Spring Break
IRT goes 'green'
Stephanie Takach
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News
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The IRT department has responded to a series of policies outlined in the last issue of "Sustainability: The Journal of Record" in an article titled "Green IT 101."
Drexel IRT currently donates computers to local schools and organizations, while networking equipment is usually traded in, according to Bielec. "Green IT 101" reported that 80 percent of green schools recycled computer and networking, and 73 percent bought more energy-efficient equipment.
"IRT has been purchasing Energy Star monitors and computers for several years. Four out of five of the faculty refresh computers selected were EPEAT gold, the best rating, and one computer model was rated Silver. This was the iMAC, which highest rating was Silver EPEAT," Bielec said.
According to Bielec, most colleges and departments at Drexel have asked IRT to set their printers to duplex default, cutting paper usage in half. IRT employees also "power-off" at the end of the work day.
Twenty-nine percent of green schools have revamped their data centers and 20 percent have simplified their networks, both with energy savings in mind, according to the article.
"IRT's Ratio of virtual-to-physical servers more than doubled from 18 percent to 40 percent in a single year through an aggressive push to use virtualization for all test and development uses," Bielec said.
In comparison to other schools "Green IT," Bielec said that rankings are very subjective.
"Without a serious study comparing apples-to-apples, it's difficult to judge. I think the important thing is we all have the same goal," Bielec said.
In the future, IRT will continue to move from direct-attached storage to storage area networks to eliminate isolated pockets of wasted disk space, according to Bielec.
"We are also planning to expand server virtualization, which eliminates need for additional numbers of physical servers and related power/AC requirements), as well as looking into moving from alternating current to direct current to reduce power utilization by 15 to 25 percent," Bielec said.
IT has also developed within online university programs.
According to the article, "To reduce the need for student travel, 22 percent of schools have implemented or expanded their distance learning programs, while 18 percent have implemented or expanded online education opportunities."
"Drexel had a 25 percent increase in online learning courses delivered by IRT over the past two years," Bielec said.
The 2008 Sloan Survey of Online Learning reveals that online enrollment rose by more than 12 percent from a year earlier, according to the Sloan Consortium. The survey of more than 2,500 colleges and universities nationwide finds approximately 3.94 million students were enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2007, the most recent term for which figures are available.
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