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HP Calls on Communities for Environmental Change

2009-06-02T11:46:00Z

HP Calls on Communities for Environmental Change

Power To Change initiative allows users to realize the impact of shutting down idle PCs

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 2, 2009

HP today announced the launch of Power To Change, a campaign that encourages personal computer users around the world to make behavioral changes in support of the environment.

The campaign encourages users to download a new desktop widget that tracks the cumulative energy savings associated with participants turning off idle PCs when not in use.

The Power To Change widget is available for download by individuals and companies across the globe and is compatible with all PC computing platforms. With the widget, computer users worldwide can watch and explore the energy savings the campaign generates through the power of behavioral changes across individual and global users.

“Power To Change is the manifestation of HP’s long-held philosophy that industry leadership is about an ongoing contribution to society,” said John Frey, Americas sustainability executive at HP. “With Power To Change, individuals and organizations can make a small environmental commitment that has the potential for a large impact on addressing sustainability challenges today.”

HP estimates that if 100,000 users shut down their work computers at the end of each day, energy savings could total more than 2,680 kilowatt-hours⁽¹⁾ and carbon emissions reductions could total more than 3,500 pounds per day.⁽²⁾ This is the equivalent of eliminating more than 105 cars from the road each day.

Power To Change is launching across all three HP regions – Asia Pacific and Japan; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and the Americas – and is available in five languages: Chinese, English, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

HP and energy efficiency

HP offers a broad portfolio of energy-efficient PCs for consumers and businesses – from enterprise-ready notebooks and thin clients, to innovative touch-enabled PCs and slim and powerful desktop PCs.

The company has exceeded the goal it set in January 2008 to reduce the energy consumption of its volume desktop and notebook PC families by 25 percent by 2010, a full year and a half ahead of schedule. HP has set a new goal to save 1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity by 2011⁽³⁾ through a variety of product design strategies that reduce energy consumption in its volume PCs. With the amount of energy that HP PCs expects to save, 90,000 homes could be powered for an entire year.⁽⁴⁾

HP also offers customers the most comprehensive suite of energy-saving solutions in the printing industry.⁽⁵⁾ In 2008, HP shipped more than 25 million ENERGY STAR® qualified printers – more than any other vendor. Furthermore, all its new 2009 HP LaserJet and inkjet printer families will have ENERGY STAR qualified offerings.⁽⁶⁾ Additionally, only halfway through 2009, HP is 80 percent of the way toward achieving its 2008 goal of improving overall efficiency of its printing products by 40 percent by 2011.

More information about Power To Change and the downloadable widget are available at www.hp.com/powertochange.

HP and the environment

For decades HP has been an environmental leader, driving company stewardship through its HP Eco Solutions program, which spans product design, reuse and recycling as well as energy and resource efficiency. HP influences industry action by setting high environmental standards in its operations and supply chain, by providing practical solutions to make it easier for customers to reduce their climate impact and through its research on sustainability solutions that support a low-carbon economy. More information is available at www.hp.com/ecosolutions.

About HP

HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

⁽¹⁾ The energy savings are estimated based on a benchmark study conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories in 2004 and UK Energy Saving Trust in 2007. https://h30470.www3.hp.com/html/faq/faq_WidgetCalculations.html
⁽²⁾ Equivalency determined by EPA calculations. https://h30470.www3.hp.com/html/faq/faq_WidgetCalculations.html
⁽³⁾ Based on U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR total energy consumption measure for PC product.
⁽⁴⁾ Based on U.S. Dept. of Energy data that states an average home consumes 11,000 kWh per year.
⁽⁵⁾ Based on HP internal analysis of six key environmental factors, covering 29 environmental attributes, of HP’s printing portfolio vs. competitors.
⁽⁶⁾ Based on IDC CY2008 WW Printer Hardware Market Share Reports data, comparison of competitors’ total ship volumes to HP ENERGY STAR ship volumes.

