Net Zero – 15 Years After Green IT, Where's the Beef?

The Green IT hype reached its climax 15 years ago. The basic ideas, such as virtualization and IT consolidation, optimized cooling, efficient UPS/EPS, efficient facilities, and life cycle management are still valid. However, they need to be enriched through considerations for a hybrid multi-cloud world.

PAC believes that sustainable IT can be achieved through the following considerations:

• Cloud usage – Concrete information on PUE (power usage effectiveness), power mix, and WUE (water usage effectiveness) is essential. Renewable energy should be used, and the target should be a PUE of <1.4. In addition, not all workloads should run on standard x64 servers; some are better suited to GPU or ARM architectures.
• Own data center– If there is still a need for an on-premises data center, users should optimize the facilities for a PUE of <1.3 and use virtualization and private cloud technologies wherever possible.
• Software efficiency – There are many ways to implement software, but not all lead to efficient operations. Depending on libraries, compilers, and target architectures, some software may consume 2-3 times more resources than needed.
• Switching off – One topic rarely discussed in the IT world is switching off unused legacy systems.
• Procurement – Sustainability starts with the signing of contracts. Few procurement offices have a deep understanding of IT and sustainability. IT departments and sustainability managers must provide metrics to support procurement on this topic.

PAC’s recommendations for IT providers:

• Green IT is old-fashioned, but most ideas are still relevant. Elevate the old concepts to the hybrid multi-cloud world and offer services to help clients become sustainable in IT.
• IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS providers should optimize their data centers in terms of efficiency. Renewable energy should be used immediately. Housing and hosting providers should be on the same page.
• Software vendors should optimize their software for efficiency and work with industry associations to establish metrics for software efficiency.
• In software development projects, service providers should offer assistance for more efficient software solutions.

PAC’s recommendations for IT users:

• Put pressure on IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and housing and hosting providers to offer sustainable solutions.
• Put pressure on software vendors to provide efficient solutions.
• Make your own data centers sustainable.
• Switch off legacy systems as soon as possible.
• Include ARM and GPU architectures in your IT architecture for specific workloads.

What is left of Green IT? Discover more in my recent InBrief Analysis “Net Zero – 15 Years After Green IT, Where’s the Beef?” If you want to share your feedback or personal experience, please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.