This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

How IT Can Drive Immense Business Value by “Going Green”

• For CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, and IT leaders: The green IT business case and best practices for making it happen

• Timely help for companies facing rising energy costs, new government rules, and growing public concern

• Powerful new insights from IBM’s breakthrough $1 billion green computing initiative

Chances are your enterprise IT organization has a significant carbon footprint. In an era of unpredictable energy costs, reducing energy usage throughout your data centers and IT infrastructure represents a powerful cost-cutting opportunity. Now, a top green IT expert shows business and IT leaders how to drive powerful business value by improving IT’s environmental performance.

Drawing on leading-edge experience, John Lamb helps you realistically assess the business case for green IT, set priorities, and overcome the internal and external challenges to making it work. He offers proven solutions for issues ranging from organizational obstacles to executive motivation and discusses crucial issues ranging from utility rate incentives to metrics. Along the way, you’ll discover energy-saving opportunities—from virtualization and consolidation to cloud and grid computing—and solutions that will improve business flexibility as they reduce environmental impact.

Lamb presents case studies, checklists, and more—all the practical guidance you need to drive maximum bottom-line value from your green IT initiative.

Preface     xxiii

Acknowledgments     xxix

About the Author     xxxiii

Chapter 1: The Importance of Green IT     1

Chapter 2: The Basics of Green IT     15

Chapter 3: Collaboration Is Key for Green IT     39

Chapter 4: The Government’s Role–Regulation and EPA Activity     55

Chapter 5: The Magic of “Incentive”–The Role of Electric Utilities     69

Chapter 6: A Most-Significant Step–“Virtualizing” Your IT Systems     85

Chapter 7: The Need for Standard IT Energy-Use Metrics     109

Chapter 8: What About Chillers, Cooling Tower Fans, and All That Cooling Equipment Usually Ignored by IT?     129

Chapter 9: Green IT Case Studies for Energy Utilities     147

Chapter 10: Green IT Case Studies for Universities and a Large Company     157

Chapter 11: Worldwide Green IT Case Studies     183

Chapter 12: The Future of Green IT for Corporations     205

Appendix A: Green IT Checklist and Recommendations     215

Appendix B: Green IT and Cloud Computing     237

Appendix C: Comparison of Different Power-Generation Methods     251

Appendix D: Worldwide Electricity Costs for IT with Projections     281

Glossary     289

Bibliography     301

Index     305

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 11 Ratings

Great overview of the benfits and challenges of greening IT - 2009-07-16
Reviewer Rating:
Great book with real world case studies to reinforce the importance of the "Greening of IT".

It was easy to compare the thinking of current IT infrastructure to where IT infrastructure needs to go as there were plenty of tables or web links to illustrate the efficiencies gained using a greener approach. The main drawback to using external links is that they may not be available by the time the book is published. A website with updates would be a good idea - the free online edition is only a 45 day trial.

Some of the newer technologies made it into the book, but I did not see some of the others - for example Flywheel UPS (although flywheels have been around a long time). Fuel Cell backup power did rate a mention as an emerging technology.

Some more discussion on Computer Room efficiencies and the maximum limits of under floor cooling to handle the newer high density racks based on air flow limits would have been a good addition. This is certainly not a negative because there is only so much that you can cover in a general book.

A few illustrations were a little too small or did not have enough contrast for easy viewing in a black and white publication (example Fig. 11.3, and 11.4 which is a thermal camera image and better suited to color), but did not detract from the material being presented. I am assuming the choice of black and white was driven by the desire for a Kindle version, as well as the extra printing costs needed for color.

As mentioned a lot of external links to extra information were provided, and overall a great snapshot of the current thinking related to the Greening of IT. Naturally with the author being an IBM person there was good coverage of IBM technologies - but there was more than enough coverage of non-IBM solutions so this was not a problem. I recommend this book for both the technical and non-technical reader as the material worked at both levels.

Case studies blend with checklists and solutions in a powerful, recommended guide for any business library - 2009-08-20
Reviewer Rating:
THE GREENING OF IT: HOW COMPANIES CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT tells how IT business can 'go green' and use best practices for adding value and profit into the picture. Using leading-edge reality, John Lamb tells how to assess the business prospects for green IT, set priorities, and assess both internal and external resistance to such a project. Case studies blend with checklists and solutions in a powerful, recommended guide for any business library.

Well Done! Excellent read! - 2009-08-13
Reviewer Rating:
This book is well worth the time invested to read it. "Green IT" is a concept/methodology that everyone in the industry needs to understand. The information in this book is laid out very well and is easy to read. If you are looking for information on current energy saving practices, regulatory information, and general strategies, regarding the greening of IT, this is an excellent resource.

Excellent Reference for a Greener Environment - 2010-01-04
Reviewer Rating:
John Lamb's book is excellent. It provides great reference materials for C-level stakeholders in addition to practitioners that are interested in greening the environment; and for those who may be uncertain about how to get started, the case studies are real-life and practical. I read John's book awhile ago and it continues to be an excellent source of information for me, as a consultant, to help organizations determine from an enterprise architecture perspective any new or supplemental intelligence that should be added to the enterprise for sustainable, greener operations. I highly recommend that others read this book for knowledge and understanding - from beginning to end.

A must read for all - CEO, CIO, CTO, CFO, IT Architect, IT Specialist - 2009-11-14
Reviewer Rating:
Well-written, fascinating, and informative. Whether you're an executive, a technologist, or responsible for running a data center, this book delivers a thorough understanding of the principles and benefits of working towards this new age of technology. As an IT Architect, I can take information from each chapter and apply it to building a global IT solution - or implement the concepts to a simple infrastructure running in a lab. I highly recommend this book.

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