Community IT Innovators. Established 1993. Serving social mission organizations with integrated technology services you can trust.

Last week, CITI attended the Green Business Summit and awards event at the Omni Shoreham Hotel hosted by the Washington Business Journal. Thanks to the efforts of Brian McIntee, our CFO, and Katherine Mowers, Senior Project Manager, CITI was a 2009 finalist for an award in the Innovation category for implementing green IT practices and significantly reducing energy consumption at our office. George Washington University took home the award for innovation, but they clearly deserved it for their efforts in reducing the amount of waste left behind by students at the end of each term, so it made the disappointment of not receiving the award a little bit easier to take.

At the green business summit, there were panels of experts addressing a wide range of sustainability efforts, from HR best practices like telecommuting and recycling, to videoconferencing and remote monitoring, to less painful financial audits. While these may sound like a bunch of unrelated topics, the underlying narrative for most of their discussions involved sharing their customers’ interest in making the world a better place or attracting the best talent by being the kind of business that values sustainability just as much as everything else.

Among the panelist were John Friedman, representing the Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW), and Scott Pomeroy of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, who gave SBNOW and CITI a shout-out for the green business certification process where we earned the highest Green Pillar level certification.

Susan Cunningham, Director of Sustainability Consulting and LEED AP at Gensler, presented a compelling argument for a green development framework for any businesses that focuses on:

• Operating Savings
• Stewardship of resource (or asset value)
• Brand
• Productivity

Susan, as well others, talked about people-driven businesses, knowing the full extent of the expertise you have in the room, and establishing a good measurement practice as keys to a successful green development framework.

Tom Russo, Chief Technology Officer at Akridge, talked about how he practiced his “green pitch” on his elementary school kids under the assumption that if his kids could understand the value of taking something old and combining it with something new, than the average CEO shouldn’t have too much trouble embracing the concept of sustainability within their organization.

With all of the different ways that folks are becoming greener, from the zero waste movement, to climate legislation battling through a maze of opposition, to new green EPEAT rankings for IT equipment, where does a green IT solution fit it? Give us a call. We’d be happy to talk with you about it!

CITI is proud to have helped push some great climate initiatives forward this week. While 1sky and Earth Track are both awesome initiatives, I’ll lead with the one where you can win fabulous prizes –

1sky’s 1climate 1tweet contest is looking for your sweetest tweet on climate change to help fuel the fight for the the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009. The best tweet will adorn a 1sky t-shirt, and five finalists (including the most retweeted entries) will win prizes.

Look to EarthTrack.net for information on government subsidies for climate changing energy projects. It may seem a little wonky, but the roots of climate change are fertilized with pork. Admitting we have a problem is the first, crucial step towards change. All you have to win at this site is the planet you love.

I am so happy to be partnering with organizations doing this work, and proud of my colleagues here who’ve helped them realize their visions.

Each year on October 15th, Blog Action Day brings together the world’s bloggers to spread awareness on a single subject in a united social action. This year’s topic is Climate Change.  As a sustainable company, we’ve posted frequently on being green and green IT practices, covering ways to reduce your carbon footprint as an organization, with particular focus on improving your computer network’s efficiency.

Our CEO David Deal will be on a panel on an upcoming Green Success! event October 22nd, joining several other local businesses and organizations to discuss operating sustainably and green trends.

Some highlights from the Climate Change-focused blogosphere today:

• CITI client 1 Sky focuses on addressing climate change everyday.  You can check out their blog The Skywriter for news and information on climate change science and policy.  Just a few of their posts from Blog Action Day include the impact small businesses can have on the climate change issue, the Global Security Challenge of Climate Change and the Organizing Power of a Slogan.  To crowdsource a concise, powerful message supporting strong climate legislation, 1Sky has recently launched a Twitter campaign #1Climate, working with CITI to create a twitter tracker.  The best climate slogan will be chosen by popularity as measured by “retweets” (or RT’s).

