My colleague, Jim Lynch, and I recently presented at the Amigos Going Green at your Library 2 online conference. Jim is the Computer Recycling & Reuse Director for TechSoup's GreenTech Program, and I was thrilled to tag team with him. He hasn't had many opportunities to share his wealth of knowledge and expertise with libraries, so I was pretty excited to have this opportunity.
Because there's only so much we can include in a powerpoint presentation, I decided to share everything (and MORE!) we discussed during our session. If I've left anything out, please add resources to the comments, below. You can also view the presentation slides on slideshare.
So we've all heard that green is good, but how can libraries implement greener practices with limited funds and time? Below are eight easy steps you can take right now to green the IT in your library and make a big impact on the environmental footprint of your library.
1. Use sleep settings on computers to reduce electricity use ![]()
What it is: all computer operating systems (like Windows) have power-management settings that allow computers to go to sleep or stand-by mode when not in use and reduce the amount of electricity they use.
Why it’s green: dramatically cuts the amount of electricity your computers uses and it saves you on average $60 per year per computer
Cost and difficulty: Free and easy
How to do it: Climate Savers Computing Initiative has step-by-step directions for setting power management in several versions of Windows, Linux and Mac
http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/learn/saving-energy-at-home/
Climate Saver Recommended Sleep Settings:
- Monitor/display sleep: Turn off after 15 minutes or less.
- Turn off hard drives/hard disk sleep: 15 minutes or less.
- System standby/sleep: After 30 minutes or less.
For networks where power management is more complex, there is network power management software like Verdiem's Surveyor or Faronics' PowerSave. Windows Active Directory and Group Policy can control power management and sleep settings, so it’s possible for an experienced systems administrator to set network sleep settings without third party software.
Additional resources:
- TechSoup GreenTech: Reduce Your ICT Energy Use
- TechSoup blog post: Set You Monitor to Sleep
2. Buy Smart Power Strips
What it is: Smart power strips are electricity saving devices that deal with things like printers and scanners that stay on – even if you put your computer to sleep or shut it down. When you power down your computer, the Smart Strip automatically shuts down the power to your computer's peripherals as well.
Why it’s green: These new devices automatically turn off power of computers and peripherals when not in use to save energy. They pay for themselves over several months. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that standby power consumption in the US accounts for 5% of all residential power consumption. That means Americans spend more than $3.5 billion annually on wasted power.
Cost and difficulty: Easy to use, and cost is $20 to $30 per computer. They pay for themselves within a few months.
How to do it: you can buy them at Amazon. The Smart Strip has 10 outlets that you plug your computer and peripherals into. It does the rest.
Additional resources:
- TechSoup article: Are Electronic Vampires Stealing your Nonprofit's energy?
- Smart Strips on Amazon
3. Change settings on your printer to print duplex
What it is: change a setting on your computer so that you print on both sides of the paper. You need a printer that is built to do that.
Why it’s green: paper is still an incredibly wasted resource. If you print double-sided it significantly reduces the amount of paper you buy and also waste. In this decade, it is projected that Americans will throw away over 4 and a half million tons of office paper. In the world we’re deforesting an area equivalent to the size of Panama each year. We’ve already lost over half the world’s forests.
Cost and difficulty: it may require buying a new printer, but setting your computer(s) to print double sided is very easy
How to do it: typically, you can click a box in the print dialog box
Additional resources:
- TechSoup articles: GreenTech Paper Reduction Pages
- TechSoup for Libraries (pdf): Print management for libraries
- E-how article: How to print double-sided
4. Use an online fax service
What it is: an online service that lets you fax documents and receive faxes either on the web or it sends them to you through your email
Why it’s green: it is largely paperless and doesn’t require any additional hardware, ink or toner. 210 billion sheets of paper are consumed by faxing in US companies every year, 95% is unrecycled.
Cost and difficulty: Easy to sign up with a service. MyFax is available through TechSoup for a $25 admin fee per year (Retail: $110)
5. Buy new equipment that meets EPEAT standards
What it is: EPEAT is the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, which is a non-commercial program that rates how environmentally friendly new IT equipment is according to three tiers of environmental performance. EPEAT rated IT equipment is rated on a bronze, silver, and gold scale. The service is free.
