Environmental Impact of IT

Corporate green initiatives often bring visions of burdensome spending.  At Abacus, when we talk about “going green” we are thinking of two critical initiatives:  being environmentally friendly while saving money.  We are excited to report that we help our clients achieve both of these objectives at the same time.  When you consider the environmental and economic impact of IT departments, you quickly see how this is possible.

Environmental Impact of IT

Most people don’t consider of the environmental impact of IT departments.  However, when you take a close look, you quickly see that IT has one of the biggest carbon footprints of any area in a company.  Check out the facts:

• The average server uses 234 KWh of electricity each month.¹  Air conditioning for the server room takes approximately an additional 234 KWh per month.²  For a company with 50 servers, this takes 280,800 pounds of coal³ to produce, emitting 803,088 of greenhouse gasses per year.⁴
• The average office employee consumes 10,000 pages of paper each year.  Most of these pages are created on laser printers.  A company with 1,000 office employees will consume 2,000 cases of paper or 1,200 trees per year.⁵
• The average desktop computer consumes 100 KWh of electricity each month.  A company with 1,000 desktops will consume 1,200,000 lbs of coal to produce, emitting 3,432,000 lbs of greenhouse gasses per year.
• The average office copier consumes 285 KWh of electricity each month⁶ and an average printer consumes 49 KWh each month.⁷  A company with 50 copiers and 500 printers requires 465,000 lbs of coal, emitting 1,325,250 of greenhouse gasses each year.

Economic Impact of IT

In addition to the environmental impact of IT, there is the economic aspect.  All of your servers, desktops, printers and copiers consume power.  Each of these devices generates heat.  The CPU’s of servers and computers generate heat.  The fuser sections of copiers and printers use heat.  Consider the impact:

• The average server consumes 234 KWh of electricity each month, costing $25.⁸  An additional 234 KWh is used to air condition the server room for each server, costing an additional $50.  A company with 50 servers will spend $29,905 per year to power these devices and cool the server room.
• The average case of paper costs $29.  A company with 1,000 employees will use 2,000 cases of paper per year, costing $58,000.
• The average desktop consumes 100 KWh of electricity each month.  A company with 1,000 desktops spends approximately $127,800 per year to power these devices.
• The average copier consumes 285 KWh of electricity each month, costing $30.  A company with 50 copiers and 500 printers will spend over $49,522 per year to power these devices.

Ten Year Impact

Based on the above statistics, in the next ten years, this company will incur the following environmental and economic costs.

A Growing Cost

With the forecast rise in energy costs, the budget burden of IT only promises to grow.  According to the US Department of Energy, energy prices will rise by 3.4% in 2009 alone.⁹  This does not factor in potential “peak load” surcharges on business. 

A Sustainable IT Strategy

Fortunately, there are practical ways that you can reduce your carbon footprint and reduce your power usage with a green IT strategy.  We help companies optimize their IT infrastructure to reduce both their costs and their carbon footprints. Learn More…

To learn how energy-efficient your organization is, request Abacus’s Environmental IT Assessment today.