Canadian Technology news discusses a Green IT summit in Calgary.

"We generally change for one of two reasons – inspiration or desperation," business philosopher and best-selling author Jim Rohn once said.

The same principle, it seems, holds true in the realm of green IT.

If positive reasons don't do the trick, then the dire consequences of environmentally unsustainable practices will soon cause North American companies to change their ways.

That's likely to be a key message emerging from the Green IT Summit that flags off in Calgary today – going by the pre-summit interviews that ITBusiness.ca did with some of the participants.

An analyst at The 451 Group makes the point.

“IT has to work quickly to become green or we're a black eye to those that want to be green,” he says. And there's a lot of work to be done.

Wacker has even invented his own law to explain datacenter power inefficiency: “Anything that is free or inexpensive is misused.”   

Servers, he says, have long fit into that category.

In this year's Oscars, there are specifics on what they did this year to be green.

With support from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 100% of the energy used for the telecast, the red-carpet arrivals show and the Governors Ball will be supplied by renewable windpower.

All of the generators used for the production, for press support and the red carpet arrivals area are powered by a fuel mix that includes biodiesel.

Among the vehicles made available by General Motors for use by production staff and presenters are zero-emission hydrogen-powered cars and hybrids.

Nearly all food serviceware for events associated with the Awards Presentation is either reusable or biodegradable/compostable.

The programs, invitations, RSVP cards, envelopes, parking passes and other printed materials include a minimum of 30% postconsumer recycled content.

This is much better than last year's announcement where they told the audience how they should be greener, but gave little specifics on their own Green efforts.

They make no mention of the IT equipment, but they do have executive support for their Green efforts and partnership with the NRDC.

Hollywood – Building upon work initiated a year ago, Academy President Sid Ganis announced today that ecologically intelligent practices have once again been incorporated into the planning and execution of the upcoming 80th Annual Academy Awards presentation on Sunday and related events.

The Academy’s green initiative, which includes several energy-saving strategies, is being carried out in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-partisan environmental and advocacy organization.

“Last year, in planning and producing the Oscar® show, we chose supplies, resources and services designed to reduce Oscar’s ecological footprint,” said Ganis. “This year, with the guidance and support of the NRDC, we’ve been able to do even more.”