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

■ Consortium for Energy Efficient Thermal Management: A collabora-
tion of Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland
to conduct “research on thermal and energy management of electronics
and telecommunications infrastructure” (http://www.me.gatech.edu/
CEETHERM/).
■ 7x24 Exchange: An association facilitating the exchange of information
for “…those who design, build, use, and maintain mission-critical enter-
prise information infrastructures….7x24 Exchange’s goal is to improve
the end-to-end reliability by promoting dialogue among these groups”
(http://www.7x24exchange.org/index.html).

Collaboration of Building Energy Management and
IT Energy Management

Beyond the familiar challenge of establishing energy-efficient data
centers lies a huge opportunity scarcely tapped by IT: the green possibil-
ptg
ities of the building itself. Growth is driving global trends in resource
depletion, air and water pollution, energy consumption, and climate
change. A third of U.S. energy consumption comes from commercial
buildings. Businesses are automating those buildings to reduce costs and
emissions. Will IT lead, or follow, the coming change? IT can have a
green impact on a company’s energy and emissions: Start with the data
center; manage desktop energy use; and enable mobility.
IT departments operate in an environment surrounded by sophisti-
cated data acquisition, analyses, and networking systems of which IT
itself is largely unaware. Building automation systems (BAS) are the
brains of commercial and industrial buildings that control their own
environments. The benefits of building automation—energy savings,
improved occupant comfort, added security and safety, and reduced
maintenance costs—are all at the top of the list for conservation-minded
building owners.
Building automation systems, such as lighting and temperature con-
trols, are common in larger facilities. Energy management systems
(EMS) go further, centralizing the control of lighting, heating, ventilat-
ing, and air conditioning with the goal of reducing the energy those sys-
tems consume. Almost every campus (corporate, medical, or academic)
has an EMS, as do 40 percent of the Fortune 100. Manufacturers have