Sustainability is the flavour of the season and is here to stay. The reasons for businesses embracing sustainable practices are obvious. Sustainability is good for the environment and also makes sound business sense. The increasing tribe of aware customers prefer to do business with sustainable companies. Products seen as “sustainable” sell faster compared to products perceived as not sustainable. Done right, sustainability also reduce IT costs and makes the business more competitive.

The bulk of sustainability initiatives is in manufacturing. But as competitive pressures increase, enterprises focus on other functional areas. A key focus area now is Information technology (IT). IT has always been resource intensive and an energy guzzler and accounts for 2% of human greenhouse gas emissions worldwide today.

Sustainable IT, or “green IT,” strives to reduce the environmental impact of IT operations. Sustainable companies adopt green or sustainable practices when manufacturing, using, managing, and disposing of IT assets. Here are seven ways to reduce IT costs by adopting sustainable practices.

1. Shifting to the cloud

The economics of scale make cloud energy more efficient and less costly for enterprises. Enterprises no longer need to maintain expensive on-premises servers. They rather share storage capacity on the cloud and reduce resource consumption. Recent advances, such as virtualisation, reduce energy consumption even more. On average, enterprises save about 15% by migrating resources to the cloud.

The cloud also enables accessing data through smaller, energy-efficient devices, from employee homes and other remote locations. The need for costly offices with desktops and workstations reduces. Smartphone and laptop components are energy optimised to ensure longer battery life.

2. Improving data centre efficiency

Migrating to the cloud is one of the key ways to attain sustainability. But not all enterprises, and every server can be migrated to the cloud. Data centres remain an integral part of enterprise IT, and a big cost centre as well. 

The biggest data centre energy guzzler and cost-centre are cooling. Some of the green IT best practices that reduce cooling costs include:

• Cooling only to the needed levels.
• Harnessing outside air cooling, if viable.
• Separating hot and cold aisle to optimise cooling a lower area.
• Automating controls for lights, ventilation, security, and outside air cooling for operational efficiencies.
• Maximising data centre space by centralising servers.
• Opting for virtualisation instead of maintaining satellite server rooms.
• Unplugging and removing zombie servers. Many servers, commissioned for a specific purpose, keep running and using energy even when they no longer do anything.

3. Investing in hardware upgrade

Upgrading the hardware reduces energy costs in a big way. Legacy systems often consume more power than their newer versions. An example is traditional CRT monitors visa-a-vis the latest LED monitors. The large sizes and outdated technology of older devices results in higher heat output and greater energy consumption. 

Even financially challenged companies should consider technology upgrades to reduce their carbon footprints, while reducing operational expenses simultaneously. Now-a-days, many equipment costs far more to run than to buy. Investments in energy-efficient machinery and equipment deliver positive returns quickly. Opt for devices having energy labels, or rated for energy efficiency. 

It is not always easy to replace equipment though. A system of regular inspection and maintenance of equipment catches inefficiencies early.

4. Promoting a culture of doing more with less

Best in breed companies promote the three Rs of sustainability – reduce, reuse and recycle, as part of the corporate culture.

Reduce is cutting down anything unnecessary.

Recycling is repurposing a finished product.

Reuse is improving asset utilisation ratios and maximising the lifespan of any product. It also entails a policy of repairs rather than replacing it at the slightest hint of trouble.

One typical everyday example is refilling printer cartridges. Another significant initiative is repurposing old, out-of-warranty laptops. World-over, manufacturers manufacture 272 million+ new laptops. The European Union alone disposes of 160 thousand “old” laptops annually. The production lifecycle of a single laptop generates 316 kg of CO₂ emissions, on average, and consumes 190,000 litres of water. It is easy to extend the life or repurpose and reuse 70% of such discarded laptops.

Reduce-recycle-reuse eliminates waste, which is a double whammy for enterprises. The enterprise pays for materials they don’t use and then spends a second time to get rid of them.

5. Improve supply chain efficiency

Many enterprises seek sustainability gains throughout their supply chain. Ensuring supply chain efficiency reduces operational costs. Sustainability initiatives improve transparency, making the supply chain more reliable and reducing stock-out situations.

Examples abound. 

Walmart, IKEA and H&M optimise material usage by increasing collaboration across the supply chain. Pepsi and Coca-Cola have set goals targeting water replenishment. Automobile manufacturers such as BMW and Toyota focus on energy efficiency.

Google and Amazon evaluate potential partners and suppliers on sustainable practices.

6. Promoting office efficiency

Enterprise IT saves substantially by inculcating green practices at the office.

• Using smart strips reduces vampire energy consumed by computers and peripheral devices.
• Sharing printers reduce capital expenses and improve asset utilisation ratio.
• Promoting simple habits such as putting computers to sleep when not in use and unplugging them overnight. Stanford University reduced workstation energy by 17% to 74% through such energy-saving measures.

7. Holding virtual meetings

Work-from-home has become a green initiative, considering the positive impact on pollution due to reduction in commuting. Such remote work technologies are getting better. Innovative “digital sharing” and videoconferencing shifts business meetings to the employee’s desk. Augmented reality reduces the limitations of such remote conferences..

These breakthroughs reduce carbon footprints and save the costs and time of commute. Switching to green IT does away with expensive jet-setting.

Reducing costs through sustainability initiatives requires a methodological and sustained initiative. At the enterprise level, it requires a culture change to ingrain a habit of reducing, reusing, and recycling. One-off initiatives triggered in a spur of passion or excitement will not deliver any substantial gains. Make sure the cost-reduction approach syncs with the enterprise culture and does not affect employee morale. With enterprise buy-in, the switch over to sustainable practices that reduce cost can happen fast. Many firms have reaped rich rewards as early as six months.