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The Greening of IT
66 How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment

♦ Consider offering education and training resources as a component of
energy-efficiency programs for data centers.
♦ Consider offering financial incentives for clean, efficient DG and CHP
in data centers.
■ Data Center Industry:
♦ Consider partnering with the federal government to develop an objec-
tive, credible energy-performance rating system for data centers.
♦ Consider partnering with the federal government to develop improved
tools, such as energy-aware total cost of ownership models and life-
cycle risk models, for management of energy in data centers.
♦ Consider partnering with the federal government to develop a neutral,
real-world testing and demonstration center to verify new technologies
for reducing energy consumption in data centers.

IT Company Support of Government Regulation

Although it’s the government’s role to create laws and regulations to foster ptg
energy efficiency in the IT area, commercial IT companies have been busy
producing products and services to help in the measurement, monitoring,
and management of IT energy efficiency. Details on IT vendor collaboration
efforts in energy efficiency with other IT vendors and with government and
nonprofit organizations are discussed in Chapter 3.

Educational Institutions and Government Regulation

Educational institutions (grade school through university) have an impor-
tant role in working with all levels of the government on green IT. Of course,
it’s not just the schools collaborating with the government on energy effi-
ciency regulation. Schools have an extremely important role in educating stu-
dents on energy efficiency concepts and on the role of governments and many
other organizations in establishing the best practices guidelines for green IT.
Chapter 2, “The Basics of Green IT,” describes the green computing guide-
lines on the Web sites established by the University of Colorado. This pro-
vides an excellent example of how universities can foster green IT practices
among their IT staff, faculty, and students. Based on my experience, universi-
ties are becoming very proactive in promoting overall energy efficiency,