Green IT is becoming increasingly important in an increasingly digitalized world. By using sustainable information technology, companies can not only improve their environmental footprint, but also save costs in the long term. Energy-efficient servers, laptops, and monitors can significantly reduce power consumption while also extending the lifespan of the devices. To ensure that IT does not become another climate threat and contributes to climate protection, the concept of Green IT is being promoted.
By using green IT, which is more sustainable and environmentally friendly, you also benefit from significant cost savings.
In this blog post, you can find out exactly what you can expect from the term Green IT and how you can make use of it.
Green IT, also known as sustainable information technology, encompasses all measures aimed at reducing the energy consumption of IT systems and reducing their environmental impact. This involves not only the selection of environmentally friendly devices, but also the efficient operation and responsible disposal of IT products.
This involves acting from two different perspectives:
There is no universally valid definition or fixed rules for green IT; rather, it is a collective term. However, the meaning and associated implementation can be derived from the general definition of sustainability.
Integrate a holistic and IT sustainability strategy into your company and benefit from ecological, social and economic advantages.
So what does Green IT look like in practice and to what extent can you influence its implementation? The answer depends on your role in the overall context: Are you a manufacturer of IT hardware? Do you program software for companies? Are you in the process of setting up an IT infrastructure?
Depending on where you are and what tasks you take on, you have different options for exerting influence. Refurbishment is a central point when it comes to sustainability. It describes the process of restoring products to full working order. You can also find refurbished hardware in our store. You can also find more information in our blog post “Used IT hardware: how useful it is and how you can benefit from it”. Defective parts are also replaced and the product is cleaned to make it saleable again. You can find more information on IT cleaning in our blog post “IT cleaning - its time requirements and aspects to consider”.
You can also positively influence the service life of devices by using them under optimum conditions, including, for example, devices with cooling requirements such as uninterruptible power supplies, which need to be cooled accordingly.
Obsolescence is an important factor when it comes to the sustainability of IT devices. This aspect primarily covers the product life cycle, including the manufacture and disposal of products. Obsolescence is therefore the process by which products age and therefore lose value.
Obsolescence can be divided into planned and unplanned obsolescence. The latter can be caused by natural wear and tear or influenced by technological progress or fashion. In the case of planned obsolescence, products have a deliberately limited lifespan. This means that consumers are constantly forced to buy new products. Planned obsolescence is therefore a negative influence in the area of green IT, as it increases the amount of electronic waste. Products are therefore replaced instead of repaired. Reducing planned obsolescence can lead to a longer product lifespan, resource savings and a reduction in the CO2 footprint.
A key approach to tackling obsolescence is extending the lifespan of IT hardware. Companies are increasingly choosing refurbished devices, as they are technically reconditioned and fully functional. This significantly prolongs the life of electronic products, helping to reduce electronic waste. Repairability also plays an important role: devices with replaceable components such as batteries, memory, or power supplies support a sustainable IT strategy. In addition, sustainable procurement is a crucial part of modern IT strategies. Companies are placing greater emphasis on environmental certifications such as Energy Star or Blue Angel. By consistently implementing these measures, obsolescence can be actively reduced.
Data centres, in combination with numerous servers, account for a significant proportion of CO₂ emissions in the IT sector. The use of sustainable data centres is therefore sensible and effective for the environment. These are characterised by efficient cooling, optimised power supply and modern hardware, which reduces energy consumption.
Older hardware and systems, on the other hand, lead to significantly higher power consumption and require more cooling. They are therefore less sustainable, which is why a switch to modern, energy-efficient hardware is recommended.
Modern hardware benefits from:
The power supply, particularly UPS systems, is also frequently underestimated in terms of sustainability. Systems with lithium-ion batteries offer a longer service life, higher efficiency, greater reliability and lower maintenance requirements compared to VRLA batteries.
This can reduce both the total cost of ownership (TCO) and resource consumption. APC offers a TCO tool for this purpose, which allows the total cost of ownership of VRLA and lithium-ion UPS systems, including battery replacement, to be compared.
An uninterruptible power supply runs 24/7 – and never operates entirely without losses. With standard online double-conversion technology, the power is continuously converted from AC to DC and back again. This offers maximum protection but consumes energy: efficiency typically lies at around 94 to 97 %, and can be lower at low loads (Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 2025).
Modern UPS systems therefore offer an energy-saving or ECO mode that boosts efficiency to up to 99 %. The eConversion mode used by APC Schneider Electric, for example, reduces power loss by around three times whilst, according to the manufacturer, still achieving the same protection class (Class 1) as classic double conversion (Schneider Electric). This largely eliminates the previous conflict between efficiency and supply reliability.
