Investment in initiatives for reducing the environmental impact of information technology was increased by Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This was found by the report of study conducted by IBM and InfoTech Research Group.
The study revealed that third-party environmental audits were applied by more than 55 percent of companies in India. They had also purchased emission credits for reducing the energy consumption. A retrofit of existing server rooms for increasing the energy efficiency was observed in 63 percent of IT enterprises in India. Virtualization technology can also be added to the servers for consolidating storage systems.
Smart spenders, green advocates, green observers, and green seekers were found to be the categories of IT companies. About 38 percent of the surveyed firms were found to be smart spenders which make investments for achieving long-term cost reduction. A form of energy measurement for their information technology infrastructure was implemented by more than 50 percent of companies. It is important to find the IT initiatives for improving energy efficiency that yields financial returns. The study reported that 60 percent of the respondents observed the importance of business benefits against environmental benefits.
IT equipment recycling is also one of the processes for energy efficiency. The study revealed that outdated hardware recycling programs were implemented by 56 percent of the companies surveyed. The goals of energy measurement practices was achieved by 65 percent of the organizations according to the study.