One consideration when formulating our three year technology plan was how can we promote good stewardship to the environment?  With Earth Day just passing about a week ago, here’s a look at our initiatives:

Desktops

Power supply consumption on our old PCs that have largely been cycled out in the last two years was 350w.  Our newer desktops run more efficient at 225-250w.  More computer power in newer desktops, yet more power efficiency.

Virtualization

What if we could reduce the total number of physical desktops in a classroom, but still provide an equal (or greater) number of workstation available to students and faculty?  We did that using Ncomputing technology.  Now, the energy cost for each additional workstation is about 1 watt versus a standard tower’s 225-250watt consumption.  Additionally, virtualization reduces aquisition costs and increases IT effeciency.

Scripting

Automated scripts were introduced this year in the school to automatically shutdown workstations at a set time after school.  The computer bios was set to automatically power up on weekday mornings.  This scripting allows for power conservation during non-business hours when some workstations would be idling and consuming more power than when powered down.

Monitors

A few years ago, our initiative to replace all large CRT monitors was successfully completed.  All desktop workstations use LCD technology.  In areas like the Technology Learning Center where numerous workstations are present, LCD technology is also energy efficient as the heat generated is significatly less resulting in less cooling costs.

Less Paper… More Trees

Increased email communication including reduction of the Wednesday envelope has reduced paper cost and consumption.  There are still a few areas and forms we’d like to further streamline in the next few school years.  Each fiscal quarter, the school makes about 150,000 copies on copiers.  I’d like to see that number reduced by 25-50k.
Making sure you have the right software and hardware to do the job is certainly an importance to IT.  The Cardinal Tech philosophy is also to be good stewards of our environment when considering new equipment.