Assumptions: UPS supplies an IT load of 10 kW in continuous operation (24/7) → around 87,600 kWh per year.
| Operating mode | Efficiency | Annual energy loss |
|---|---|---|
| Online double-converter | 95 % | ≈ 4.610 kWh |
| ECO/eConversion mode | 99 % | ≈ 885 kWh |
Direct saving: ≈ 3,700 kWh per year.
This results in:
Every kilowatt-hour of power loss saved is not converted into heat – this further reduces the cooling requirements of the server room. The actual total benefit is therefore even higher.
Important to note: In simple ECO mode, the load is supplied via the bypass line, which slightly reduces conditioning protection. For sensitive environments, intelligent variants such as eConversion, which combine protection and efficiency, are therefore recommended. Whether ECO mode is suitable for your system depends on the power quality and the criticality of your loads.
Even working from home on a regular basis has a noticeable effect on your electricity bill. You can expect to pay just under 90-120 euros more per year. In companies, these costs not only add up per employee, as a professional IT infrastructure comprises far more hardware and software than a home office. Saving electricity costs is often the decisive factor in implementing green IT, but in terms of sustainability, other factors are also important. After all, these costs are caused by a correspondingly high energy requirement (not always from renewable sources). This is accompanied by CO2 emissions.
One factor is the use of green electricity, as this can greatly reduce the CO2 footprint.
Another factor is the use of waste heat, as a lot of heat is generated in server rooms or data centers. If this heat is recovered, energy consumption can be reduced.
If you have ever entered a server room or even just unscrewed a computer, you will also come across a lot of metal - and therefore non-renewable raw materials. The extraction and processing of these raw materials has a major impact on climate protection.
A Bitkom study from 2022 reveals: servers represent the pinnacle of energy consumption in IT.
Thanks to the large share of renewable energy, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions showed a decline from 2018-2020. However, CO2 emissions rose again in 2021 and 2022 due to the higher proportion of coal in the German energy mix. (see German data centers continue to grow and become more efficient, as at 28.08.2023; only in german).
In a survey conducted as part of the above-mentioned study, the majority of operators of large data centers also stated that they expect them to grow. IT space, the number of servers and the associated electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are therefore expected to continue to rise.
Other IT devices also consume a lot of electricity. Another example is network switches, which have to run continuously for a network to function. You can find out how you can save electricity and reduce costs here in our blog post “Network switch: reduce power consumption and save costs”. We offer a wide range of refurbished IT devices, including switches, servers, routers and firewalls.
Thanks to generative AI, the electricity demand of data centres is currently growing faster than in almost any other sector.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centres worldwide consumed around 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2024 – approximately 1.5% of global electricity consumption. Demand has risen by an average of around 12% per year in recent years, which is more than four times as fast as overall electricity consumption. The IEA expects consumption to almost double by 2030 to around 945 TWh – roughly 3% of global electricity demand. This is roughly equivalent to Japan’s current total electricity consumption (IEA, “Energy and AI”, 2025).
The key driver is AI itself: whilst the power consumption of traditional servers is increasing by ‘only’ around 9% per year, the IEA estimates that the consumption of AI-specialised servers (so-called accelerators) is growing by around 30% per year. One often underestimated factor is that complex applications such as video generation or ‘reasoning’ models can require many times the energy of a simple text query per request.
The effect is also noticeable in Europe. The IEA expects electricity demand in the EU to rise by an average of around 2.3% per year by 2030 – data centres are among the main drivers, alongside electric mobility and heat pumps (IEA, “Electricity 2026”).
What does this mean for businesses? Green IT is therefore no longer a “nice-to-have”, but a response to the real rise in energy costs and grid loads. Every purchase avoided, every extended device lifespan and every efficiency gain in operations has a greater impact today than it did just a few years ago – simply because the sector’s electricity consumption has risen so significantly.
When it comes to the carbon footprint of IT equipment, most people first think of the electricity consumed during operation. In reality, however, the majority of emissions are generated long before a device is even switched on – during its manufacture. Experts refer to this as “grey energy” or “embodied carbon”: the CO2 that is “embedded” in raw material extraction, component manufacturing, assembly and transport, and which cannot be altered retrospectively.
A study by the Öko-Institut commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency shows just how significant this proportion is: for a laptop with a five-year lifespan, around 214 kg of CO2 equivalents are attributable to manufacturing (around 56%) and only around 138 kg to use (around 36%). Manufacturing therefore accounts for a greater share than the entire five-year operational phase (Öko-Institut / Federal Environment Agency). An analysis of around 230 laptop models concludes that 75 to 85% of a laptop’s total carbon footprint is attributable to manufacturing – primarily the motherboard, display and SSD (Circular Computing, 2026).
