How Can IT Afford to Go “Green?”

So I just got this memo entitled "Our Green Initiative." It tells how our company is taking steps to reduce materials consumption, generate less packaging, and lessen our carbon footprint. Indeed, with enough work on our part, we may soon be able to offset all of the pollution created by the bright orange 1976 Ford F100 that I drove through high school and college.

Seriously, I'm proud of our green initiative. Like many other people, I want to do my part to reduce global warming, increase recycling, and "save" the environment. The problem is: What part can our IT team play? People ask me, but I'm at a loss for words.

We have racks of old servers that suck down current like football linemen around a fraternity party keg—but what can I do?  I need their performance. I can't simply start turning them off for the sake of the environment. And while I'd like to drop the power consumption in our data center by deploying some newer technologies, the "Warlord" has higher priorities to address.

Meanwhile, "Chunk IT" (who feels we can simply "chunk" new servers at every new application) has 12 new applications going into production later this year. He insists that he will not share server resources with any other business group and his "hysterical-critical" applications must have dedicated servers—all of course in mirrored in an active-active configuration.

Storage also remains out of control. Just in the past year, our storage volumes grew nearly 40 percent, and we carted in two new "Cats" and a new "Nuke". Those systems alone could power half of my hometown back in North Dakota.

Earlier in my career, I worked at a small company in northern Wisconsin.  In the winter, the receptionist knew the warmest place in the building. She'd come back and stand by our server racks and stick out her hands.  The servers spit heat like furnaces.

Our data center still does. If only there was a secondary market for that heat…

Later.

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Message Edited by Eugene the IT guy on 04-14-2008 10:34 AM