IT has the potential to save energy, but what the business is (or soon will be) asking is why IT is using so much power, and what can be done about it. IT should respond by giving a clear mandate to a “Green Czar” to:
- Measure the power IT uses now, for storage and other technologies,
- Project future power use,
- Establish the energy saving contribution of the applications portfolio and projected applications,
- Create a balance sheet of energy usage and energy savings and project forward,
- Establish the initiatives that will impact energy use and agree with the business and IT on what actions should be taken,
- Integrate the information into a report that can be used by the CIO and the business to establish the organization's IT green credentials.
Action Item: Set a senior executive the objective of producing an energy balance sheet early in 2008.
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