• CITI client Sojourners, who focuses on “articulating the biblical call to social justice,” blogs about the Theology of Ecology and the need to pay attention to climate change.

• Social media and nonprofit blogger Amy Sample Ward discusses the importance of knowing your audience. If you really know them, you can find a way they can connect with any issue or event, even one that might seem peripheral to your main focus.

• Beth Kanter wishes everyone a Happy Blog Action Day 09 from her nonprofit social media blog.

• If you use an iPhone, you may be interested in TUAW’s (”The Unofficial Apple Weblog”) post on five iPhone apps to save the world.

The Washington Business Journal has announced Community IT Innovators as one of the finalists for the Washington Business Journal Green Business Awards. The award winners will be announced at the Green Business Summit on Oct. 13, 2009. We were nominated for our focus on reducing energy usage. CITI realized a 21% reduction its carbon emissions within 1 year of taking action on some key activities which included implementing server virtualization, desktop power management, and employee participation.

At the Green Business Summit there will be companies from all over the Greater Washington area that are working to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into their businesses and community work.  There will also be a trade show showcasing sustainable products, services, and practices as well as breakout sessions featuring experts from all aspects of green business.

The Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW) hosted a Certifiably Green event on July 20th where Community IT Innovators along with the recently certified Washington Gas Holdings and AARP presented case studies on our green certification experiences.  The presentations were shared with 40 participating companies and organizations interested in learning more about the green certification program offered through SBNOW.  CITI’s case study described how the company obtained impact through reducing its energy consumption.  We realized a 21% reduction in our carbon emissions within 1 year of taking action on some key activities which included implementing server virtualization, desktop power management, and employee participation.

SBNOW has now completed the pilot phase of its green certification program and has successfully certified several businesses and organizations, including the offices of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID).  The certification program “was developed to help office-based and retail businesses move further on the path to sustainability, and to recognize them for their efforts as well as provide third-party validation that they are doing what they claim to be doing.”   A complete list of names and star ratings achieved by these green leaders will be announced at SBNOW’s public launch celebration in early September.  Companies and organizations that have made the commitment to be certified will also be recognized and included in SBNOW’s media promotion, establishing or building their reputation as environmental leaders in the community.

Organizations interested in pursuing green certification can contact SBNOW.  The organization is offering  a special price to the first 50 companies/organizations that sign up.  For more information see the SBNOW website, or contact Wendy Walter, the Executive Director of SBNOW at  greenguide@sbnow.org, tel: 707-888-1385.

CITI partnered with the William James Foundation on Thursday, July 9th to present a seminar on Green IT.  Nate Solloway, CITI Systems Engineer, discussed what it really means to go green with your technology, including environmentally-friendly practices such as virtualization, green procurement and computer disposal, and desktop power management.  Some highlights:

• Server Virtualization remains a hot topic and is fast becoming just the way things are done, particularly with servers, as the resource efficiency gained is significant.

• Desktop virtualization is the next step that can be taken. Replacing a desktop with a virtual desktop and thin client can significantly reduce power consumption to just a small fraction of previous consumption for each virtual desktop user.

• Desktop Power Management software can significantly reduce power consumption for users who cannot easily switch to a virtual desktop.

• Reusing or donating old computers that are nearing the end of their life cycle, but still usable, can further reduce the environmental impact of your equipment.

Contact us to find out more about our Green IT Assessments and implementing the above suggestions.

There was a large, organized conversation called an “Unconference” in Washington, DC recently. The purpose? To get innovative-thinking people from business, nonprofit and public sectors talking seriously and collaborating on ideas, policy direction and practical solutions on a variety of good business practices for an environmentally sustainable future … all this based in a hope that such conversations may lead to action of sizable leaps. The Environmental Defense Fund and Ashoka co-hosted the event on June 11 at Google’s offices. Quick note:  an Unconference has no agenda when you show up – the participants create the topics (a facilitator gets you going), host the sessions and drive the direction of the conference.

