greening your nonprofit's it: how to save the environment and money

October 20, 2010

Greening Your Nonprofit's IT: How to Save the Environment and Money

Anna S. JaegerCo-Director of GreenTech

TechSoup Global

ajaeger@techsoupglobal.orgwww.techsoup.org/greentech

An Introduction to Green Software, Hardware, and Practices

The Learning Objective: Experience and learn about a wide array of green technology options and how they can save you money

Take Aways: • Reduce waste, save money, and make your

nonprofit story more robust• Easy changes that won’t break the bank • Situational changes so you don’t have to convince

everyone to change their personal habits. • Learn about some great technologies.

We are working toward a time when every nonprofit and social benefit organization on the planet has the technology resources and knowledge they need to operate at their full potential

TechSoup is an integrated offering of the Resources, Knowledge, and Connections that NPO’s need to effectively use technology to advance their work

Information(Knowledge)

Donations(Resources)

Community(Connections)

TechSoup

Mission of GreenTech

Help nonprofits and NGOs reduce their environmental impact through the effective use of technology.

____________________

We help you, reduce the impact of your IT and use IT to reduce the impact of your organization.

www.techsoup.org/greentech @TSGreenTech

Your Technical Experience Poll

Technical Experience:• Accidental Techie• Some Technical Experience• Solid Tech Experience• Advanced

Why Green Your IT?

Images are CC, click on image for attribution.

Green Software & Practices Definition

• Software that can help you directly green your IT. Software that reduces the use of energy by IT equipment.

• Green Practices: Software that helps you green your organization.

• Note: some of these are just good technologies, and their “green” potential is simply an additional benefit

ICT Emissions & Energy Consumption

2%

5%

Slide by David Deal of Community IT Innovators

Green Software

• Power Management

Shocking Stats – Law Berkeley Labs

Desktop Notebook LCD

On 73.97 (idle)

29.48 (charged)

27.61

Sleep21.13 15.77 1.38

Off2.84 8.9 1.13

•http://standby.lbl.gov/summary-table.html

Major Drop

Minor Drop

Units are in watts

Power Management Stats

• The average desktop PC wastes nearly half of the energy it consumes as heat.

• Using power management can save nearly half a ton of CO2 & approx. $60/year/comp in energy costs. Stats from Climate Savers Computing

• Cut PC energy use up to 70%, save about $50 per desktop (NRDC)

• Workstations represent 3 times the energy consumption of the server room

Power Management on Windows

Windows 7 has a lot more ways to be energy efficient. It also has wizards that will flag the areas where you can save.

Power Management Settings

My recommendations:Monitor sleep after 5 minHard drives to sleep after 10 minSystem Sleep after 20 minBe more aggressive if on battery

• More information at Climate Savers Computing

Power Management Tools

• Individual (free) solutions:Built-in tools (windows & macs)Verdiem’s Edison

• Enterprise tools: Verdiem SurveyorFaronics PowerSave

Virtualization

Slide by David Deal of Community IT Innovators

Virtualization Definition

Two main Types:• Desktop• Server

Some Benefits:• Reduced capital expenditures• Fewer machines requiring power to run• Fewer machines built, transported and disposed of

Use one computer as many. Run multiple operating systems on one physical box.

Stats: Server Virtualization

• Energy reduction up to 82%• Small & medium-sized NPO’s (<100 PCs)

often virtualize 4-8 servers on 1 physical server

• TechRepublic estimates that individual servers use as little as 5% of their processing power even though they’re draining resources by being plugged in and running 24 hours a day.

Slide by David Deal of Community IT Innovators

Green Software: SaaS

• Software as a Service (Cloud)

Image from: http://www.eci.com/blog/25-why-cloud-computing-is-right-for-your-hedge-fund.html

SaaS Common Examples

Software as a Service• Document Sharing - Google docs, Office Live,

Zoho• CRM solutions – Salesforce, Blackbaud, MS

Dynamics Online• Backup - Mozy• Collaboration/Training tools – ReadyTalk, WebEx,

GoToMeeting, Unified Communication Tools• Social Networking: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr• HR Tools: performance reviews, payroll• Project Management: Basecamp

Travel: Working with Distributed Teams

• Web conferencing: • GoToMeeting, WebEx, ReadyTalk, Skype

• File sharing: • Box.net, Dropbox, Jungle Disk, Google Docs,

BPOS/SharePoint

• Comprehensive hosted apps: • Zoho, Google Apps, MS BPOS+Office Web Apps

• Extranets/project collaboration: • Basecamp, SharePoint

Slide by David Deal of Community IT Innovators

More details at the TechSoup Travel Reduction Pages.

