TechSoup Blog - GreenTips

Software as a Service (SaaS) Is Green, but Is It Right for You?

Anna Jaeger — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:33:24 -0800

Software as a service (SaaS) is an undeniably green alternative to traditional computing. It's one form of cloud computing in which people use software applications that are located on the Internet rather than on their own computers or networks. A very common example of it is web-based email. The green aspect of SaaS or cloud computing is that it shifts the computing power responsibilities to a relatively small number of Internet servers and can slow the continual demand for hardware upgrades to meet the needs of new software. Essentially, a software hosting provider can utilize a server more efficiently than you can in your office; it can also make setting up and managing your software a whole lot easier. As you rely more on the cloud, you may find that you rely less on an in-house IT person. It also usually lowers your upfront costs since you no longer have to buy and maintain the server or the software. But is it the right solution for you and your organization?

Risks

Since these services usually charge some sort of subscription fee, the lower upfront costs need to be balanced against the generally higher operating costs to determine what is right for your budget. Check out the thoughts and concerns of some of our forum users in this thread (read past the first few posts about the initial article to get to the real discussion). Their main concerns were around security, potential for data loss and availability. Major SaaS providers like Google, Amazon and Microsoft have had significant outages causing inconvenience to their users, but more importantly, one actually lost data in the process.

What's the Difference Between Energy Star and EPEAT?

Anna Jaeger — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:26:22 -0800

How do you choose computer hardware? Price? Features? Sales pitch? We urge you to consider using some standards that have been generated to help us understand the environmental impact of computer and tech hardware.

You are probably familiar with the EPA's Energy Star program, but do you know about EPEAT certification? EPEAT is a system that helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes.

All EPEAT-rated computers are also Energy Star compliant. That is one of the EPEAT criterion. However, not all Energy Star computers and monitors are EPEAT-rated. Energy Star rates a wide variety of hardware, from refrigerators to TVs. They look only at the energy efficiency of the hardware. EPEAT has many more criteria, some of which include the types of materials used in creating, packaging, and shipping the hardware. Energy Star is a U.S.-based rating system. EPEAT, while developed in the United States, has now been adopted by over 40 countries around the world. Both have searchable lists of compliant hardware.

Save Energy: Unplug Abandoned Equipment

Anna Jaeger — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:42:25 -0800

One of our forum hosts, Dave Welp, suggested these quick, power-saving tips:

1. Look for abandoned telecom equipment like old modems and PBX; search for un-utilized or under-utilitized servers or computers used by former staff and volunteers.

2. Clean up your power strip: Look for plugs to those old calculators or speakers.

3. Electronics continue to consume electricity even when in an off state, so either turn them off at a power strip, or unplug them entirely.

More tips like these can be found on our energy reduction mini-tips page.

5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 3: Hardware

Anna Jaeger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:43:59 -0800

Part 1 of this series listed the five actions we recommend that you take to reduce the power use of your computer. Part 2 explained in more detail, two cost-saving actions and tells you how to complete those two actions. This post, fills in the details about two more recommendations.

Upfront Cost, but Should Save You Money Within the Year

3. Order a smart power strip.

Light green: easy individual actions

These types of power strips automatically turn off your peripherals (monitor, speakers, desk lights) when you shut down your computer and generally consume only 1 watt while on. Plug your computer into the main (switching outlet) and then plug your monitor, speakers, printer or other accessories into the other outlets. When you shut down your computer, the peripherals will shut off automatically. These strips also have always on ports for items like a fax machine that would need to remain on after the computer is off.

5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 2: Power Settings

Anna Jaeger — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:38:18 -0800

This is part 2 of a four-part series.

Part 1 of this series listed the 5 actions we recommend that you take to reduce the power use of your computer. This post (part 2) explains two of those actions in more detail and tells you how to complete these two actions. Parts 3 and 4 offer more detail about how you can make the other three changes.

Reduce Your Energy Use at No Cost and Save Money Instantly

1. Set power management on your computer(s)

Light green: Easy Individual Actions

All major operating systems released in the past ten years come with power management built in, but not necessarily turned on. What is power management? It's the ability to set your computer and monitor to automatically go to sleep or shut down after a period of inactivity. Climate Savers Computing are the experts at this and have all the information you should need to accomplish this task. They even have step-by-step guides. We urge you to sign up for CSCI membership either as an individual or affiliate: it's free and it's a way to build momentum for IT energy conservation. They can keep you informed about the latest ways to reduce your IT footprint. They even have a wonderful, searchable list of energy-efficient hardware and software products that help with IT energy reduction.

5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 1

Anna Jaeger — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:00:42 -0800

Welcome to TechSoup GreenTech's Unpower Yourself! campaign. For this campaign, we have compiled a variety of information about IT energy reduction on our web pages.

Global warming is happening because of a buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, most of them produced by power plants that burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. Information and communications technology consumes a good deal of electricity, much of which is wasted as heat, consumed by computers and monitors needlessly left on, or used to cool hardware that is not running efficiently.

More than half the electricity used by IT is outside the data center and it is very easy for you to make small changes that will have a significant positive impact on both the environment and your wallet. It's not always easy to get a significant number of individuals to take these easy actions, but we can reach more people with your help.

Here are five things you can do quickly to decrease your IT energy use:

Save Energy: Turn Off Your Screen Saver

Anna Jaeger — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:19:40 -0700

According to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, "Don't use a screen saver. Screen savers are not necessary on [most] modern monitors and studies show they actually consume more energy than allowing the monitor to dim when it's not in use."

Instead turn on the power management features built into your computer. Power management is what allows your monitor to automatically turn off or puts your computer to sleep after a period of inactivity. You can find step-by-step instructions for most computers at Climate Savers Computing. Look in the right hand column to find the operating system that you are using.

How Windows 7 Can Help You Green Your Nonprofit or Library

Anna Jaeger — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:32:09 -0700

In these tough economic times, there are a few relatively easy steps you can take to reduce waste in your IT systems. These measures will not only make your systems more efficient; they'll also save money and reduce your impact on the environment.

Why is it important to reduce your computer power use? Power plants are the largest source of CO2 emissions in the US, creating approximately 40% of emissions. Of course computers get their power from the power grid, but did you know that computers waste nearly half the energy they pull from the wall as heat?

Starting this month, most new PCs will have Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system on them. Windows 7 is much more advanced in power conservation than its predecessors, both for end users and for IT administrators. The new operating system makes it easier both to reduce power consumption and to minimize hardware obsolescence.

For those who want to try the software, TechSoup already carries Windows 7 upgrades for nonprofits and libraries; even those that have already made a Microsoft request this year can order.

Choose a Green Website Provider

Anna Jaeger — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:35:04 -0700

There are dozens if not hundreds of affordable, reliable, high-quality, green web hosts in the market today. Choose one to host your website. Here are some third-party lists of green web hosts:

b2evolution
TreeHugger
WebHostingReport.com
There is even a Twitter account that simply lists green web hosts.

When selecting a provider, consider these items:

Green Benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS)

Anna Jaeger — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:03:01 -0700

We had such a positive response to my cloud computing blog post, I thought I would post a brief follow-up. Check out this article where Chris Thorman, who blogs about electronic medical records at Software Advice, quantifies the "green benefits" of using software-as-a-service (SaaS) in a small office.

Do you have thoughts you would like to share about the green benefits of SaaS? Please share them in our community forums.