This leads to a finding that may seem surprising at first, but is well documented: replacing a working old appliance with a new, more energy-efficient model is usually not worth it for the climate. The Federal Environment Agency has calculated that buying a new appliance only makes ecological sense if the new model consumes at least 70% less energy and is used for six years. With realistic efficiency gains of around 10%, a device would need to be used for several decades to offset the emissions from its manufacture (Federal Environment Agency - CO2 emissions / Federal Environment Agency).
This is precisely where refurbished hardware comes in: buying a professionally refurbished device completely avoids the emission-intensive production of a new one. The embodied energy has already been ‘paid for’ – the device simply gets a second life.
Baseline figures (Federal Environment Agency, laptop, 5 years’ use):
| New purchases (50 devices) | Refurbished (50 devices) | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing emissions avoided | – | ≈ 214 kg × 50 = approx. 10.7 t CO2e |
Result: Simply by opting for refurbished rather than new laptops, around 10.7 tonnes of CO2 can be saved – this is roughly equivalent to the amount emitted by a mid-range car over a distance of around 60,000 kilometres. Added to this is the conservation of scarce raw materials such as copper, gold and rare earths, the extraction of which is particularly harmful to the environment.
Note: The figures are conservative estimates and relate to laptops. For larger devices such as desktop PCs with monitors, the Öko-Institut estimates that the manufacturing impact is as high as around 435 kg CO2e per device – the potential for savings is correspondingly greater in this case.
That is why you will find refurbished and reconditioned hardware of certified quality in our shop – from servers, switches and routers to UPS systems.
The IT remarketing and IT refurbishment are also ways of operating sustainably in the IT sector. IT remarketing refers to the resale of used hardware following certified data destruction and subsequent refurbishment. Refurbishment refers to the process of technical reconditioning, in which devices are professionally cleaned, tested and technically overhauled to ensure certified quality.
These processes can extend the lifespan of used or disused devices and conserve resources. We offer IT remarketing, whereby used hardware is purchased, refurbished and then resold for a second life. Devices that can no longer be used are disposed of or recycled by us in a professional manner. Particularly in the areas of servers, network technology and storage, this represents a sustainable alternative to purchasing new equipment. This entire process offers not only environmental but also economic benefits.
A choice of different product conditions
We offer three different product conditions, all characterised by sustainability:
There have been awards for environmental protection for some time now. Some of these also apply to IT. So far, however, there is no official regulation that firmly defines Green IT. However, you can use the strategy of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection as a guide. This offers you a recommendation for action to implement the Green IT Initiative. You can also look out for the relevant Green IT seals when purchasing new components.
The Blue Angel (Blauer Engel, as of 04.09.23), for example, is an environmental label of the Federal Government and part of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the Environmental Label Jury and RAL gGmbH. Data center operators can receive this label if they implement appropriate measures.
Energy Star label was created in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency and certifies energy-efficient IT devices worldwide, including servers, UPS systems and computers. The European Community has been involved since 2002.
The WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment) came into force on August 14, 2012. This directive is known as WEEE2 and aims to ensure the distribution and proper take-back and disposal of waste electronic equipment in the EU. All electrical appliances sold must be registered according to WEEE2 in the EU.
In addition, the Ecodesign Directive (officially 2009/125/EC) defines the requirements for the environmentally friendly design of “energy-related products” under European law. This also includes systems and devices used in the IT sector.
The RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU aims to limit substances such as lead or chromium to maximum concentration values. This restricts hazardous substances in IT equipment for all EU member states. This promotes the recycling of old electrical appliances and minimizes their impact on the environment.
In recent years, several binding sets of regulations have come into force that affect companies either directly or indirectly.
The EnEfG (Act on the Improvement of Energy Efficiency in Germany) has been in force since 18 November 2023 and places particular obligations on data centres. For facilities with a non-redundant connected load of 300 kW or more, the following apply, amongst other things (EnEfG, gesetze-im-internet.de; Bitkom guide to the EnEfG):
Current note (as of 2026): A draft bill for an amendment to the EnEfG has been available since April 2026, which could relax certain requirements – such as those relating to PUE values, waste heat recovery and reporting obligations. The exact requirements may therefore still change; it is advisable to check the latest information before making any major investment decisions (DENEFF, 2026).
The Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC) referred to in this article has been superseded: EU Regulation 2024/1781 (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, ESPR) has been in force since 18 July 2024. Unlike the old Directive, which only covered energy-related products, it applies to almost all physical products – including electronics (Federal Environment Agency, New Ecodesign Regulation).
The objectives are longer service life, improved reparability and greater circularity. At its heart is the Digital Product Passport (DPP), which will in future bundle machine-readable information on material composition, carbon footprint, and repair and recycling instructions. Specific requirements are being introduced gradually via product group-specific legal acts; for the first product groups, such as electronics and batteries, the DPP is expected from 2026 (TÜV SÜD, ESPR).
