It's not easy being green

The other night I had the good fortune to moderate a Green IT panel discussion at a SIM-NY Metro chapter meeting. I’ve been involved in similar events in the past and anticipated that the discussion would be engaging given our stellar speaker lineup. It included Edward Goldman, vice president of technology strategy at Marriott Corp.; Atefeh Riazzi, senior partner and CIO at Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide; and Joseph Dzaluk, vice president of global infrastructure and resource management at IBM Integrated Technology Delivery where he is directly responsible for the 488 global data centers that IBM runs on behalf of its outsourcing customers.

What I hadn’t anticipated was the level of passion and fervor that the discussion would generate.

Each of the panelists was given 15 minutes to make individual presentations before we launched into the Q&A. Goldman kicked things off and highlighted some of Marriott’s achievements, which include plans in September to open a second data center in a former Pennsylvania limestone mine 300 feet below ground. The facility, which is owned by Iron Mountain, maintains an ambient air temperature of 53 degrees Farenheit, which will enable Marriott to hold down its equipment cooling costs, Goldman explained.

Goldman went on to mention how Marriott recycles all of its computer components through an asset disposition agreement it has with Intechra LLC. That’s when the dialogue started to get interesting.

One of the 60 or so attendees then asked Goldman whether Marriott evaluates just how its computer components are recycled. Goldman responded that it’s not something the company has done but that he intends to look into it. It was a seemingly harmless exchange but it ended up setting the tone for the evening. This group of IT leaders was going to challenge our speaker panel and it wasn’t necessarily going to accept their presentations at face value.

Riazzi spoke next and took the discussion in a socially conscious direction. She spoke eloquently and passionately about the need for corporate executives to become more socially responsible.

For instance, she pointed to how roughly half of all e-waste (i.e. discarded monitors, server towers, printers, etc.) goes to China, where a lax regulatory environment has led to dangerous levels of lead and mercury poisoning among Chinese workers who dismantle components.

But part of the problem rests here stateside, she said. E-waste regulations here are handled on a state-by-state basis. But there isn’t a cohesive national policy for recycling e-waste. “We need to have a retirement plan for systems that have lead and mercury that go to places like China,” said Riazzi.

She didn’t stop there. “I used to feel good about my Starbucks coffee and my air conditioner and my SUV until you learn more about this type of information and then you don’t feel so good,” Riazzi said. “It’s about moving to action from talking.”

One of the attendees commended Riazzi for her socially-enlightening presentation but then pressed her on what steps Ogilvy and Mather was taking to help lead the charge on these types of issues, which she then spoke to.

Not unexpectedly, Dzaluk also faced some tough questions from SIM-NY attendees, some of whom asked whether IBM’s Green IT product push was simply a guise for selling more gear.

It turned out to be a very thought-provoking discussion and many of the attendees stuck around afterwards to chat up the speakers on a variety of issues that were raised. But it also demonstrated how there are still a lot of tough questions that need to be addressed by IT and business leaders as they wrestle with the challenges associated with being good environmental citizens while keeping an eye on the bottom line.