Green IT and sustainable business practices are top priority these days, and for good reason: the climate crisis threatens everyone, and overspending on energy while running unsustainable operations is just bad for business. By transitioning to more environmentally friendly business practices and energy-efficient IT, you can not only help our planet, but also preserve capital and resources while demonstrating to your customers your commitment to a greener future.
Here are several sustainable practices you can implement to reduce your business’s carbon footprint and improve your overall efficiency.
Implement virtualization and cloud computing
These technologies enable you to minimize your carbon footprint and reduce energy consumption, thereby lowering your power bill. This is accomplished by consolidating multiple physical servers into virtualized environments or doing away with servers completely by migrating to the cloud. With these technologies, you no longer need to power and cool servers, or at least not as many. And if you migrate to the cloud, the data center handles your servers, which consume less energy because they operate at a higher scale with collective resources.
Use green data centers
Once you’ve migrated to the cloud, utilizing green data centers or colocation facilities can help further reduce the environmental impact of your IT operations. Green data centers operate with advanced cooling systems, renewable energy sources, and efficient server designs to minimize energy consumption and maximize resource efficiency. By hosting your IT infrastructure in green data centers, you can certainly benefit from reduced energy costs and lower carbon emissions. Also, you can show your customers how committed you are to supporting green business and protecting the planet we all share.
Install energy-efficient hardware
Thankfully, because of the ongoing climate crisis and focus on sustainable tech, there is no shortage of energy-efficient hardware on the market. Choose energy-efficient servers, desktops, laptops, and networking equipment that meet ENERGY STAR or EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) certification standards. Additionally, consider upgrading individual components to more energy-efficient types, such as solid-state drives (SSDs) and low-power processors, to further reduce your energy consumption. It may not seem like much, but the savings add up over time.
Generate local renewable energy
Procuring renewable energy sources can help you offset carbon emissions and drastically reduce your power bills. Consider investing in on-site renewable energy systems, such as solar panels or wind turbines, to generate clean, renewable electricity for your business operations, or even generate income. Some governments and utilities offer credit if your on-site renewable energy infrastructure puts electricity back into the grid, so you might be able to gain some revenue during off-peak hours when you aren’t using much power.
Go paperless
Transitioning to a paperless office reduces your paper waste, minimizing your environmental impact and cutting your office supply expenditures. Implement digital document management systems and workflows to digitize paper-based processes and do away with the constant need for printing, storing, and disposing of physical documents. Automated digital document management solutions also have the added benefit of improved operational efficiency and more streamlined work processes.
Set up remote work arrangements
Implementing work from home or telecommuting arrangements for your employees can help reduce the environmental impact of commuting and reduce costs incurred by office operations. By allowing employees to work remotely, you’re not only taking cars off the road, but also lowering energy consumption in office spaces and minimizing the use of paper and other supplies.
Get assistance from IT consultants specializing in green solutions
Your commitment to greener IT is commendable, but there’s only so much you can do by yourself. You need access to up-to-date knowledge of sustainable best practices and expertise with a wide range of green IT solutions. If your business is in the DC Metro Area or North Carolina, you should contact outsourceIT. Our experienced consultants are well-versed in green IT solutions and practices of all kinds, and will help craft a tailored plan for your company that will reduce your carbon footprint, slash your power consumption, and reduce your operating costs.
