GREEN IT adoption is still low among companies in the Asia-Pacific region, despite the hype about green technology and the importance of going in that direction.

Carter says governments in the Asia-Pacific need to be more proactive in introducing legislation around green IT.

This is based on a survey by research firm IDC, which reveals that over 75 per cent of the companies interviewed did not have any green IT policy in place. And of the 20 per cent that do, only a small portion have a holistic green IT strategy.

(IDC defines green IT as the design, manufacture, usage and disposal of information and communications technology products and services in an environmentally friendly manner.)

According to IDC Asia-Pacific’s principal of green IT research Philip Carter, the situation is expected to change soon, with more companies embracing green IT.

“The rise in electricity costs will be felt by many companies, especially those that run power-hungry data centres. Thus, they will be looking for more power-saving solutions that will not give them a huge electricity bill,” he says.

Environment sustainability is another factor that will push green IT adoption. “Issues such as climate change will compel companies to find ways to help reduce the impact that may originate from their business processes,” Carter says.

Another factor is government regulations.

“Regulations can help increase the adoption of green IT. A number of governments in the region are already putting regulations and standards around improving the impact of operations on the environment,” Carter says.

For example, the Australian government has an Act which requires companies to disclose or monitor carbon emissions.

“Going forward, there’s a good chance that this type of regulation will be enforced in other developing countries as well. Governments need to be more proactive in introducing legislations around green IT,” Carter adds.

In terms of business benefits, the IDC research reveals that chief information officers are deriving tangible returns in terms of reduced cost through streamlining of operations, improved asset utilisation, compliance with regulations, and contributing to a socially responsible corporate image.

The starting point for most green IT initiatives tends to be within the data centre, as this is where most potential energy efficiency gains can be made, Carter says.

“As with the general green IT space, the initial focus will be on cost savings in terms of reducing electricity consumption in the distributed environment. Some organisations are beginning to realise that thin client computing and desktop virtualisation can result in significant energy savings at the client level, particularly in large-scale environments. Smaller organisations are also taking advantage of energy management features within existing equipment as well as setting up ‘device switch-off’ campaigns for machines when not in use.”

According to Carter, organisations need to incorporate the notion of “Green Office” into their overall green IT strategy by ensuring a positive business and environmental outcome in three main areas – electricity consumption by PCs and peripherals, IT asset disposal and material usage, and document management, specifically in the printing environment.