Green Computing is finding favour with not only government and environmental organisations, but also businesses due to the fact that going green is in their best interest - it not only assists to protect the environment, but also saves energy, reducing costs.

Says Linsay Narayanan, Western Digital Product Manager at Drive Control Corporation (DCC), "Every big change begins with small steps. For instance, setting the power options on your computer to switch it to sleep mode when it's not active can reduce power consumption without impacting performance. It's a case of being more conscious and smart about energy saving. When you're going to be away from your PC for more than a few minutes, setting it to stand-by mode and turning off the monitor will save a huge amount of energy."

Energy efficiency in South Africa is particularly important as coal is the main source of energy. Adopting green computing initiatives will result in burning less coal which means less pollution. If we think computers are non-polluting and consume very little energy we need to think again. The energy saved on power consumption will equate to tonnes of carbon emissions saved per year.

The first step towards green IT should include adopting new electronic products and services that function with optimum efficiency and offer all possible options with regard to energy savings.

As a technology vendor, Narayanan's portfolio has grown to incorporate green hard drives such as the WD Caviar Green range that includes energy saving features known as 'GreenPower' Technology.

The WD Caviar Green range of hard drives makes it possible for energy conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities with the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability and energy conservation. Some applications include the extreme requirements of demanding audio and
video environments. With power reduction of up to 40%, they deliver cool and quiet operation, and reliability perfect for audio video applications such as PVR, DVRs, set-top boxes (STBs) as well as surveillance video recording.

When asked what products companies should be looking at in order to become 'green'" Narayanan says, "IT is a good place to start. For example, the WD green hard drive range lowers power consumption compared to standard desktop drives and they do this by using the three key features of WD GreenPower Technology - Intellipower, Intelliseek and Intellipark."

. Intellipower - A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance.
. Intelliseek - Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
. Intellipark - Delivers lower power consumption by automatically unloading the heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag.

"Another interesting feature is that these drives are cool, quiet and reliable. The noise levels are virtually below normal human hearing having been designed to reduce noise pollution, as well as being environmentally friendly", says Narayanan.

Green computing is a mindset that asks how we can satisfy the growing demand for increased capacity in External Storage without putting enormous pressure on the environment. Now is the time to consider the efficient use of energy via energy saving IT products.