Businesses Slow to Adopt Green IT Despite High Demand

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VERNON HILLS, Ill. -- Green IT continues its steady growth in acceptance, with results of a new study from IT provider CDW showing that 94 percent of the 778 IT professionals it interviewed said energy efficiency was at the top of their goals.

The bad news is that, despite this widespread interest in energy efficiency for data centers and computing operations, less than half of those surveyed said their companies or organizations have begun getting serious about reducing their energy use.

Among the reasons for the lag between desire and action are a lack of awareness about making the most of energy-management programs, a disconnect between wanting to buy energy efficient products and having the budgetary means to do so, and the divide between who purchases the IT hardware and software in an organization and who pays the electric bills.

The survey suggests that, although there is any number of ways to reduce energy use in organizations of all sizes, the best path to success is with a long-term, dedicated focus on IT energy efficiency across all departments.

Among the useful steps toward greening IT are purchasing certified electronics, like hardware that bears Energy Star or EPEAT certification for efficiency; making the most of existing or new server purchases through virtualizing and optimizing data centers; and making sure that not only are energy-management settings on laptops, desktops and servers activated, but that employees are also trained on best practices for saving energy after hours and over weekends.

The benefits of this sort of dedicated push toward energy efficiency is significant: 39 percent of the IT pros who were working in energy-efficient environs said that their total IT costs dropped by as much as 40 percent as a result of a dedicated push towards going green.

This is only the latest survey to confirm the perceived cost barrier as an obstacle for green IT adoption; last month, Rackspace's annual green survey also found that companies are hesitant to spend extra money up front for energy efficient computing products.

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