ENERGY STAR is a registered mark owned by the U.S. government.

© 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

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Follow KermIT - The Green IT Architect on Twitter as @greenitnetwork

2009-04-26T21:08:00Z

Follow KermIT - The Green IT Architect on Twitter as @greenitnetwork

KermIT the Green IT Architect is a roving reporter (hoping) for the GREEN IT NETWORK and now you can follow him on twitter @greenitnetwork. Feeds from his blog will be automatically be posted to twitter through twitter feed.

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KermIT the Green IT Architect
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HP Limited Edition "Green IT for Dummies" Guide

2009-04-19T23:34:00Z

HP Limited Edition "Green IT for Dummies" Guide

HP has launched a limited edition "Green IT for Dummies" pocket book as an introduction to help organizations go green. The guide is intended to give organizations simple and straight-forward ideas on how to reduce the environmental impact of IT systems and harness the power of IT to reduce the wider environmental impacts of climate change in society.

The guide, produced independently by research and analysis firm Freeform Dynamics, provides guidance for where to start in greening an organization and maps out a pragmatic, yet comprehensive course of action ranked according to expense and difficulty of implementation.

Is your organization ready to embrace and implement an IT-powered green strategy?

Register for your complimentary copy of HP's Green IT for Dummies Limited Edition by answering two simple questions here.

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KermIT the Green IT Architect
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BrightTALK Hosts Five-Day Green Business Webcast Series

2009-04-16T11:41:00Z

BrightTALK Hosts Five-Day Green Business Webcast Series

Interact With Green Business Experts Live on brighttalk.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - April 15, 2009) [PR2WEB] -

WHAT: Weeklong Green Business Webcast Series hosted by BrightTALK™

At this free, interactive online webcast series, thought leaders from across the business world will discuss the best ways to capitalize on the "green" movement. They will explain how to leverage sustainable business practices to enhance corporate image, increase profitability, and improve operating efficiency.

Each day focuses on a particular topic: corporate social responsibility, water management, green building, green IT, and green marketing.

The presenters are all industry-leading experts on the "green" challenges and opportunities confronting businesses. These corporate and non-profit executives, scientists, attorneys, architects, engineers, and academics will share their latest environmental insights, best practices, case studies, and solutions.

WHEN: Five days beginning Monday, April 20th, and running through Friday, April 24th -- see the schedule for specific times, topics, and speakers. (The webcasts will also be immediately recorded and viewable on-demand at brighttalk.com.)

WHERE: The webcasts are available on brighttalk.com: http://www.brighttalk.com/summit/greenweek

PRESENTATIONS:

Day 1 (April 20th): Keynote Speakers -- Jo Mackness (Executive Director at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Center for Responsible Business) discusses "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Next Generation of Business Leaders" and William A. Swope (Vice President; General Manager, Corporate Sustainability Group at Intel Corporation) shares "Intel's Approach to Sustainability."

Day 2 (April 21st): Water Management -- Discover the most effective ways to save money, promote environmental awareness, and improve resource and facility management. Topics include: (1) "Introducing the Alliance for Water Stewardship," (2) "Water and Information Management," (3) "Building Water Sustainability into Intel's Business Processes," (4) "Global Water Trends and the Corporate Response," and (5) "Is Water the New Carbon? Corporations Expand Their Strategies."

Day 3 (April 22nd): Green Building -- Learn how to cut costs with efficient building design, and reduce environmental impacts from a planning and building perspective. Topics include: (1) "Incentives & Mandates: Regulatory Future for Green Building," (2) "Building & Operating Green in 2009-Challenges & Successes in S.F.," (3) "The Carborexic City," (4) "Nanotechnology for Green Building," (5) "Sustainability Requires Durability," (6) "The Environmental Impact of Buildings: An Inconvenient Truth," (7) "Practical Steps for Deep Green Remodeling," (8) "The Myth of Sisyphus: A Roadmap to Greening Our Buildings," and (9) "Greening our Architectural Heritage."

