International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),

ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY &

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (IJITMIS)

ISSN 0976 6405(Print)

ISSN 0976 6413(Online)
Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22
IAEME: http://www.iaeme.com/IJITMIS.asp
Journal Impact Factor (2014): 6.2217 (Calculated by GISI)
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IJITMIS
IAEME

A STUDY ON GREEN COMPUTING BEHAVIOR

WITH PROBABLE SUGGESTION FOR
COMFORTABLE ADOPTION IN UAE
Dr. Beenu Mago1,

Dr. Samar Habib Khan2

(University of Modern Sciences, Al Twar 3, Dubai, U.A.E)

(Department of Business, University of Modern Sciences, Al Twar 3, Dubai, U.A.E)

ABSTRACT
The concern for green computing is emerging by every passing day. It refers to
correlating the business objective of earning maximum profit with minimum cost with social
objective of being environmental friendly. This concept is having a very vital effect on the
Information technology system of the company. Since all the organizations are depending on
IT for its operations and growth so the awareness and implementation of Green Computing
principles is also topic of interest for organizations as it helps in their economic and
environmental sustainability. This paper studies the awareness of green computing principles
among the employees in U.A.E. This study focuses on printing behavior, page formatting
techniques and provides a model to the organizations that help them to make strategies
related to green computing without investing any money.
Keywords: Environment Sustainability, Economic Sustainability, Green Computing,
Green IT, Green Printing.
1. INTRODUCTION
Since Information technology plays an important role in almost all aspects of
business, and as each stage of the IT process in all the organizations and its usage and
disposal can result in environmental loss, then demands for environmental sustainability
should naturally be extended to IT too. This concern, though somewhat late in coming, has
led some successful companies to turn to a sustainable practice known as Green
Computing. When the term green computing is heard then first impression that comes in
mind is environment friendly but actually it implies to more than that. The term not only
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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

covers environmental concern but also considers the cost aspect of an organization. This
suggests that organizations need to create a system for distinguishing and executing vitality
effective arrangements that will diminish expenses, increase operational execution, and
guarantee long sustainability, manageable profitability. Organizations of all sizes and in all
commercial ventures are feeling the weight to streamline their operations to spare money and
at the same time take care of the developing demand for ecological obligation and
responsibility. With organizations from Dell to Wal-Mart substantively concentrating on
"green" activities, the developing natural viewpoint through which companies are both
viewing and advancing themselves is presently an agreeable piece of the business standard.
Executives and consumers indistinguishably have arrived at the acknowledgment that their
activities have an impact on the surroundings, which can be followed back to the inceptions
of the items they are assembling or obtaining. One can no more overlook the way that all
organizations have an effect they affect the nature's domain, different organizations,
neighborhood groups and they affect the lives of their workers. [1]
So as to be responsible for their effect, organizations should first distinguish where
inefficiencies lie and how they can address them. From that point they can secure a corporate
social responsibility guide which measures the ecological and environment effect and
additionally expanded efficiency and expense reserve funds.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
There are many researches already done on green computing and its impact.Green
computing is an umbrella term referring to environmentally sound information technologies
and systems, applications and practices.
San Murugesan [2] proposed that green processing as the study and practice of
outlining, assembling, utilizing and discarding machines, servers, and related subsystems
such screens, printers, storage devices, and networking and communication frameworks
productively and adequately with insignificant effect on environment. Green computing
likewise strives to accomplish monetary suitability and enhanced framework execution and
utilization, while submitting to our social and moral responsibilities. The general standards
for manageable quality are the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. These 3 Rs group the
methodologies as per the coveted request of utilization. It is preferable to lessen over reuse,
and preferred to reuse over recycle [3]. IT can create a more sustainable environment by
making business operations energy efficient and providing platforms for eco-management
and emissions trading [3]. The 3 Rs reduce the business expenses.
Green computing may be characterized as examination into and the application of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in an effective and environmentally
correct manner According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), green computing
brings the green heading off to the field of data engineering it additionally urges individuals
to adjust and take activity in the green environment. EPA likewise enlightens the individuals
concern as how they can harm the nature's turf by their IT-related choices [4]. It additionally
helps the associations to investigate the types of items that are made for green computing and
are environment well-disposed and make organizations mindful as how green computing can
be more vitality effective.
According to Harmon and Auseklis [5], one of the goals of green computing is to
lessen IT's energy utilization and in this way the expense of computing. All the more as of
late, the linkage of energy utilization with carbon era and hoisted worries about IT's effect on

