The third annual Energy Efficient IT report by CDW-G found that three-fourths of IT professionals are working to increase energy efficiency in their organizations. But the biggest barriers cited by K-12 IT professionals to becoming more energy efficient were budget constraints and an inability to isolate and measure the energy used in IT operations.
While finances hurt those efforts, cost savings and environmental impact are also the reasons 756 respondents from across business, government, higher education, and K-12 education are driven to become more energy efficient, the survey found.
Of those that are actively managing their energy efficiency, 56 percent have reduced their IT energy costs by at least 1 percent, up from 39 percent in 2008. Some of the ways that IT professionals are cutting down on energy use is by purchasing servers, computers, and other equipment that utilize less power and wattage and adjusting desktop operating systems to make use of built-in power management tools, the report said.
Energy efficiency is becoming an increasingly important factor in purchasing decisions, 39 percent of respondents said, up from 26 percent of respondents in 2009. Almost 80 percent of IT professionals said they either have or are developing a data center consolidation strategy, such as employing virtualization, consolidating servers, or moving applications into the cloud, in part to cut down on energy costs.
What do you think? How does your school or district compare to these results? Is energy efficiency a priority for your school?