Day 4 (April 23rd): Green IT -- Spans strategic issues on "going green," as well as practical tips and techniques for busy IT professionals. Topics include: (1) "Green IT Assessment: Manage what you Measure," (2) "The Carbon Intent Project - Using ICT to reduce CO2," (3) "A User's Perspective: Sustainable IT at Intel," and (4) "Introduction to Climate Savers Computing Initiative: the IT Power Problem, simple actions to improve your business results and lessen your environmental impacts."

Day 5 (April 24th): Green Marketing -- Leverage consumers' growing interest in purchasing products and services from companies with strong "green" messages. Topics include: (1) "The Ten Signs of Greenwash (and how to avoid them)," (2) "Profile In Excellence: Hewlett-Packard Co: Green Trade Shows," (3) "Are Teens Willing to 'Go Green'?," (4) "Key Insights into the Sustainability Consumer," (5) "Eco-Marketing: The Intel Approach," and (6) "Save the Buyosphere! Selling Green in the Age of More, More, MORE."

ADD WEB 2.0 CONTENT TO YOUR WEBSITES: The webcasts can also be accessed (live, and later on-demand) through the BrightTALK player, which can be easily embedded onto websites and blogs. For information on how to embed a player or to participate in future summits, contact Morgan Cantrell (415-955-0553 or mcantrell (at) brighttalk.com).

ABOUT BrightTALK: BrightTALK is devoted to making webcasting the ultimate business tool for transferring knowledge. BrightTALK creates a vibrant exchange of ideas between presenters and viewers that features live, interactive access to the world's top thought leaders.

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KermIT the Green IT Architect
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Gartner Survey Shows Most Organisations Will Maintain Priority of Green IT Projects Despite Recession

2009-04-16T11:35:00Z

Gartner Survey Shows Most Organisations Will Maintain Priority of Green IT Projects Despite Recession

Survey Also Indicates That More than One-Third of Respondents Anticipated Spending More Than 15 Per Cent of their IT Capital budgets on Green IT Projects

Egham, UK, April 16, 2009 — The recession is resulting in cutbacks across all projects, including green IT programmes, but a survey by Gartner, Inc. indicates that most organisations will maintain the priority of green IT projects.

In December of 2008, Gartner surveyed 620 respondents who had responsibility for, or were very knowledgeable about, their organisation’s green IT programmes. Respondents were asked a series of questions about the development of their organisation and IT environment programmes and also the impact of the recession on green IT initiatives.

“As far as green IT is concerned, we anticipate continued focus on projects that improve energy efficiency and save money,” said Simon Mingay, research vice president at Gartner. “Despite the apparent strength of green IT projects highlighted by the survey, for most organisations not looking to exploit the opportunities of climate change strategically, 2009 will be a gap year for green projects lacking a short-term cost-cutting and efficiency focus. Longer term, we believe environmental sustainability will remain an important business issue.”

A significant number of organisations, particularly in the US and Brazil, anticipated reducing the priority of green IT projects in 2009. However, in most cases, particularly in Europe and Asia/Pacific, the recession will not change or will increase the priority of green IT projects (see Figure 1). There is still some education required, particularly in Asia/Pacific, related to the financial benefits of many green IT projects.

Figure 1
Impact of Economic Downturn on the Priority Given to Green IT Projects

Source: Gartner (February 2009)

Gartner also asked organisations that had a specific capital expenditure budget for green IT (22 per cent of respondents), what proportion of total IT capital expenditure this represented. Overall, more than one-third of respondents (46 per cent in Europe, 38 per cent in Asia/Pacific and 36 per cent in the US) anticipated spending more than 15 per cent of their IT capital budgets on green IT projects.

Only 60 organisations (10 per cent of respondents) had no green IT projects at the time of the survey. With the exception of Asia/Pacific, most organisations with no green IT projects at present anticipated addressing the issue. It found that 40 per cent of US and 58 per cent of European respondents were very likely to launch projects in the future, with only 15 per cent of respondents for Asia/Pacific. Additionally, relatively few respondents did not have green IT projects as a result of the recession.

“The broad area of green IT covering areas such as, carbon reporting and offsetting, videoconferencing and green procurement will continue to be a key pillar of IT strategy and architecture during the next 10 years,” said Rakesh Kumar, research vice president at Gartner. “This is because the political and scientific imperatives around the climate change will continue to push governments, international bodies and organisations as stakeholders increase the pressure to focus on environmental sustainability.”

For end-user organisations, lean and green should not be conflated, but CIOs need to break down budget silos and consider the wider cost-benefits to the organisation if they are to help the business exploit the financial benefits derived from green IT projects.

“The need to paint cost cutting as green to make it interesting is gone,” Mr Kumar added. “For technology and service providers, when considering positioning a solution as green, providers need to consider whether it will save organisations money in less than 12 to 24 months. If not, they need to focus on the green benefits within the context of a broader business case for sustainability.”

Additional information is available in the Gartner report “The Impact of Recession on Green IT: Survey Results.” The report is on the Gartner’s website at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=893724&subref=simplesearch.

In addition, Gartner analysts can also comment on general green IT issues in light of Earth Day on 22 April 2009.

About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries.

For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

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KermIT the Green IT Architect
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Verari Systems Wins Uptime Institute’s 2009 Green Enterprise IT Award

2009-04-16T11:25:00Z

Verari Systems Wins Uptime Institute’s 2009 Green Enterprise IT Award for its Energy Efficient, Scalable, FOREST Container Solution

Independent research think-tank recognizes Verari’s portable data center for maximum power efficiency, cooling and density

San Diego, Calif. – April 16, 2009 - Verari Systems®, a premier developer of independent blade-based computing and storage platforms for the data center with the highest density, availability, and energy efficiency in the market, today announced that it was selected as a winner in the Energy Efficient Products: Facilities category of the 2009 Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Awards, presented by the Uptime Institute and co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Award winners were announced last night at a ceremony at Uptime Institute’s 4th Annual Institute Research Symposium: LEAN, CLEAN, and GREEN in New York City.

Verari Systems was selected as a winner for its innovation and leadership in driving sustainability initiatives and recognized for its second-generation FOREST Container solution based on Verari’s BladeRack® 2 X-Series platforms with patented Vertical Cooling Technology™.

“We congratulate and honor Verari Systems for its pioneering work in reducing energy consumption in its customer’s data centers,” said Kenneth G. Brill, founder and executive director of the Uptime Institute. “Verari’s successful initiatives serve as a great example to its industry peers of the realistic impact and feasibility of energy efficiency initiatives.” The GEIT Awards honor companies that have made significant strides in creating reliable, sustainable and energy-efficient data centers. All GEIT Awards winners presented case studies at the Institute’s symposium--LEAN, CLEAN and GREEN--of their award-winning initiatives for addressing the data center energy efficiency challenge. Verari shared lessons learned and its route to success to encourage its industry peers to be advocates of change in their own organizations. The GEIT Awards judging criteria were specifically designed to select projects with potential to serve as business case studies of the realistic impact and feasibility of energy efficiency initiatives.

“It is an extraordinary honor to be recognized for our green IT solutions by such an esteemed organization as the Uptime Institute,” said David B. Wright, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Verari Systems. “Verari’s innovative FOREST container is probably the best example of how eco-conscious data center environments can be created by combining the most energy efficient equipment with well designed facilities. Truly a ‘data center in a box’, FOREST is a green solution that is not only eco-friendly, but can dramatically lower power and cooling costs.”