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires companies to report on their environmental and social performance. However, the EU’s ‘Omnibus I’ package (finally adopted in February 2026) significantly narrowed the scope of application and postponed the deadlines: Under the ‘Stop-the-Clock’ provision, the reporting obligation for many larger companies was postponed by two years and the threshold raised to companies with more than 1,000 employees. Many small and medium-sized enterprises are therefore exempt from the direct obligation (CSR-in-Deutschland / Omnibus I Directive 2026/470).
However, SMEs remain indirectly affected: those supplying larger, reporting-obligated companies are increasingly being asked for CO2 data and sustainability credentials – for example, along the supply chain. A sustainable IT strategy, including refurbished hardware, offers a tangible advantage here. It delivers quantifiable savings that can be directly demonstrated in supplier communications.
Benefits of Green IT
Challenges of Green IT
It is crucial that companies and individuals learn about the importance of sustainability through educational measures. These measures include training programs, workshops or information campaigns that not only impart technical knowledge about environmentally friendly hardware and software, but also the benefits of sustainable IT use.
Smart metering covers the use of resources such as water, gas and electricity. An intelligent electricity meter is used to precisely monitor energy consumption. The data is recorded very precisely and can therefore be improved. Smart metering therefore promotes a sustainable energy supply.
Smart metering can also be ideally combined with energy-efficiency monitoring and automated management systems. This allows companies to measure the energy consumption of individual devices and to analyse trends, set energy targets, and derive optimisation measures. Another advantage is the ability to identify energy-intensive devices early, before they lead to unnecessarily high costs. This is particularly beneficial in data centres or large IT environments, enabling a significant reduction in the power consumption of servers, UPS systems, and cooling solutions.
Sustainability is widely discussed in public. It is therefore not news that appropriate measures are necessary. However, not all companies have yet discovered that information technology can also be green. Digitalization helps to open up new opportunities for better resource efficiency and environmentally friendly work.
In addition to the obvious benefits - environmental protection, economic efficiency, social components - you also benefit because you are one step ahead of your competitors.
We also work with manufacturers who are committed to green IT and place great value on sustainability. These include companies such as Cisco, HPE Aruba and Juniper. In addition, we offer refurbished IT equipment from various brands, including APC and Eaton, which place particular emphasis on sustainability. On our website you will find a comprehensive and sustainable product portfolio from these manufacturers.
Would you like to find out more about implementing green IT in your company? Contact us for an individual consultation on sustainable IT. Find out how you can benefit from the advantages of environmentally friendly technologies. With Green IT, you can give your image a new direction, save money and make a valuable contribution. That's worth considering, don't you think?
PUE stands for ‘Power Usage Effectiveness’ and describes the ratio between a data centre’s total electricity consumption and the consumption of the IT equipment itself. A value of 1.0 would be ideal (no additional consumption for cooling, etc.). The Energy Efficiency Act stipulates that new data centres must have a PUE of no more than 1.2 from July 2026.
Because the majority of an IT device’s CO2 emissions are generated during its manufacture – for laptops, this ranges from around 56% to over 80%. A new, more efficient device would have to save an enormous amount of electricity over many years to offset this ‘manufacturing footprint’. Refurbished devices completely avoid the need for new production and are therefore, in most cases, the more sustainable choice.
Yes. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global electricity consumption by data centres stood at around 415 TWh in 2024 (roughly 1.5% of global consumption) and is expected to almost double to around 945 TWh by 2030. Consumption by AI-specialised servers is growing particularly rapidly, at around 30% per year. This is precisely why efficiency measures and extending the lifecycle of equipment are becoming increasingly important.
The disposal of IT equipment is a crucial factor in contributing to green IT. Responsible disposal and recycling reduce electronic waste and promote the reuse of valuable materials such as gold, silver and copper. This not only conserves resources, but also minimises pollutants such as lead and mercury. Refurbishment can also extend the product life cycle of IT equipment, so that new products are not necessarily required every time. The disposal of IT equipment can take the form of take-back or recycling programmes, refurbishment, upcycling or the recycling of electronic waste.
Green IT offers numerous advantages for companies, especially when it comes to saving costs. By using energy-efficient IT systems, a company's energy consumption can be significantly reduced. In addition, the ecological footprint is reduced and social and societal responsibility is assumed.
Green IT can be strategically integrated into company processes by:
Green IT improves the productivity and efficiency of companies by reducing energy consumption, extending the service life of IT equipment, optimizing processes and reducing the need for physical hardware.
Green IT promotes the digital transformation of companies by increasing efficiency, reducing costs, establishing sustainability as a competitive advantage and supporting compliance with regulatory requirements.
Green IT helps to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption, resulting in a lower environmental impact. It also helps companies to comply with legal requirements and environmental standards, which reduces the risk of penalties and legal consequences.
