Aaron Baldwin
Information Technology Department
George Mason University

Since its origin, Information Technology has been a resource for improving efficiency. From Morse Code’s hand in the Civil War to Singapore’s vastly improved shipping economy, Information Technology has provided means for a systematic improvement in communications. Revolving around the transmittal and reception of data, Information Technology has generally thrived by providing an improved convenience and speed of data access. Accessibility and availability of information consistently pushes the competitiveness of global economics. The ability of an organization to provide customers with the fastest and highest quality results, whether in products or services, has birthed a perpetual influx of next generation IT products. These products have given dramatic improvements in global communication and information efficiency, but the items themselves have proven to be consistently wasteful in resources and power management. Global consumers have typically expressed an unquenchable thirst for ever-faster communication speeds, blindly ignoring the consequences of these improvements. Due to this, product manufacturers have had, for the most part, a complete disinterest in the environmental impact of their products, merely focusing on satisfying the consumer’s lust for speed. Recently, environmental concerns over these products have emerged, largely due to the recognition of global warming. These concerns have directed unwanted attention towards the magnitude of the IT industry’s wastefulness, and brought eco-unfriendly culprits to the forefront of environmental improving efforts. From this industry-wide analysis, the supporting infrastructure of computer networks has been identified as one of the most significant contributors to our environmental degradation. The sheer size of the intertwining networks of the Internet has presented an ideal opportunity for environmental issues to arise. Network servers have made good on this opportunity, heavily due to the impact of their immense quantity.