Green IT

IT Services is committed to helping Trinity meet its Sustainability Strategy goals. More information on general steps for sustainability on campus can be found on the Trinity Sustainability Pages and the College Recycling Facilities Page.

Below is some information on what we're doing to help meet these goals, and what part you can play too.

What we're doing

• We carry out responsible recycling of all old computing equipment and office materials. Learn more about recycling of electrical and electronic equipment, and join the Yammer Reuse/Repurpose group where you can list items you want to give a new home to. Follow our instructions on the Secure data disposal and hard-drive destruction website before recycling devices that contain sensitive or confidential Trinity data.
• We have moved to the use of communal multifunctional print devices, away from personal desktop printers.
• The provision of the Blackboard service for online learning reduces travel requirements and the need for printed materials.
• Server visualisation reduces the amount of physical server hardware used.
• In the IT Services computer rooms, the computers' power-saving settings have been optimised.
• The Datapac multi-function printers are set to print to duplex and scan to email, to save paper and print toner.
• In our world-class Green Data Centre the mechanical, lighting, electrical and computer systems are designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact. The focus is on sustainability, reduced operational costs, reduced carbon footprint and returns on investment.

Recent Sustainability Initiatives

Sustainability by objective – the 2017/18 €750,000 data storage project. This project was conceived with continuity of service, sustainability & greener IT in mind.  The project had a goal of a 50% reduction energy usage in the data Storage Area Network (SAN), based on 2017 usage/baseline and this goal was surpassed.

This was done by upgrading the SAN in the Green Data Centre and secondary Data Centre located on the main campus. Under the oversight of the Trinity Engineering Services Manager and the Sustainability Advisor, Trinity IT Services achieved a 55% energy saving, which is equivalent to a 14,682kg CO2 (carbon dioxide) reduction per annum.

In the third impacted remote Data Centre, a 50% energy saving, equivalent to a 2,072kg CO₂ reduction per annum was achieved, arising from replacing associated data storage equipment. Additional unquantified energy savings arise on an ongoing basis, due to the knock-on effect of the Data Centres needing less cooling power as a result of less energy being consumed.

What you can do

• Turning off computer monitors, printers and other peripherals when not in use as turning off equipment when leaving a room even for ten minutes can make a significant energy saving.
• Set your laptop/computer to go on standby after a certain number of minutes, to save on energy and shut devices down overnight and at the weekends.
• Share large files via the cloud using file shares such as Microsoft OneDrive, Teams or SharePoint rather than via email.
• Avoid printing out documents, but if you must, be sure to print in duplex, on both sides of the page. Most modern printers have this functionality and it may be the case that your printer settings need to be configured to allow you to print in duplex.
• Bring a laptop or other mobile device to meetings instead of printing things out or having to write notes on paper.
• Make use of video-conferencing software to reduce travel.
• Recycle your old printouts.
• Buy the right equipment - laptops use much less energy than powerful desktop computers.
• Encourage your Area to migrate away from multiple individual small printers to a managed multi-function device (MFD) for your Area, or a set of MFDs for larger Areas.
• Buy equipment that will last - the manufacturing process accounts for 70% of the natural resources used in a PC's lifetime.