Green IT: definition, challenges, examples, solutions and best practices

If there is one booming sector that is constantly developing, it is digital technology. Today, digital tools are an integral part of our daily lives, in business as well as at home. Computers, smartphones, Internet, software, applications, for several decades, the computer sector has been growing at an exponential rate. And we see only advantages: less car trips with teleworking in particular, less paper waste thanks to dematerialization, time savings, improved collaboration and productivity, etc.

With the coronavirus health crisis, digital technology has proven to be an indispensable solution for the continuity of business economic activity and the maintenance of the link despite confinement, then social distance.

What we often don't know is the impact of digital technology on the environment. Because yes, digital technology pollutes. It would also be responsible for 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the world and consume 4.2% of the world's primary energy.

On June 24, the Senate presented the results of its study on the environmental footprint of digital technology as well as its 25 proposals for an ecological digital transition.

What is the Green IT concept or green computing?

It was only in the 1990s in the United States that people began to be concerned about the environmental impact of the computer sector. And the nuisances are numerous: greenhouse gas emissions, carbon footprint, carbon footprint, consumption of primary energy (a form of energy available in nature before any transformation), extraction of raw materials and working conditions in these trades, use of abiotic resources and fresh water, increase in the volume of non-recycled waste, high energy consumption or even time spent in front of screens.

The site greenit.fr, created in 2004, defines the concept of Green IT as “all information and communication technologies (ICT) whose economic, ecological, social and societal footprint has been voluntarily reduced and/or which help humanity to achieve sustainable development goals.”

The concept of Green IT is referred to by multiple terms: responsible digital technology, sustainable, ecological or eco-responsible computing, green computing, sustainable ICT, eco-TIC, sustainable ICT, eco-TIC, sustainable ICT, etc.

The challenges of responsible digital technology

The main challenge of the Green IT approach is to make digital technology beneficial both for the environment and for humans. To achieve this ideal of the Green it approach, the objectives and challenges are as follows:

• reduce the economic, social and environmental footprint of digital technology;
• reduce the nuisances of the digital sector through its various stages: manufacture of computer equipment (promote eco-design), use (reduction of energy consumption) and end of life (optimize the management and recovery of waste, to fight against pollution, exhaustion of non-renewable resources);
• make digital technology accessible and ethical for all.

How to do responsible digital technology? Example of Green IT in the data center of the company Wimi

Wimi, with its internal environmental policy, already takes into account the problems and challenges of Green it, in particular with its Scaleway DC5 data center, located in Saint-Ouen l'Aumône, in France. This is what is called a “Green Data Center” because the server rooms in these data centers are cooled by an adiabatic process (air cooling based on the evaporation of water) and the technical rooms of the data center are cooled using a direct free cooling system (fans blowing air from outside). In other words, there is no need for an air conditioning unit either for the server rooms or for the technical rooms of their data center. It is an unprecedented technology in Europe at this scale and which makes it possible to save energy consumption.

Green IT: advice and best practices

As our resources are running out of sight and non-recyclable waste continues to accumulate, it is becoming urgent to initiate a change in our behaviors and our economic model. Here is a non-exhaustive list of good practices and “Green it” actions to be implemented for a more ecological, sustainable and responsible use of digital technology and electronic and computer equipment in our society.

Equipments

• Avoid changing your digital equipment too often (computers, smartphones and tablets) simply to be trendy and have the latest trendy device.
• Maintain them, install antiviruses, have them repaired in case of failure. If you really need to change it, consider donating, bartering, selling used, or buying refurbished. Buying refurbished electronic equipment or desktop computers is part of a Green It approach and makes it possible to increase their lifespan and therefore to reduce its impact on the environment.
• Opt for devices that carry environmental labels or eco-design such as L'Ange Bleu, Nordic Ecolabel or EPEAT.
• Avoid multiplying devices (do you really need a computer, laptop, tablet AND smartphone?) and choose your devices according to your needs (why buy a printer if you hardly ever print?).

Consumption

Did you know that electronic equipment derived from digital technologies is the first electrical consumption point in business and the second at home? In accordance with the Green It approach, here are some tips to remedy it.

• Switch off your devices instead of leaving them on standby.
• Did you know that your box consumes as much as a large refrigerator? Unplug your box when you are not using it, especially at night.
• Set your devices to “energy saving” mode and deactivate options that you don't use constantly, such as geolocation, wifi or Bluetooth.

Impression

• The number one rule is to only print when it is really useful and necessary.
• Set up your printer: black and white, double-sided, 2 pages per sheet, etc.
• Reuse sheets printed on one side as scrap paper.
• Choose paper and ink cartridges that have labels on them.
• Carefully design your documents by making them legible to avoid printing them, by avoiding flat colors, by reducing the number of pages, etc.

Recycling

• Recycle your old computers, hard drives and telephones by dropping them off at the recycling center, at a specialized retailer or at in-store collection terminals because they represent a real gold mine of recyclable materials.

Use of the Internet

• Clean your inbox regularly, delete attachments once uploaded, and unsubscribe from newsletters you don't read.
• Reduce the size of the files you send as attachments.
• Did you know that you can cut greenhouse gas emissions from your web search by four by going directly to the site address rather than typing it into a search engine?

Thanks to these Green it actions, we can all take action to minimize the impact of digital technology on the environment.

For more information on responsible digital technology and the Green it approach, see The hidden face of digital technology, published by Ademe.