How do I recycle IT equipment?

There are a different ways to get rid of IT equipment without throwing it in the dumpster. Many manufacturers offer take-back programs through which they assume responsibility for proper disposal.

IT departments can also hire a lifecycle asset disposal company to take used equipment off their hands, although not all of these companies have expertise in environmentally-safe disposal. "Most of them are very local or regional and often lack the ability to provide in-depth reporting and auditing," says David Daoud, research manager at IDC, so you can't review their performance. He says to pick a company that is well known and has a good track record. Some companies that offer take-back services also offer data security services to insure that intellectual property and confidential information is removed from the hardware, notes Daoud. Start now, and you can make a dent in a mountain of electronic trash. Daoud says that in 2006, obsolete desktops, laptops and servers accounted for 18 billion pounds of electronic trash worldwide, but the major companies involved in e-waste recovery (Dell, HP and IBM) recovered only 356 million pounds -- about 2 per cent.

According to National Geographic's The Green Guide, 50 per cent to 80 per cent of recycled electronics end up in developing nations, where they are disassembled by untrained workers without the proper equipment. This exposes them to toxic substances like mercury, cadmium and lead. If the equipment is left in landfills, those same toxins end up in water sources.

How can IT make my operations greener?

IT can help almost any part of the business lessen its environmental impact. For example, technologists can help reduce the amount of paper employees use for printing or deploy tracking systems to measure plant emissions. Such practices can save companies money and also generate revenue.

At Sun Microsystems, OpenWork, the company's telecommuting program, provides employees with shared office space, home equipment and subsidies for DSL and electricity, according to Dave Douglas, VP of eco responsibility at Sun. More than 55 per cent of Sun's employees are currently in the program. "In the last five years we have cut our office space by one-sixth and have saved on space and power," Douglas said. Sun also saves an estimated 29,000 tons of CO2 per year due to reduced employee commuting. That's equivalent to taking 5,694 cars off the road for one year, according to the EPA's carbon calculator.

Dow Chemical's process control automation system will shut a plant down if it is not compliant with air and water emissions requirements. Dow also uses a monitoring system to measure the air and water emissions at its plants and is deploying an environmental reporting system to manage reporting of this data to state and federal authorities, says CIO and Chief Sustainability Officer David Kepler.

IT systems can also help save energy by controlling heat and air conditioning in office buildings.

Wireless sensors can be used to measure airflow and room occupancy. If the occupancy sensors (which turn lights on and off when people enter or leave a room) are networked to airflow sensors, the amount of air conditioning used when people are not in a room can be reduced, says Lawrence Berkeley's Koomey. "The basic idea is to collect data on how the facility is using energy and use that information to define patterns that can help change what you are doing and reduce operating costs."

How can I get executives' attention?

Arguing that going green is the right thing to do won't get you anywhere. The best way is to make a business case based on energy savings, operational efficiency or new revenue opportunities. In other words, you need to find a way to make going green fit with the corporate agenda. "When the CEO and the board of directors recognize that it's the right thing to do for shareholders, employees, customers and the brand, that's the catalyst," says Mines. "Then, things start to happen."