So one day I’m standing with my manager outside by the lawn and he’s having a smoke. We were both staring at the artificial grass and marveling at its realistic appearance; and then he tells me “the company is planning to go green” and I’m like WHAT! Oh my gosh, It’ll be beautiful….
He took a long drag from his cigarette and slightly flicked the bottom to get rid of the smoldering ash that was accumulating at the tip. Then he looked at me and said “NO! You don’t get it….st*pid”

Green IT

Primarily, Green IT is an umbrella term that means; reducing the impact of IT on the environment whilst generating cost saving and efficiency improvements. This is arguably the easiest way to describe it. However, the approach to going green will defer from organization to organization, depending on their strategy and business requirements.

Typically, Green initiatives will include:

IT equipment recycling: reduces carbon footprint through proper disposal of hardware and hazardous materials. Although, we currently lack proper recycling plants to recycle electronic waste/junk here in Nigeria.

Printer Consolidation: this one is easy. Get rid of multiple printers by using a single printer connected to your network to serve everyone. This reduces the consumption of paper, toner, ink, energy and hazardous material from printers and cartridges.

Telecommuting strategies: home working is getting popular these days. Some may argue that working from home is not a good strategy for achieving maximum productivity. However, it reduces employee commuting activities (car use etc.) thereby reducing carbon emission. Fancy huh! Well it’s true.

Adopt cloud computing: sounds a bit too technical. In this case, multiple companies share the same computer resources. Consequently, computer resources are utilized efficiently with minimal impact on energy consumption and improved cost saving.

Remote Conferencing & Collaboration: reduces carbon emission from business travel. Think of the cost saving involved in doing a Skype session rather than jumping on a flight to Abuja or Lagos.

PC power management: reduces energy consumption during extended idle times (e.g. Over night or during lunch breaks).

Energy management and monitoring: When you understand how you use energy in your office or facility, you can device initiatives to control use and cost. Some companies can afford to automate this function. SMEs may not be able to afford this due to the capital intensive nature of automating. Although, there are other cheaper ways of controlling energy usage.

See how your company can benefit from going "GREEN": http://www.techbusiness101.com/green-it-understanding-future-trends/

So what's your understanding of Green IT?

It is imperative to put such policies running as we approach in the coming days, the emergence of the IT sector as a major determinate in the life and productivity of other sectors of human life.

Green-IT is vital and should be adhered to for a more healthy and productivity workplace and society.