IT Staff Convention 2007:Making IT Greener at Penn
From Provider Wiki
Strategies for Making IT Greener at Penn
Moderator: Robert Brower, HRIM Notes: Mark Aseltine, ISC
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Recycle, Reuse
Who is doing what? How can we dispose of stuff?
There are vendors that work with Penn:
- Elemental
- The Center for Community Partnerships Digital Divide Program will take stuff
- EHRS will pick up batteries only (UPS, etc.) See:
Not just computers, we also have AV projectors/lamps. Notebook batteries. Easiest sometimes if vendors have programs to recycle the equipment.
Increasingly vendors do have programs to recycle their equipment:
- Apple: http://www.apple.com/environment/
- “For customers in the United States, Apple offers a free recycling program of old computers and monitors with the purchase of a new Mac.”
- Dell: http://www.dell.com/html/global/topics/pure_earth/index.html
- “We offer consumers worldwide free recycling of any Dell-branded computer equipment at any time. Dell also provides no-charge recycling of any brand of used computer or printer with the purchase of a new Dell computer or printer. This equipment is recycled in an environmentally-responsible manner using our stringent recycling guidelines.”
- Lenovo : http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/lenovo/about/sustainability/environment/ptb_us.html
- “Lenovo participates in the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation's (RBRC) "Call2Recycle" program. Rechargeable batteries from Lenovo products such as lithium ion batteries in laptops can be recycled free of charge at any of the RBRC's more than 30,000 drop off locations in the US and Canada. For more information about the RBRC's Call2Recycle program and to locate a battery recycling location near you, visit the RBRC Web site.”
Reduce What can we do?
Purchasing
The industry as a whole needs to look at this. Dell ships systems with 8 cables, even though we never need them all.
We purchase 200 systems at a time, and it comes with 200 boxes and manuals, etc.
- Lenovo will pack multiple laptops in a single box.
- Dell will do “rack and stack” – preinstall devices in the rack and then ship the rack.
- Dell has a Plant a Tree program and other initiatives. http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/environment/en/tree?c=us&l=en&s=corp
- Shipping – Drop ship locally to remove one piece of the transportation.
- Leverage our size. If you are aware of companies that are doing the right things, encourage it by making it clear we support their efforts and that Penn buys from them in part because of their environmentally friendly practices.
Printing
- Going paperless would be great. We are at 1 printer per every 2 people, do we really need that many printers, and do folks need to print so much, and if so can we duplex.
- Can’t just buy a duplex printer, need users to set their default printer to duplex. Also, more efficient for multiple folks to share a big printer that stays powered up than for them to use multiple smaller printers.
Desktops / Laptops
Why are we buying big powerful machines for administrative users?
- The latest (more powerful) systems are actually best in terms of consumption. Older systems consume more both in sleep and use mode. One older model in particular does not go to sleep mode properly and continues to consume a lot of power in sleep mode.
- More powerful also better for certain users because they can run multiple processes on one system rather than multiple systems.
Are the vendors hitting about the same level in power consumption?
- Yes. Same chip set and same form factor is roughly the same consumption.
Are folks turning their system off at night?
- We are starting to do this for some.
- I would hope folks are at least turning monitors off.
Small Form Factor Systems?
- Small form factor is not a huge savings in power consumption, but offers significant savings in manufacturing, shipping, and recycling because of the reduction in materials.
Should we recommend laptops?
- Laptops present security issues, so we prefer small form factor except for users that require a laptop or are security savvy and can deal with the security concerns that otherwise exist.
- Laptops now last longer, going from 2-3 year life to a 3-4 year life
Public spaces and labs. Thinking is changing. For labs we no longer install x machines for x spaces, but instead leave some of the spaces open for laptop users.
Anybody keeping monitors for multiple desktop cycles?
- Yes (multiple indicated they are now doing this).
They are coming out with lower wattage processors, so pay attention to that and choose systems that consume less power. For example, 2.6 vs 2.5 GHz chip with a 90 watt vs 45 watt chip.
We’ve talked about desktops and laptops, what about servers?
- Virtualization – saves power and space
- People are doing server consolidation on the simple file/print stuff, but there is a lot of use and consumption in the research area.
- There are still some people not going to rack configurations – big old refrigerator servers that consume tons of space. Sometimes need to get on the non-techs to make the change to racks.
- Have had some good success with virtualization and blades. Have been able to reduce the footprint 30% by going to blade. IBM is conscious of power, because their customer base is sensitive to how much power or cooling they have available per rack in their data centers.
More Information
Brainstorm article by Wharton’s Joe Cruz: http://apps.wharton.upenn.edu/brainstorm/index.cfm?method=read&entry_id=1221
Colorado also has a site with information: http://www.colorado.edu/conservation/, and a green computing guide at: http://ecenter.colorado.edu/energy/projects/green_computing.html
Green IT for Providers: http://www.upenn.edu/computing/provider/docs/greenit/
Spreading the Word
How do we spread the message on what folks should be doing?
- How about a Green IT SIG?
- Can we post some of this?
- Yes. See links to Green IT for Providers and Wiki Article
- The new VP Facilities has started to take the lead on environmental issues.
- Frame the desktop and laptop purchasing guides to encompass sustainability.
Other ideas?
- Unplug the power transformers for cell phones, etc. when not in use.
- Jeff Rusling from the Computer Connection encouraged attendees to provide him input on things that the CCX should carry or promote.
- Need a forum beyond this to keep this going forward.
Reduce, Recycle, Reuse!
