Green Information Technology Strategic Plan - Departmental ...

% of reduction
fig. 10
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Current measurement
Carbon Reduction Plan
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Based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Green Building initiative, there are seven major focus areas
to achieve goals for environmental initiatives for both new
construction and existing buildings 10 . The areas requiring
attention include energy, water, waste, indoor air quality,
environmentally preferable building materials toxics
reduction, smart growth and sustainable benefits. Each of
these efforts involves programs that range from the short
term (immediate action available) to long term (future
planning in the example of new construction of buildings).
—Energy
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0
Annual Targeted Reduction in Carbon Emissions Conserving Energy in Facilities
Immediate steps taken to decrease energy usage throughout
the USDA’s Whitten and South Buildings have been to
decrease interior lighting by approximately 50%, and
shut down 50% of the facilities elevators, but this is just
the beginning as technology advances. With the advent of
sensor technology, there will one day be an infrastructure
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FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015
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Green Information Technology Strategic Plan
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within each building facility that affords the use of energy
in only the areas that will be traveled by each individual
employee. Sensor technology has already led us down that
path, but there is much more untouched, that will lead to
greater carbon reduction.
Portions of the IT world that are currently utilized that will
reduce the carbon use for the Department include community
printers. No longer will there be a need to keep printers on
each individual desk, or even in each set of cubicles. USDA
is moving towards combination printer, copier, and scan
machines that are linked within the USDA network, all of
which will meet the E Star energy requirements 11 . The use
of these machines will be for all personnel who reside on the
network. For printing, after pressing print, the documents
would sit, stored on the server, until the employee logs
in with his or her Linc card and password, and from any
location in the facility, the document can be retrieved from
the router and printed for use. The same process would
occur with scanning, just in reverse order.
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