Verari’s FOREST Containers are innovative, self-contained, portable data centers that house the BladeRack 2 X-Series platforms in an industry standard form factor (40’ x 8.0’ x 9.5’). Over 2,000 servers or 13 Petabytes of storage capacity can be deployed at about 50% of the capital and operating expense of traditional brick-and-mortar data centers. Energy efficiency, as measured by DCiE, equals 90%, which leads the industry. FOREST Containers can be installed indoors or outdoors, in virtually any terrain and climate, and can accommodate other vendors’ equipment to support heterogeneous IT environments. FOREST Containers are architected for rapid deployment and are a natural fit for data center consolidation, migration, and disaster recovery projects.

For a complete description of how Verari Systems is enabling the Green Data Center of the Future, please visit www.verari.com or call (888) 942-3800.

About Verari Systems
Verari Systems, Inc. is the premier developer of energy efficient data center and desktop consolidation platforms utilizing independent blade-based compute and storage solutions that are defining a new era in the green data center. Verari Systems is a market leader in blade storage and energy efficient platforms. Organizations such as Virgin America, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia, Akamai, Microsoft, Qualcomm, CGGVeritas, Petrobras, Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Sony Imageworks, as well as top universities and research institutions worldwide, are among the customers who have chosen Verari Systems’ line of award-winning high density blade storage and servers, rack-optimized platforms and software solutions. To learn more about Verari Systems and its unique solutions, please visit www.verari.com or call (888) 942-3800.

About the Uptime Institute
The Uptime Institute is a leading independent think-tank, corporate advisor, knowledge exchange, education and professional-services provider, serving the owners and operators of the world’s largest enterprise data centers. Its primary area of expertise is the uptime availability, reliability, and resiliency of enterprise computing within formal critical computing environments--computer rooms, server farms and ranches, and data centers. The Institute operates a private knowledge network, the Site Uptime Network that conducts research, benchmarking, knowledge sharing, and best practices for its members, who represent 100 of the largest data center owning/operating institutions in the world. The Institute’s intellectual property base includes the de facto industry standard for data-center design, known as the Tiers Classification System and the Four Metrics for Determining a Green Data Center.

Media Contact: Patty Tredway, Antenna Group for Uptime Institute, 415.977.1933, patty@antennagroup.com

Uptime Institute Symposium Contact: Trevor Daul, Uptime Institute, 505.946.3462, tdaul@uptimeinstitute.org

Verari Systems, BladeRack, Vertical Cooling Technology, FOREST and the Verari Systems logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Verari Systems Incorporated. All other names or marks are property of their respective owners.

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KermIT the Green IT Architect
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Grist Launches New Website in Honor of 10th Anniversary

2009-04-06T02:12:00Z

Grist Launches New Website in Honor of 10th Anniversary

Web's top environmental news and information site lets users personalize their news;
organizes content around politics, climate and energy, food, business, living green, and more

SEATTLE, WA (April 6, 2009) -- Celebrating its decade-long success as the nation's leading source for online environmental news and information, Grist today announced the launch of a newly redesigned website.

"We think of the new website as Grist's 10th Anniversary present to its users," said Chip Giller, Grist founder and CEO. "For more than a decade we've been serving up award winning environmental journalism spiked with a healthy dose of humor and irreverence. With the release of the new site, that same great content will be wrapped in a design that is fun, easier to navigate, and more customizable."

While maintaining the editorial tone and levity that users have come to expect, Grist's redesigned website includes a number of important enhancements in functionality and interface, aimed at making it more engaging and easier to navigate. The new site is better organized, more customizable, and more interactive.

Improvements include the following:

• Top news stories will now be easier to find; topic pages and sorting features will help users quickly locate the content areas they care most about, including politics, climate and energy, food, business, living green, and more.

• Increased use of video content, like GristTV's Ask Umbra, will add texture and context to the site, supplementing written news and feature stories on a more frequent basis.

• Users will be able to customize their Grist experience more than ever, with tools enabling them to follow their favorite writers, stories, and topics.

