Farmer School of Business IT’s Relationship to Sustainability: Also known as Green IT Jeffrey W. Merhout, Ph.D., CPA (Inactive) Associate Professor of MIS Farmer School of Business

Farmer School of Business Overview IT’s Contribution to Problems Associated with Sustainability IT’s Contribution to Solving Problems Associated with Sustainability Define Green IT Define Green IS Please keep me in mind when you are planning Green/Sustainable IT/IS activities!

Farmer School of Business IT’s Contribution to Problems Associated with Sustainability Criticism of IT “popular media accounts paint IS as a villain” (Melville, MISQ, March, 2010, p. 14): “Waste from computers, televisions and other devices used in the United States is polluting the environment and exposing workers to toxic chemicals in regions of China and India where discarded electronics are dismantled, according to a study released Wednesday” (Chea, 2005) “There's been a lot of hand-wringing lately about how much air traffic contributes to global warming. But another damaging culprit has recently been found: the Internet. Computer centers consume massive amounts of energy, and their use is growing astronomically.” (Dworschak, 2008)

Farmer School of Business IT’s Contribution to Problems Associated with Sustainability Life Cycle of IT Purchase/procurement Are suppliers using green raw materials? Are suppliers using green supply chains? Use Energy use Heat generation (requires energy to remove) Disposal Computer parts can be hazardous to the environment Note: this is focused only on the IT aspects of IS. The use of information systems (IS) will generally be associated with being positive (e.g., with green/sustainable systems)

Farmer School of Business IT’s Contribution to Problems Associated with Sustainability Per Watson et al. (2010, p.32, emphasis added), “large data centers can consume as much power as a factory, and computer-related power consumption is about 15 percent of total electricity usage in the United States (Lawton 2007). The five largest search companies, with about 2 million servers, devour 2.4 gigawatts, more energy than the maximum capacity of the Hoover Dam’s 2 gigawatts (Lawton 2007). IT investments are growing, and sustainability requires a reduction in computer-related energy consumption.”

Farmer School of Business IT’s Contribution to Solving Problems Associated with Sustainability Watson et al. (2009, p.2) describe Green IT as being “mainly focused on energy efficiency and equipment utilization. It addresses issues such as: Replacing personal computers with energy efficient thin clients; Use of virtualization software to run multiple operating systems on one server; Reducing the energy consumption of data centers; Using renewable energy sources to power data centers; Reducing electronic waste from obsolete computing equipment; Promoting telecommuting and remote computer administration to reduce transportation emissions.”

Farmer School of Business IT’s Contribution to Solving Problems Associated with Sustainability On the other hand, Watson et al. (2009, pp. 2-3, bold emphasis added) discuss “Green IS:” “Green IS, in contrast, refers to the design and implementation of information systems that contribute to sustainable business processes. Green IS, for example, helps an organization to Reduce transportation costs with a fleet management system and dynamic routing of vehicles to avoid traffic congestion and minimize energy consumption; Support team work and meetings when employees are distributed throughout the world, and thus reduce the impact of air travel. IS can move remote working beyond telecommuting to include systems that support collaboration, group document management, cooperative knowledge management, and so forth. Track environmental information (such as toxicity, energy used, water used, etc.) about the creation of products, their components, and the fulfillment of services;

Farmer School of Business IT’s Contribution to Solving Problems Associated with Sustainability Per Watson et al. (2010, p.32, emphasis added), “IS designers play a large role in creating the way today’s organizations operate, and their task needs to be reframed to include a focus on designing environmentally sustainable organizational practices that monitor, and ideally reduce, the extent of harmful emissions and used resources.” Per Watson et al. (2010, p.24, emphasis added ), “The argument for our involvement in promoting environmental sustainability is compelling. Information systems have been the greatest force for productivity improvement in the last half century.

Farmer School of Business IT’s Contribution to Solving Problems Associated with Sustainability What are organizations doing to reduce the problems associated with the normal use of computing resources? Virtualization Cloud Computing Purchase Energy Star products Purchase EPEAT-certified computers and monitors Minimize growth in electrical energy use Turn off computing equipment not being used (e.g., overnight) Energy-efficient programming algorithms, power- efficient software Green(er) data centers