Green: "Powering Down"

Green Gaps

01/11/2011 - "Powering down all desktop computers,locally connected printers and other non-networked peripherals at the end of the day will reduce energy consumption."

This suggestion from Aaron Helton, an Office of Personnel Management staffer, was one of more than 5,300 submissions for the Obama administration's recent Green Gov Challenge. Helton's idea seems elementary, but the need to remind employees to put their PCs in sleep mode at night is a sign that agencies have a ways to go in implementing President Obama's October 2009 executive order on federal sustainability.

Resistance among some feds to embracing green IT stems from a combination of causes: psychological inertia, pesky regulations, lack of information about eco-friendly alternatives and a bargain-shopping procurement culture. The challenge of caring for federal IT is massive--the U.S. government is the world's largest purchaser of electronics, shelling out nearly $75 billion for products and services in 2009 alone, according to the Government Accountability Office. {continued}