Green IT vs. Green IS

From: Jenkin, Webster & McShane, 2009

Green IT, which addresses energy consumption and waste associated with the use of hardware and software, tends to have a direct impact. Examples of Green IT applications include improving the energy efficiency of hardware and data centers, consolidating servers using virtualization software, and reducing the waste associated with obsolete equipment (Boudreau, Chen, & Huber, 2008).

Green IS, on the other hand, refers to the development and use of information systems to support or enable environmental sustainability initiatives and, thus, tends to have an indirect impact. Examples of Green IS applications include: collaborative group software and telepresence systems to enable remote meetings and reduce the environmental impacts associated with travel; environmental information systems (EIS: http://www.isess.org/) to track and monitor environmental variables such as waste, emissions, toxicity, water consumption, and carbon footprints; and supply chain systems to optimize product routing and transportation, thus reducing the amount of energy consumed moving products (Boudreau et al., 2008).