• The new site will also encourage and promote user action and engagement -- helping users get involved, connect, and speak up through personal profile pages.

Grist editors expect to make further technical and design improvements to the site in the coming months, including the launch of new user forums and other features, based on user comments.

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

David Brotherton
david@brothertonstrategies.com
206-448-1000

Brendon Smyth
bsmyth@grist.org
206-876-2020 ext. 214

About Grist
With a fresh spin on environmental news and views, Grist informs, inspires, and links America's next generation of green citizens. Founded in April 1999, Grist has developed the most recognizable voice in environmental journalism: funny, opinionated, and intelligent. Grist offers in-depth reporting, news analysis, opinions, and practical advice -- all tailored to inform, entertain, provoke, and encourage its users to think creatively about environmental problems and solutions.

Each month, Grist reaches more than 800,000 unique individuals through its website and e-mails, and it has enjoyed particular success among readers in their 20s and 30s. Through partnerships with major media outlets such as MSN, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and Yahoo!, Grist is reaching an even broader audience that extends into the millions. Grist has been featured in The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, Vanity Fair, and dozens of other major media outlets worldwide, and was recently ranked as a top green website by both Time and The London Guardian.

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Gary E. Smith
Green IT Architect - the Greening of IT
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Green IT Gets Easier with New Range of Pocket Guides

2009-03-10T12:10:00Z

Green IT Gets Easier with New Range of Pocket Guides

Leading compliance expert IT Governance has launched a new series of Green IT pocket guides that set out practical, easy-to-take steps that enable any size of organisation to implement greener ways of working, allowing them to achieve important environmental, efficiency and regulatory benefits.

Ely, England (PRWEB) March 9, 2009 -- Virtually every organisation is under increasing pressure to demonstrate its 'green' credentials to customers - or risk losing trade if it fails to do so. But greener ways of working - reducing energy and materials usage, curbing of greenhouse gas and polluting emissions - are not just worth doing for ethical reasons alone; they also promote better operating efficiencies and help organisations comply and respond to regulatory threats, which is welcome news in difficult economic circumstances.

Getting there is the challenge. However, in response, leading compliance expert IT Governance (www.itgovernance.co.uk) has launched a new series of Green IT pocket guides (http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2265) that set out practical, easy to take steps, in the reach of every organisation, that can be a real help in implementing such a strategy.

The Green IT pocket guide series consists of three complementary titles:

The Green Agenda: A Business Guide - A guide to Green IT specifically written for a business audience, which introduces key climate change concepts and the standpoints of various groupings. It provides an overview of a Green IT strategy and a bottom line-orientated action plan.

The Green Office: A Business Guide - Developed to help cost-conscious, environmentally-minded organisations identify simple, practical ways of reducing both their cost base and their carbon footprint.

Compliance for Green IT: Pocket Guide - Covers regulations directly relevant to IT, such as carbon trading. These regulations are used - in either voluntary or mandatory programmes - to reduce CO² emissions and offset the impact of environmental damage caused elsewhere. IT is a significant consumer of power, and these trading schemes are becoming increasingly important and relevant for organisations. This guide provides an introduction to, and overview of, these programmes.

"Green IT is not only about responding to the consumer environmental concerns," says Alan Calder, a leading author on information security and IT governance who wrote all three guides. "It is also about promoting operating efficiencies - so, even for organisations that do not have much interest in the Green Agenda, the potential cost savings from pursuing a green action plan are - particularly in recessionary times - worth having. And staying out of trouble by complying with Green IT regulations has to make sense.

"These guides offer businesses of any size the means to formulate their own green action plans, to save the planet or simply to save money."