Green Benefits of Cloud Computing• Fewer servers are built and running:

fewer toxic materials and water used to build them

fewer toxic materials are dumped less energy is consumed in the running of the

servers

• Less powerful client computers: all the processing is performed on the hosted server(s). keep your older computers longer reduces demand for new computers

Utilizing Software to Green Operations

• Reduce: • Travel: Both for trips and commuting• Energy consumption• Paper/toner consumption• Data storage resources

Reduce Your Paper Use

Set defaults on office software, double-sided printing margins of 0.7 inches all the way aroundprint in Draft Mode

More tips at the TechSoup Paper Reduction Campaign Pages

Reduce Your Paper Use

Install GreenPrint or FinePrintFree print management software will

likely save you money by reducing the printing of unintended pages.

More info on our blog.Look for ecofont

Practices – Reduce Resources

Examine data storage – consider carefully what to keep and where to keep it. (i.e., file servers/email)

Image source: http://www.chra.army.mil/Talent_Acquisition/On_Board/Onboard.htm

Key Takeaways for Green Practices: • Easy step:

• Implement desktop power management software/settings

• More involved step: • Look at ways to reduce travel through

remote and mobile access to IT and communications resources

• Next time you upgrade servers: • Replace with cloud applications, or consolidate

servers using virtualization software

Slide by David Deal of Community IT Innovators

Procurement: Selecting greener hardware

• • Refurbished• Reduced Impact: Thin clients• Eliminate hardware: Hosted Services

It is:• a tool,• an environmental standard,• a rating system, • & a verification program

• System that helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes

• www.epeat.net

Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)

Slide by Robin Billings of the EPA

Slide by Robin Billings of the EPA

Slide by Robin Billings of the EPA

Questions for Green Hosting ProvidersWhen selecting a provider, consider these items:• $$: most are comparable or better than traditional hosts • Ease of startup • Features• Reliability • How green are they? Do they buy carbon off-sets or

power their operations with their own solar panels? Do they virtualize their servers? Are they certified by anyone?

Lists of Green Web Hosts webhostinggeeks.com TreeHugger WebHostingReport.com http://twitter.com/greenwebsites

Peripherals & Printing• Smart Power Strips• Timer Power Strips• Kill-A-Watt

• Make sure to turn off unused equipment: modems servers telecom equipment hotel machines, peripherals (power strip)

• Multi-Function Devices: One machine for printer, copier, fax and scanner

• Auto-Print Duplexing• Ratio of printers to

people - fewer larger devices rather than personal printers

Safe Hardware Disposal

Use manufacturers’ take back programs. http://

www.computertakeback.com/corporate/who_takes_back.htmhttp://www.electronicstakeback.com/recycling/find_a_responsible_recycler.htm

Finding Responsible Recyclers

http://search.earth911.com/?what=Computer+Recycling

http://e-stewards.org/find-a-recycler/

Conclusion• Going green doesn’t necessarily mean you have

to spend more money. It can often save money. • Changing the situation is easier than changing

behaviors. • Use greener software, buy greener hardware and

set up defaults to automatically stop waste rather than asking your staff to change.

• Talk with your board, staff, volunteers and/or consultants. Decide which is the best first step for your organization.

• Spread the word

More Info

Questions?

www.techsoup.org/greentech

Thank you!

More Info:Come to www.techsoup.org/greentech to

find other tips and suggestions.Anna S. Jaeger

TechSoup Globalanna@techsoup.orgwww.techsoup.org

@TSGreenTech

Our Own Virtualization Case Study• The project took several months and had a

number of benefits to us: • Data Center: Consolidated 18 servers 4

46% savings in electricity each month Saved us $30,000 for remote server control hardware.

• Headquarters: Consolidated 60 servers 4 72% savings in electricity each month

• Saved us $40,000 in upgrades we didn't need to do to our server room cooling system.

• $24,000 annual savings in server administration time by cutting server administration time by 40 to 50 hours a month. Software crashes on the new virtualized system have also decreased.

• New virtual servers are much faster and easier to install without needing additional space or cabling.