Orbitz's Green Data Center Commitment

In researching what companies have made strategic commitments to be green, I found Orbitz efforts interesting in that they had a corporate PR message along with an article about how they are trying to go carbon neutral in their data centers. These articles are old, but are an indicator of their commitment.

Orbitz announced its Earth Day efforts, and corporate commitment on April 19, 2007.

A recent Orbitz survey* found that more than half of Americans feel the U.S. tourist industry is lagging when it comes to being "eco-friendly."

This reconfirmed the Orbitz Worldwide efforts already under way, in offices from Chicago to Sydney to London, to curb its own environmental impact, and the development, from the inside-out of eco-friendly travel tools and environmentally-focused content on-site.

"Today, Orbitz invites travelers to join our own employees around the world in making a difference when you travel," said Steve Barnhart, CEO and president of Orbitz Worldwide, a division of Travelport Ltd (www.travelport.com). "Orbitz Worldwide is committed to being a vocal proponent within the travel community, working to offset the impact our industry has on the environment, so we're enthusiastic about our partnership with a highly respected organization like CarbonFund.org and the launch of Version 1.0 of our eco-microsite."

Computerworld has an article about Orbitz's Green Data Center using Nuclear power

Orbitz, a Chicago travel Web site, has embraced environmentalism as a corporate strategy. Now Orbitz CIO Bahman Koohestani faces the challenge of trying to make the company's electricity-hungry IT operations green.

Koohestani is attacking this challenge in several ways. He's taking his IT operations carbon neutral; he's embracing server consolidation; and, he's using an aggressive technology refresh cycle to buy more energy-efficient computer equipment.

Orbitz has two large data centers in the Chicago area: Both are powered by Exelon, the Chicago area electric utility, which generates about 80% of its electricity from nuclear power plants.