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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

the nature and potential commitment to environmental change has empowered decreasing
energy utilization to be situated as 'green'.
As per Murugesan and Gangadharan, Green Computing passed through two waves:
The first wave of Green Computing was centered on rethinking and re-engineering of IT
items and process such that they are agree-ability with the green registering necessities. The
second wave of green figuring is remotely centered and engages a scope of other green
activities went for lessening ecological debasement and reducing Green House Gases (GHG)
emanations. So green computing can be executed utilizing and adjusting one or more
distinctive routines. Murugesan and Gangadharan said that each fringe and hub of IT can be
greened. Pcs, /servers, datacenters note pads, laptops, switches, printers, stockpiling gadgets,
programming and fittings these peripherals can be made environment benevolent and green.
For instance, Printers energy utilization can be controlled and that when it does not utilize
possibly it is off or situated to energy utilization mode. One can make make the printer ecofriendly by utilizing it within such a path, to the point that it helps towards the green activity.
As companies explore ways to reduce their carbon footprint and minimizecosts,
resolving inefficiencies associated with printing is unsurprisingly at thetop of the list. It is
estimated that the average employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper a year [6].This volume of
paper has an obvious environmental impact, and is a considerable expenditure for an
organization of any size.According to a Citigroup-Environmental Defense study, the actual
cost ofprinting is 13 to 31 times the purchase price of the paper used, orsomewhere between
$.06 and $.13 per page [6]. At the low end of that range, the average employees printing
costs the company $600 per year and at thehigh end $1,300. A substantial portion of this cost
goes to pages employeesnever even intended to print. A study conducted by Lexmark found
that anaverage of 17% of everything printed was considered waste [7] pages the user didnt
want. There also may be an opportunity to save paper and ink by using different fonts. An
analysis performed by the University of Wisconsins IT Department concluded that Century
Gothic, Size 11 was the best for saving ink and toner. Other ink saving fonts include: Times
New Roman, Size 12, Calibri, Size 11, Verdana, Size 11[8]
This paper examines how to achieve both environmental and cost-saving objectives
by concentrating on one of the key areas that is printing and formatting requirements before
printing a document that can otherwise lead to unnecessary environmental and financial
waste. The present paper aims to study the awareness of green computing principles among
the employees in UAE. The researchers studied the employees knowledge about the
formatting and printing features like Page Orientation, Printing without background, Line
Spacing, double sided printing Margins, Fonts size and style. The researcher also studied
what will be the result of implementing above features on the environment and economic
sustainability of the organization and at the end, researcher proposed a model to help the
organizations to formulate different strategies they need to develop for comfortable adoption
of green computing.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Instrument Design
The structured questionnaire was designed and used in order to conduct current study.
The scale was taken from the research study of Steven Mines and their questions were used in
the current survey. Wording and some questions are modified depending upon the
requirement of current study. Questionnaire was designed in four parts basically:
Demography, Printing Behavior, Green Computing Policies awareness and Page formatting.
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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

3.2 Pretest and Pilot Study

For checking the reliability of instrument, the researchers have taken 100 respondents
from different organizations. Questionnaires were distributed to those respondents to check
the reliability of the instruments. Cronbachs coefficient alpha test is used to check the
reliability of the instrument using SPSS 19.0. The test shows that the value of Cronbach alpha
for the current pilot study is .859 which indicates a strong internal consistency among the
variables. A Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.7 and higher is adequate and signifies high
reliability [9]. Therefore, the questions used were concluded as reliable.
3.3 Sample
The employees who are working in different private and public sector in UAE
become the respondents of the current study. These questionnaires are distributed to them
through email and through online website. For current study, 95 per cent confidence, i.e.
answers from the sample are 95 per cent close to the reality, was taken. 600 questionnaires
were distributed to those organizations in UAE. Out of these, only 180 questionnaires were
returned and only 160 were complete and useful for study. This means that there is a
moderate response rate of 30%.
4. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
This section presents the results and conclusions of the study being conducted. There
were 160 responses of the questionnaire and based on that the data is calculated, analyzed and
presented.
4.1. Demographic Details
The data collected shows that there were 96 males (60.3%) and 63 females (39.7%)
which indicate that results of this study are not dependent on specific gender. Further data
analysis shows that the out of 160 respondents, 21 belonged to the age group of 15-20
(13.13%), and 80 belonged to the age group of 21-24(50%) and 59 belonged to the age group
of 25 and older (36.87%).As the respondents belong to different age group, their response is
very significant as it gives strong evidencefor current study that indicates that whether the
employees are following any policies while printing or not. This further helps the researcher
to explore whether the employees are aware of green computing principles.
4.2 Awareness of Green computing Policies
In this section, respondents were asked about the existing policy or strategy about
green computing in their organization as how much organization are aware about the
environmental and cost concerns of computing? As per the data, out of 160 total 68
respondents said that they have policies regarding the implementation of Green computing,
since it consists 42.5 % of our total response thus it can be said that there is some awareness
in the society and many organizations and institutions are doing their best. But as more than
half of total observed population is still not having any concern or idea of the problem that is
why menace is still a challenge.
4.3 Printing Behavior
This section of questionnaire examines the user behavior and knowledge about
eco-print, Printer settings, Low cartridge warnings.

