Picture a greenhouse on a sunny day.  The sun’s rays pass through the panes of glass in the ceiling, flooding the greenhouse with light.  Those same panes of glass act as insulation, trapping the heated air within the greenhouse’s walls.  On a summer’s day, a greenhouse can quickly become hot, humid, and uncomfortable.



Emissions from cars, planes, and power plants are responsible for a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect.  Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and other gases (commonly known as greenhouse gases, or GHG) combine in the atmosphere.  This mixture of gases acts like the panes of glass in a greenhouse.  Sunlight passes straight through, but the greenhouse gases trap the thermal energy released from the earth.  Heat continually builds, increasing the temperature on the earth’s surface and starting a chain reaction known as global warming.  On a warmer planet, ocean temperatures increase, sea levels rise, and storm systems intensify.



The only way to prevent global warming is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.  This is a hard task; almost every daily activity creates pollution.  For every 1,900 miles you drive, you release one ton of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.  You release half a ton of CO2 by running your household for one month.  According to Clean Air-Cool Planet, a leading nonprofit environmental group, the average US citizen releases 21 tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere every year.  Unless you live as the pilgrims did, you are responsible for some of the GHG emissions floating around the earth’s atmosphere.  To lessen your burden on the planet, consider purchasing carbon offsets.



Green energy is a focus of companies wanting to save money and reap the many benefits of a federal Energy Star rating. In fact, what the U.S. and other advanced countries like Japan are doing is sharing information and tools that anyone can use. Perhaps you’ve read about the benefits of energy efficient data centers, but there is always more to learn.  Virtualization offers one strategy for decreasing the number of computer servers needed to maintain your company’s data functions.

On October 2, 2009, the Green Grid met at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Among the participants were leaders from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the NYSE, and industry leaders from over 30 countries. This summit indicated new tools available for businesses on several websites. Among the offerings, for example, on the Green Grid website, you can find high and low resolution maps for fresh air cooling, water side cooling, and free cooling tools. The big idea is to reduce energy consumption through collecting your data, using an online tool, and calculating how you can conserve. At the summit, the EPA used an in-depth model of one of its own data centers to show how much energy was saved. 

Also, the Green Grid, DOE, and EPA are working to make common energy metrics (or standards) between their various tools, including Green Grid tools, DOE’s DC Pro, and EPA’s Energy Star portfolio manager tool. Green Grid also presented another free online tool for organizations to calculate their score on Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). The PUE tool and other Green Grid tools are available here:

http://www.thegreengrid.org/library-and-tools.aspx?category=All&range=Entire%20Archive&type=Tool&lang=en

Best Management Practices (BMPs) are methods that organizations use to manage their impact on the natural environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains a website of helpful information about BMPs (EPA.gov/ne/assistance/univ/bmpcatalog.html). These practices are useful for owners of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). One publication by Harvard University and the EPA’s New England Division illustrates the value of BMPs. In this publication on Preparedness and Security, Harvard University discusses the workings of the Cambridge Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). The key concept behind this committee is collaboration.

Collaboration and Your Company Culture  
A 2002 Corporate Values Survey by the American Management Association (AMA) revealed several insights related to collaboration and company culture. The #1 corporate value stated by AMA survey respondents was customer satisfaction (77%). Other company values related to collaboration reported were teamwork (47%), positive work environment (42%), and social responsibility (33%).

Your focus on building environmental management into the company culture will depend upon creating a positive environment. Employees will use teamwork to establish and accomplish environmental goals, an important aspect of social responsibility. 

Corporate responsibility is a buzz term of the new millennium that has come to mean different things in different rooms. In the living room and the oval office, it has to do with throwing over a well-entrenched way of doing business that rewards individual failure at the highest levels, leaves investors unprotected and forces taxpayers to bear the direct and immediate consequences or risk losing a way of life that once depended only on the strength of their work ethic.

In the boardroom the phrase corporate responsibility is all about opportunity. It is the stuff of press releases and marketing campaigns. One can hardly find an annual report that does not trumpet some social initiative evidencing the corporation's commitment the planet or the underprivileged.
This is, of course, good except to the extent that it diverts attention from executive junkets to Bora Bora, the acquisition of a Rodin sculpture to adorn the powder room of the CFO or windfall rewards to failed and ousted officers. Admittedly, whenever a corporation pours resources into creating, and then promoting efforts to be green, or to meet legitimate needs of a community, everyone benefits, especially the corporation.

Harvard Business School professor and former editor of the Harvard Business Review, Rosabeth Moss Kantner, makes this case in her new book, SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good.

Without a hint of irony, professor Kantner points out that it is a mistake to make social commitments that do not have an economic logic that sustains the enterprise by attracting new resources.

In other words, good deeds sell product.

If you’re like most small-medium sized business owners, you own and independently operate a business with less than 100 employees, have revenues of less than $500,000 annually, and are not market dominant. You may be wondering if the new, ‘greener’ technologies can work for your company. Can your business enjoy the same benefits as your larger counter-parts by investing in ‘green’ technologies such as virtualization? The global economic downturn means that it is more important than ever to ensure that every penny counts and that your business is run efficiently and cost effectively. This post will (hopefully) help you to identify whether your company can benefit from implementing virtualization technology while reducing your environmental impact.

Benefits of Virtualization Technology