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Is Green the New Gold for Education Marketers?

By: David Nagel

8/19/2008

On the K-12 side of things, the research indicated that 71 percent of K-12 IT pros said they're concerned about lowering and managing energy costs versus and average of 61 percent in all other sectors combined. They're also more likely than others (50 percent versus 41 percent) to train their staffs to engage in energy conservation techniques.

As with higher ed, though, K-12 technology leaders seem to be in need of some guidance when it comes to green technologies.

"... [T]he E2IT Report detects high levels of support for energy efficiency among [K-12] IT executives, but E2IT also finds serious deficits in the information needed to address it effectively," Gambill said. "There are tools to help, but the range of available options may be daunting for organizations that lack resources to tackle the challenge."

But the will is there.

And it isn't all just do-goodery propelling green in education. According to Anthony Salcito, general manager of education for Microsoft, stakeholders in education--inside and outside the IT department--see the business sense of green technologies in reducing energy costs and in decreasing support and maintenance costs.

"You're going to be hard-pressed to find institutions that ... [are] willing to have a worse experience to be environmentally conscious," he said. "I think it's got to be both."

So where are the openings in green?

The data center is one of the more obvious starting points. In CDW-G's research, 36 percent higher ed respondents indicated that energy efficiency is a significant consideration in the purchase of data center equipment. That number is even higher in K-12, at 42 percent. This includes both energy-efficient hardware and more efficient use of the hardware at hand through technologies such as virtualization. The major virtualization providers obviously have solid channel partner programs in place. One of these, Microsoft, told us that it sees only 9 percent of the computers in education being virtualized currently, leaving an enormous gap.

"Virtualization is, right off the bat, a huge opportunity for institutions," said Microsoft's Salcito. "Most institutions really haven't embraced virtualization. Only about 9 percent of the computers and servers in education are really virtualized. There's a huge upside in terms of the capacity for institutions to save money using virtualization technology. Not only does it help with reducing energy costs, [but] you get much more efficient use of the hardware you own by having a smaller number of physical machines. That not only is easier to manage and support but also also uses a lower carbon footprint."

So opportunities in energy-efficient hardware and virtualization technologies are opening up in institutions' data centers. Energy efficiency is also a significant factor in end-user computer systems for 30 percent of K-12 IT pros and 31 percent of higher ed IT pros. Power management (including timers and card swipers for power use), green building, and more energy-efficient classroom technologies are also opportunities. And, of course, as we've seen indications that both K-12 and higher education are in need of information and guidance in the green arena, consulting also presents an opportunity. (In fact, IBM, as part of its Project Big Green,