The Green Agenda: A Business Guide, The Green Office: A Business Guide and Compliance for Green IT: Pocket Guide are each priced £19.95/$28.99/€21.74 (ISBN 9781905356980 / 9781849280044 / 9781849280006 respectively) and can be ordered at (The Green Agenda) http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2202 , (The Green Office) http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2200 and (Compliance for Green IT)
http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2199

Alternatively, the three books are available as a set at a discounted price of £49.95/ $72.57/€54.44 and can be ordered at http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2265

The set is also available in downloadable format at http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2267 for £49.95/$72.57/€54.44

NOTES TO EDITORS

Alan Calder is a leading author on information security and IT governance issues, and is Chief Executive of IT Governance Limited. He is an international authority on ISO27001 (formerly BS7799), the international security standard, about which he wrote with colleague Steve Watkins the definitive compliance guide, 'IT Governance: A Manager's Guide to Data Security and BS7799/ISO17799'. This work, now in its fourth edition, is based on his experience of leading the world's first successful implementation of BS7799 and is the basis for the UK Open University's postgraduate course on information security.

IT Governance Ltd is the one-stop shop for books, tools, training and consultancy for Governance, Risk Management and Compliance. It is a leading authority on data security and IT governance for business and the public sector. IT Governance is 'non-geek', approaching IT issues from a non-technology background and talking to management in its own language. Its customer base spans Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. More information is available at www.itgovernance.co.uk.

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Gary E. Smith
Green IT Architect - the Greening of IT
GREEN IT NETWORK

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How will the downturn impact utility rebates

2009-03-02T02:22:00Z

How will the downturn impact utility rebates

Feb 27, 2009

According to an EPA report issued in 2007, US data centers account for 1.5% of all electricity consumed and observers expect that figure to approach 3% by 2011. This understates IT's impact as these figures exclude devices, laptops, desktops, personal printers and the like which reside outside of the data center. The figures also exclude energy consumed in manufacturing IT equipment which is exceedingly high due to rapid product obsolescence. Estimates are that accounting for these factors, IT could consume as much as 5% of all electricity, which starts to exceed major appliances such as TV's.

Clearly, the IT industry's impact on energy consumption is increasing and the industry must do more to curb consumption. Led by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), utility companies across the United States have begun to pay incentive rebates to customers that install energy efficient equipment in data centers. The uptake has been slow however electricity suppliers and the IT industry are beginning to make real progress.

Last week Wikibon spoke with Mark Bramfitt who manages the high tech incentive program for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). We asked Mark to assess progress to date and what the impact of the economic downturn would be on such incentive programs.

He indicated that energy efficiency may be one place that shines during the economic downturn. Specifically, Bramfitt told Wikibon that PG&E expects to more than double its funding for '09-'11 to $1.8 billion (yes, billion). Mark's group has reserved $50 million for data centers alone. In 2008, the data center program paid out almost $7M in incentives. By our estimates, storage technologies should account for between 10-15% of these incentives; unfortunately, they're nowhere close.

As of December 2008, customers of only two storage vendors were eligible for rebates, in the PG&E program (3PAR and Copan). However, Wikibon has learned that 4-5 more storage companies will have their technologies qualified by PG&E this quarter (Q1 '09), with more to follow shortly thereafter. Moreover, utilities across California in major sections of Texas, and parts of Canada are beginning to launch incentive programs. While these initiatives require funding and typically approval from Public Utility Commissions, energy efficiency may as Bramfitt suggests benefit from a renewed emphasis on doing more with less.

Action Item: As users plan green initiatives, they should investigate the potential of receiving rebates for installing qualified, energy efficient technology-- ask your vendor where they stand. Become familiar with such incentive programs as cash rebates can be obtained for very little effort.

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Gary E. Smith
Green IT Architect - the Greening of IT
GREEN IT NETWORK

IT RESOURCE NETWORK

Companies to Showcase Green Technologies at FOSE 2009

2009-02-27T01:48:00Z

Companies to Showcase Green Technologies at FOSE 2009

Electronic Health Record Systems, Virtualization Among Featured Solutions

FALLS CHURCH, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FOSE 2009, the most comprehensive event for government information technology (IT) professionals, today announced that it will have nearly 40 green products and solutions on display at this year’s event, reflecting the government’s shift in priorities to environmentally safe solutions that help to meet agency requirements. Scheduled for March 10-12, 2009, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, FOSE is the largest trade show for government technology professionals.

