green strategy (our CIO survey seconds this opinion!). As we look at the year
ahead, there are some key trends that will give more shape and form to green and
make the grass look even greener. Of course, there will be a lot of green
grazers upon it too.

So, here are a few trends that we think will define green IT in the coming
year:

Energy Labelling for Buildings

Most analysts are pretty bullish about this trend. It is something similar
to a vehicles fuel consumption, and on those lines energy consumption of
buildingsboth commercial and residentialare on their way towards tangible
energy readings. The key benchmarks here are likely to be construction materials
used (how much of is plastic and how much is natural), the electrical systems,
open air spaces, and natural lighting provisions. Many foresee that the year
ahead will see these trends coming soon in residential buildings and property
vendors will use this to add more value to their offerings.

In fact, green office complexes are already big in India, green homes seem to
be the next big thing.

Performance Indicators

All electronics products will be scrutinized more on the actual energy
savings they offer and corresponding information be passed to end users in the
form of labels. While the trend started at least one year back, it is expected
to gain more awareness among consumers in 2010 as they choose products on energy
efficiency and equate them with resultant cost-savings. Many countries adopt
different standards of rating energy efficiencies for white goods. For instance,
air conditioners are rated in stars, with five stars mean a high energy
efficiency. What 2010 promises is that manufacturers will go a step ahead of
just star ratings and give detailed view of how higher rated appliances will
perform more efficiently, and are most likely to come up with a green manual for
their products.

LED Lighting

The first generation was the fluorescent lamps and it progressed into CFLs.
The way forward is light emitting diode (LED) lighting systems for large offices
and even for homes. LED has many advantages over incandescent or fluorescent
lamps. For instance, at traffic signal lights, a red LED lamp consumes just
about 10W while an incandescent lamp takes a whopping 150W. Imagine the quantum
of savings any city or town will accrue by migrating even a part of its traffic
signal system to LEDs. Moreover, in office environments LEDs can replace CFLs
and other conventional lighting systems. An added advantage of LED is that a
single lamp can be changed to multiple colors as per the ambience required.

At the state level too, the government shall play a major role in
facilitating the shift to LEDs.

Solar Powered Data Centers and ATMs

As conventional power generation becomes more taxed in terms of generation,
the once unaffordable energy form is getting more mainstream and affordable.
Solar power has wide range of implications. It can empower rural masses in
emerging geographies in India to power a corporate data center. In ATMs, solar
power has been tested and commercially proven. In India, SBI is going for the
largest ever solar based ATM deployment of around 300 ATMs across India. In
addition to significant cost savings, solar powered ATMs provide a green
alternative in dispensing money to the masses where electricity is erratic or
not available 24/7. Solar powered data centers are another trend that will make
computing green, quite literally. A solar powered data center draws power from
solar panels placed in dual arrays on a grid model. Obviously the solar powered
data center totally eliminates the production of harmful emissions.

The solar mission, which was recently unveiled by the Prime Minister of
India, goes on to emphasize, yet again, that the government is going to be an
active player on this front as well.

Minimalist Eco Packaging

Green has to be pervasive and not just about energy-efficiency and carbon
credits. Experts suggest that manufacturers across segments must adopt green
packaging concepts. With most electronic devices adopting small form factor, the
amount of packaging material goes down and at the same time the raw material
used for packaging will be driven by recycled material. Manufacturers are also
expected to adopt novel packaging concepts in 2010, and do not be surprised if
your mobile phone comes with jute or eco-friendly packaging any time soon.

Green IT

The year ahead also promises greater focus from CIOs in making sure that
their IT is more green complaint. According to experts, CIOs in 2010 will focus
on creating green solutions and concepts for IT systems. For instance, in the
realm of PC management alone companies can save a good deal of electricity by
activating the sleep settings on idle monitors and in PCs. The US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that this action can save up to $75 per
computer in annual power costs. From one management console, IT staff can use
commercial software to control the power management features in networked
computers. Emphasis will be placed on replacing power-hungry cathode ray tube
(CRT) monitors with more efficient LED monitors.

Yet another key trend is telecommuting, which is expected to become more
practical in 2010, with more affordable remote collaboration solutions with
workflow as well as videoconferencing capabilities. Organizations in the coming
year are expected to encourage secure telecommuting by implementing VPN based
solutions. This will facilitate companies to perform training, sales
presentations, project collaboration, and other group activities by using
videoconferencing, which obviously reduces travel time and expenses as well as
greenhouse gas emissions. Experts say that by presenting a sales pitch with a
customer as an online conference, one executive not flying from New York to
London can save 2,690 pounds of carbon dioxide from jet fuel, according to one
estimate.

IT procurement will also go eco-friendly as green actually starts at the time
of purchases. CIOs would increasingly choose Electronic Products Environmental
Assessment (EPEAT) registered products. In 2010, multi-functionality would also
become dominant, as a result companies would purchase IT products that perform
several functions instead of one. They are easier to manage costs less, and use
less power than multiple single-purpose devices.

As we look at the above trends which experts believe will find mainstream
adoption, they appear to be just a few among the many innovative concepts that
keep emerging. Be it in terms of softwares that man your power consumption or
innovative air conditioning solutions; green is something that is fast becoming
a much seen reality in terms of technologies available. What many foresee will
happen in the year ahead is the emergence of a green ecosystem which is more
usable, practical and far easier to deploy. Moreover, with green passing the
hype curve, it is now a default part of electronics and not a feature with an
added cost. In many ways 2010 is expected to act as a spring board to many green
technologies that will pave the way in creating a more sustainable planet.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in