Green computers?
OA ICT Environmental statement
2006-2007
During the past financial year much progress has been made in the reduction of Oxford Archaeology's ICT carbon footprint and general improvements in the environmental impact of our use of technology. These developments are ongoing with ICT spend for 2007-2008 containing items that will further contribute to reducing Oxford Archaeology's impact on the environment.
This contribution will be net positive despite the massive upscaling of the infrastructure, the company growth and the increasing number of services being provided or developed for staff, customers and other stakeholders.
Below is a quick summary of the ICT environmental achievements of the past financial year. This is followed by brief comments of the planned and budgetted environmental aspects of the forthcoming year.
2006-2007
We have located IT equipment recycling and disposal organisations with solid "green" credentials and tightened equipment disposal policy. For those interested, almost all of our end of life IT kit has gone to Computer Aid International.
An IT purchasing policy has been implemented of preferred WEEE compliant manufacturing processes and power consumption assessment (the latter particularly in the area of the data centre). Sun Microsystems was selected as the main server supplier on this basis. See Sun's eco pages for more information about Sun's efforts in this area.
Migrated most users from CRT monitors to LCD monitors - approximate power saving (annualised) >8000kWh or a reduction in CO2 production of 3500 kgs per year.
The year also saw us commence a server consolidation strategy using virtualisation technology on Sun X series servers - approximate power saving on completion of strategy >14kWh or a reduction in CO2 production of 6000 kgs per year.
Servers are also being migrated to the Linux operating system, which is particularly power effective in active use and while idle. This is expected to generate a further per service power consumption reduction.
Commenced storage consolidation using SAN technology - estimated power saving per GB of 0.25Wh; our initial SAN plans assume 8TB of useable space, so this will grow into a very positive contribution to OA's environmental policy.
Most of these power reduction activities also reduce building heatload and therefore generate an additional positive impact in the reduction in use of air-conditioning.
2007-2008 plans
Continue server and storage consolidation strategies
Continue Linux migration
Identify mobile phone recycle and disposal company pending 2007 mobile phone fleet refresh.
Trial thin client technologies for use in general office duties and on site. Expected per user power saving in excess of 100W. Around 50 users at current staffing level and use profile are expected to be able to utilise thin clients if they perform as expected, an estimated annual 6500kWh saving (2700 kgs CO2).
Posted at 08:00AM May 08, 2007 by Chris Puttick in Technology |