“The federal government is positioning itself as a global leader on environmental stewardship and climate change by transforming how government operates,” said Christina Condos, Vice President of Events for 1105 Government Information Group. “Green IT is going to be an essential part of that success. FOSE has always been the venue for companies to educate federal IT decision-makers about innovative products and solutions that will improve government’s efficiency and effectiveness and meet mission critical requirements. We are pleased that FOSE has the opportunity to showcase these green IT solutions to the government at this critical time.”

An example of the green technology solutions that will be displayed on the show floor include:

Black Box Network Services will showcase a variety of products to help agencies go green. Its self-contained ClimateCab and Wallmount ClimateCab will help agencies save energy and money by cooling only the cabinet, rather than a whole room or IT center. Similarly, Black Box also will feature the Elite Managed Power Controller, a cost and energy efficient solution that allows agencies to remotely monitor, control, and report power for an agency’s network equipment
Core Solutions, Inc. will feature WEB CARE 4.0, an Electronic Health Record System, which eliminates paper records associated with services – decreasing paper usage and storage requirements to almost zero
e-End performs electronic recycling and secure data destruction in an environmentally friendly manner with the focus on adaptive reuse and a zero landfill policy. e-End’s services demonstrate positive environmental stewardship while reducing the carbon footprint; ninety percent of e-End’s processed materials are directed back into the manufacturing stream to become new-user products
Gardant Global will highlight its alternative energy mobile charging capabilities for government. Gardant Solar Charging Technologies allow deployed personnel the opportunity to access and maintain unlimited power to mobile phones, cameras, and computers in areas where there may be no commercial power available
Nortec Communications will showcase VMware’s Capacity Planner, which delivers a clear picture into agency IT resource utilization and develops a virtualization roadmap for server containment and consolidation. The Capacity Planner results in reduced energy costs by eliminating underutilization and server sprawl (without affecting applications or users), reducing the environmental impact of IT
Sumitomo Electric Lightwave will feature its FutureFlex Air-blown Fiber System, allowing any type and count of fiber to be blown in and out of the LAN for real-time control of bandwidth. Fiber blown out can be reused or recycled in its original form, creating a continuously renewable, sustainable fiber optic infrastructure with no end to its life cycle

Since 1976, FOSE has been in the forefront of the government technology revolution, contributing to many technological and creative developments that have helped shape public and private sector initiatives. FOSE remains the premier meeting and solutions marketplace for government technology and program management professionals. Featuring groundbreaking education, smart solutions and unparalleled networking events and programs, FOSE brings together an audience that shares a passion for computing and technology. FOSE 2009 will be co-located with GovSec, U.S. Law.

For information on all the exhibitors participating at FOSE 2009, please visit: http://www.fose.com/index.cfm??do=cnt.page&pg=1005. To register as press for the event, go to http://www.fose.com/ or contact A.J. Guenther at 571-323-2585, ext. 2130 or aj@connellyworks.com.

About 1105 Government Information Group

1105 Government Information Group is the leading provider of integrated information and media for the government information technology market. Our comprehensive portfolio of print, online, event, custom media and research products distinctively serves the information needs of the government IT buying team — agency executives, program managers, IT managers and systems integrators — across all segments of federal, state and local government. Flagship news and information brands include Defense Systems, Federal Computer Week, FEND, GCN, and Washington Technology. Flagship events include the Federal 100, FOSE, GCN Awards, Government Leadership Summit, GovSec, U.S. Law, Washington Technology Top 100 and a series of conferences focused on collaboration, networking and education. www.1105govinfo.com

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Gary E. Smith
Green IT Architect - the Greening of IT
GREEN IT NETWORK

IT RESOURCE NETWORK