Here are a few highlights:

• Smart grid: Have you heard of this? Also called the “energy internet”. The idea is that your home or organization’s electricity use could be at your fingertips, in real-time, which would enable us all to see information and that will help us make different choices about our energy use. Right now even the utility company has to send someone to read the meter. But what if you could see the results of the meter anytime of day, via the internet in as close to real-time as possible? Here is a demo of a power meter Google is developing.

• Green certifications: We want and understand the need for a 3^rd party credible certification, and  there are many certification programs developing. What are common standards? How do you know which one to go for? Conversation on this topic popped-up several times during the event.

• What is the purpose of business?: Does business exist only to only make a profit? Or does it have a greater mission, one that is concerned about how it can contribute to the social fabric of our communities and environment? This topic came up in more than one session. For Community IT Innovators we are a voice for the latter, that business exists for a greater social mission and is responsible for considering the environment in its operations, with profit-making as a means to support its greater mission … it’s this greater mission that drives what we each do every day.

• Innovation is asymmetric: How are problems solved? Oftentimes it’s the people on the periphery, not the actual persons trying to solve the problem – it’s when the problem solvers reach out to their nearest colleagues, who have some insight into the topic, who can really help bring about the solutions. And people recognize each other as innovators, not just for the their innovations (no matter what field or specialty one may have). In this way, innovators across disciplines can help each other.

• Green metrics — benchmarks and standards: The details of what businesses, nonprofits and the public sector are measuring, and on what standards we base these on, really varies. From one company to another in the same sector (even competitors) are not reporting the same metrics. Green metrics are being tracked – this is a good thing – there was a sense in multiple conversations that for the benefit of the public and other key stakeholders, we need to move towards having some standards for green metrics.

Our hope it that these and other important topics will be carried further along by innovative thinkers in the Boston, Austin and San Jose ‘Green Innovation for Business Unconferences’. We will be awaiting further communication from the Unconference hosts about next steps, possibly involving working groups, that can get to working on actionable steps.

Notes from the Washington, DC  Green Innovation for Business Unconference are available here if you wish to peruse them.

I got a timed power strip for home, to plug in my wireless router, the cable modem, and some other accessories that really don’t need to be running all the time. We also use them here at CITI to turn off printers and the like overnight. Both CITI and I bought this Westek from Amazon, but there are certainly other brands and sources.

I’m also hoping this extends the life of this new router, which would mean a triple payoff — green benefits, saving on electricity, and extending the life of the device.

Happy Earth Day! Community IT Innovators has always been a green company, and we’ve recently extended our commitment to being a triple bottom line, sustainable business.

As an IT company, we’ve been saving clients (and ourselves) money and energy with green IT innovations, such as virtualization and desktop power management.  We’ve also been invited to several green IT speaking engagements, including a green tech event this week hosted by SBNOW.

Our commitment to being green extends beyond our service offerings to the way we operate our company.   Here are a just a few of our sustainability practices:

• Signs are posted above taps and light switches reminding employees to conserve energy and water.
• Recycling centers provide convenient places for recycling small electronics, cardboard, paper, plastic, and cans.
• A bike loan program makes it easy for employees to purchase a bike for a carbon-free commute to work.
• Our cleaning products and soaps are all-natural and safe for the environment.
• The thermostat is programmed at 68° in the winter and 75° in the summer to conserve energy.

The Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW) is hosting an event on “Green Tech/Clean Tech” featuring panels on renewable energy and green technology.  CITI Systems Engineer Nate Solloway will be part of the panel on clean technology, speaking on green IT practices.

Nate has been a leading innovator on CITI’s green technology services. CITI offers green IT assessments to help you reduce both the energy use and financial cost of your network infrastructure.

The SBNOW event takes place on Thursday, April 23rd from 6 to 9 pm. Register here to learn more about how sustainable technology is saving the planet and saving organizations money.