Why it’s green: all EPEAT rated IT equipment uses less power, has reduced toxic materials (like lead and mercury), and is more easily recyclable that conventional equipment.
Cost and difficulty: EPEAT is a free service and IT equipment with EPEAT ratings are no more costly than buying any other new IT equipment.
How to do it: visit www.epeat.net where you can search by manufacturer
Additional resources:
- TechSoup blog post: Choosing a greener computer
- EPEAT-rated equipment: EPEAT website
6. Buy refurbished computers and extend the life of computers
What it is: refurbished computers are second-hand computers that have been fully tested, returned to factory specs and warrantied.
Why it’s green: using refurbished computers or keeping your exising computers extends the life of IT equipment to its full potential (7 years or more). 75 percent of PC energy consumption has already happened before a new computer is ever switched on. It is used up in the production phase. Computers contain precious metals, toxic materials and other non biodegradable materials. If this equipment has a six or seven year lifespan rather than three or four years, the environmental impact of this for even a fraction of the 1.1 billion computers now in use in world will be immense.
Cost and difficulty: refurbished commercial grade computers are half or less the cost of new commercial grade IT equipment and are suitable for most administrative uses.
How to do it: TechSoup RCI Program provides factory refurbished and warrantied computers to libraries
Additional resources:
- TechSoup for Libraries article: How to extend the life of your IT equipment
- TechSoup blog post: Environmental Case for Refurbished IT Equipment
- Microsoft Registered Refurbisher Program: Worldwide Directory
7. Get in the cloud
What it is: Cloud computing is managed IT software or services that reside on the Internet, and are available at no cost, pay-per-use, or by subscription or monthly fee to users. The services you use are provided by someone else and managed on your behalf. Examples: Google Docs, Skype, Internet Messenger
Why it’s green: Cloud computing is regarded as a generally green IT field because it tends to decrease the amount of IT infrastructure that an office needs because computing power is shared and concentrated more in high efficiency data centers and less in the millions of office computer networks.
Cost and difficulty: you may already using free cloud services like Google or Yahoo email, Flickr etc. Many cloud services are free and easy to use.
How to do it: Patrons using public access computers may benefit from using the free Google Docs or Microsoft Office Web Apps online services where they can create and save their documents online. Librarians might try using Skype and other collaboration tools to reduce trave.
Additional resources:
- TechSoup blog post: Cloud Computing: Why Should Nonprofits and Libraries Care?
- TechSoup GreenTech: The Green Side of Cloud Computing Campaign
- TechSoup for L ibraries guest librarian blog: Schedule, organize, plan! Save time, money, and the environment
- TechSoup for Libraries guest librarian blog: No trees were harmed in the making of this conference
- TechSoup for Libraries guest librarian blog: Like renting a meeting room, virtually
- TechSoup for Libraries: Do you Meebo?
![http://www.flickr.com/photos/cizauskas/2285197583/]()
- TechSoup: Telegreen Your Work: Travel Reduction campaign
- TechSoup Webinar archive: Online Collaboration Tools
- Microsoft Office: Web Apps
- Skype
- Google Docs
8. Recycling and Proper Disposal of IT
What it is: electronics recycling means to send your end-of-life IT equipment or batteries to a place that will recover its materials safely and without improperly exporting e-waste to developing countries.
Why it’s green: In the US we currently recycle only 18% of discarded computers. These devices contain many toxic materials that pollute the environment either here or abroad if they are thrown away.
Cost and difficulty: computer recycling is free in about half the US states and costs $10 to $20 per computer in states that don’t have e-recycling systems.
How to do it: It’s free and easy to find recyclers that accept computers, batteries, compact fluorescent lights, cell phones and may other things at www.earth911.com
Find environmentally-certified recyclers:
For more information about greening your technology, keep your browser pointed to TechSoup's GreenTech program, where research is matched with real experiences to reduce your carbon footprint and use technology responsibly.
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