by Joan M Fialkowski
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We're Iterative, We're Spiral, We're Scrum, and We're Lean - and Now We're Going Green
Part I
What does Being Green have to do with Project Management in an IT organization? Unlike other methodologies Going Green is more of a "grassroots effort" (pardon the pun). It must start with each of us as individuals to try to send the message upward that it would become a KPI. The best way to explain this phenomenon is looking at the life of a Project Manager and starting with routines and extending outwards towards a lifecycle.
I would like you to meet PM Paul Bunyan. Paul has been a PM for a number of years and has been listening to the hype as one green initiative begot another green initiative. Paul wanted to do more than just watch the grass grow in his own back yard and wanted the support of his whole team to send a message that Going Green is bigger than the hype and one person can make a difference. Here's a typical day for Paul and his team.
Paul wakes up and ensures his faucets are not dripping. This is a practice he can ensure he does at work as well. A faucet that leaks one drip per second will waste 9000 litres per year. That's enough water for 160 full cycles on an automatic dishwasher. Such a leak would cost almost $15 per year. He makes sure he shuts off the water while brushing his teeth. Letting the tap run will waste 7.6 to 11.3 litres per minute. If 10 employees were each to let the tap run for 3 minutes each day for a year, it would cost over $150. Now Paul jumps into his 10 minute shower. He has made sure that his water tank is insulated because this alone will reduce energy loss by 25-40%. - This can reduce a heating bill by 2%, as well as problems caused by pipe-sweating in the summer. Following conservative energy practices (insulation, placing it away from refrigerators/air conditioners, setting it at a lower temperature) when operating your water heater can reduce the energy required to run the heater by up to 40%. A 175-litre (40-gallon) water heater will take an average of 5000 kWh to run each year—at today's prices, around $500. A 40% decrease, then, could save you $200!
Paul also packs his lunch. He of course uses re-usable containers and he has a nifty Spiderman lunchbox. For his lunch, Paul chooses PB&J and fresh fruit he purchased at the local stand. Livestock create a beefy portion of all greenhouse-gas emissions: 18 percent, according to the United Nations. Could the answer be as simple as two slices of bread and a slathering of peanut butter and jelly? Perhaps. Compared with a burger, this classic sandwich saves as much as 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, 280 gallons of water, and 50 square feet of land--even more if you wash it down with a glass of soy milk. You don't have to change your whole diet to change the world, just start with lunch.
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Before heading out for work Paul checks his thermostat. Setting air conditioners up 2 degrees Celsius saves 100-kilowatt hours/season (~ $10). Setting thermostats 6 degrees Celsius lower during the winter for 8 hours/day can reduce your heating bill by 10%. What a great practice to bring to the workplace! Not only saving the bottom line, but decreasing the carbon footprint as well. It just so happened that it rained the night before and Paul remembers his sprinklers are set to automatically go on. He takes the time to turn them off. A rainy day can eliminate the need for watering for up to 2 weeks. This can substantially impact your overall water consumption, as watering your lawn for 1 hour uses 1500 litres of water – the same amount as 5 loads of laundry, 5 dishwasher loads and flushing a toilet 25 times. If you usually water your lawn for 1 hour per week, neglecting to do so will save you nearly $5.
On average, over 50% of water applied to gardens and lawns is lost because of run-off due to over watering or evaporation. Not taking precautions to avoid water loss due to evaporation will waste around $50 of water annually, assuming the lawn is watered once a week for 20 weeks of the year.
Paul's ready to leave. He ensures everything is turned off in his house and not in standby. He gets into his tuned up hybrid car and ready to pick up the members of his car pool. He also remembers to take down all the stuff he had on the roof to go camping. According to the Department of Energy, a loaded roof rack on your car can decrease fuel economy by approximately five percent.
Today is Paul's day to drive. Paul and his team have arranged off peak start and end times with their management. So much for this Project Manager to remember: Quick starts and hard stops can increase fuel consumption by 37%. This means that practicing aggressive driving will cost you 37% - nearly half as much more - than otherwise in gas payments; Idling burns more fuel than turning off and restarting the engine. Moreover, idling can contaminate engine oil and harm engine components; In heavy traffic, use of the air conditioner can increase fuel consumption by 20%; For every tire in your vehicle under-inflated by 56 kPa (8 psi) there is a 4% increase in fuel consumption; Unlike gas, ethanol is renewable, and it burns more completely and cleanly than does gas or diesel. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, as the grain used to make it absorbs CO2 as it grows! - It costs less than $10/month more to run a Ford Taurus on ethanol-blended fuel instead of gasoline. Paul also knows that 8 billion gallons of gas can be saved if every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person.
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Green Links of Interest
Audit your 
