Much Green ICT focuses on computers: servers in the data center and desktops in the office. Don't forget that disk-based data storage, which can cost an organization $25/GB/month, also offers opportunities. Here's a look at the progress manufacturers and users have been making in recent years to manage data storage's energy consumption. SSD is the latest option.

Handling our gear's heat has always been an issue for installations large and small. ICT equipment typical took 1x-2x again more energy to remove its heat as it took to power it in the first place (PUE of 2.0+), driving both energy costs and carbon footprints. Early efforts focused on the two obvious tactics: make both the gear and the air conditioning more efficient. We now see these augmented by innovative new approaches to the problem.

Broadcast Engineering reports that WPEC-TV achieved a considerable reduction in energy consumption by lighting its two HD news sets with LEDs.

A datacenter built by IBM Switzerland for GIB-Solutions AG, announced in 2008 and completed in 2009, incorporates a number of innovative features.

We can't emphasize enough that behavioral/cultural change is the oft-overlooked challenge to Green ICT. We have seen what happens when green is not the default behavior or when cultural entitlements thwart good intentions. A couple more examples come from academia.

Mega data centers are capturing much Green ICT press these days, so it is useful to remember that more modest enterprises can benefit as well. Monte Vibiano is a family-owned wine and olive oil producer that is taking an aggressive approach to Green ICT. Vibiano's actions include:

Businesses, government agencies, and non-profits who advocate green, sustainable, or environmentally responsible behavior are most credible when practicing what they preach. Cultural factors, including perceived entitlements, can be barriers. Here are some examples, courtesy of Computerworld, of organizations which used Green ICT tactics to align their internal behavior with their external message.

Cable media company Discovery Communications LLC " has encouraged workers to telecommute and teleconference . . . 'Thirty percent of the staff telecommutes at least one day a week,' says [CIO Dave] Kline. In 2004, Discovery installed teleconferencing systems to cut down on business travel. 'Teleconferencing has a huge ROI for us because

The production of realistic animations and effects sequences requires clusters of computers and mass storage known as "render farms". One approach to strike a balance between availability and energy consumption is to integrate power management tools into workflow. Here are two examples, along with one even more aggressive approach to green rendering.

Computerworld's "Top 12 Green-IT Users" list links each organization's name to a sustainable IT mini-case study. These organization include businesses from a variety of sectors, a non-profit, and a government agency. I was stuck by unique and unexpected implementations: