Green Companies Moving Forward

The article I found about green IT was written by Ellen Fanning for the website www.computerworld.com. It is entitled “Top Green-IT Organizations find fertile ground for innovation”. The article is about the top twelve corporate businesses that are doing their part to save the environment by reducing power demands and using technology to create energy efficiencies. The article explains how the goal of green-IT is to save the planet, but another benefit of it is saving money, something all businesses strive for.
The top twelve green-IT users are:
1. Mohawk Fine Papers
2. State Street
3. Allstate Insurance
4. Citigroup
5. PricewaterhouseCoopers
6. State of Indiana
7. KPMG
8. Seventh Generation
9. Office Depot
10. Burt’s Bees
11. Marriott International
12. Austin Energy
The reasons for these rankings are very different. For example, number 5, PricewaterhouseCoopers, a new data center is using a high-voltage system that maximizes energy efficiency and reduces copper consumption. This allows for 40 to 50 less air conditioning units than a regular designed space. Also, employees at Pricewater will work four days instead of five, lowing the number of commutes by 40 each week and cutting carbon footprints.
At Burt’s Bees (number ten) employees’ incentive pay is partially linked to metric that measures reductions in energy consumption, water use, and waste reduction.
I think this article is amazing. Who knew that all these different organizations were trying to be greener? Not only are they saving the environment though, they’re saving money as well! More companies should really jump on the bandwagon and go green! Being green isn’t a fad anymore; it’s an action that’s going to be sticking around, so the sooner businesses start to conform, the more money they’ll be saving and probably making. Many consumers are now buying goods based on how environmentally friendly they are. Businesses that are changing for the good of mother earth will be around a lot longer to watch themselves evolve with her.