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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

4.3.1. Eco-Print
According to the analysis of the data, most of the people (52 %) use only one side of
the paper to print which means that double of the papers is getting wasted. Both side printing
will directly reduce the cost of paper up to 50 percent and hence helps the organization to
take part in green computing. 38% of the data collected do not print their notes which again
can be regarded as a good behavior towards green computing.
4.3.2. Printer settings
The data collected shows that the majority of the users (46%) do not change the
printer settings like ink-saver or toner-saver or printing in draft mode. Most printers come
with a user-friendly software interface that access and tweak many of the above printer's
functionality.
4.3.3. Low-cartridge warnings
Its been observed from the data that almost every second person (55%) gets attention
of the warnings a computer gives while changing the cartridge but the fact is that warnings
which a given color cartridge is running low and needs to be replaced often start well before
then the ink level is actually a problem. The accuracy of such warnings can vary greatly
between printer brands and models, and one doesn't want to waste ink and money by
replacing the cartridges too soon.
4.4 Page Formatting
This part of questionnaire includes questions related to Font, Font Style, Margins,
Line Spacing.
4.4.1 Font and Font Style
The data collected shows that 81 % of the respondents print their documents as it is
without changing its font and font style that includes bold and italics. This shows that
respondents are not aware of the fact that if they do printing with fonts other than Times New
Roman and Size 12 or less and with font style bold or italics, it results in wastage of ink and
paper. If it is taken care organizations can contribute to save the environment and fulfils their
social responsibility.
4.4.2. Margins
As observed among 76% of total respondents do not make any changes in the default
margins of a paper. Though if we notice that default margin given in many settings for a
normal A4 size paper is 1 inch per side and if its reduced to just 0.5 inch or even 0.75 inch,
which is not a big deal, then almost 65 to 80 percent of printing area of available space will
be increased, which is in fact a big deal.
4.4.4. Line Spacing
Line spacing is also one of the points of concern which is not considered by 88% of
total observed respondents. They follow the default settings and dont change it. Although the
standard default line spacing set by majority of Microsoft word software is 1.0 unit but if its
being reduced by just 0.05 unit and would change as 0.95 unit then after every 20 lines an
extra line can be gained which ultimately makes the total document as 5% shorter than the
default one [11].

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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

4.5 Analysis of collected Data

The data collected shows that the employees working in UAE have little awareness to
the green computing. There is need to communicate them how their behavior can contribute
significantly towards the green computing.
Assuming there are 1000 employeeson average who are using printing services in the
organization and every employeeare taking 20 pages print outs on average per day. So the
total pages printed in organization in one day are 20,000. Imagine cost of every page is for
0.25 Dhs.
Table 1: Cost Saving in terms of paper
No Of Pages Price of one
Cost
paper
1. Single Sided
20,000
0.25 Dhs
5000Dhs
2. Double Sided
10000
0.25 Dhs
2500Dhs
3. Single Line spacing
6500
0.25 dhs
1625 Dhs
4. No Bold, Reduce
9000
0.25 Dhs
2250Dhs
Font size
5. Full Margins
8000
0.25 Dhs
2000 Dhs
6. Formatting
7000
0.25 Dhs
1750Dhs
If all(1,2,3,4,5,6)
6000
0.25 Dhs
1500 Dhs

Saving
0 Dhs
2500Dhs
3375Dhs
2750Dhs
3000Dhs
3250Dhs
3500 Dhs

The above table shows how the number of papers can be reduced and hence the cost is
also reduced by adopting some eco printing behavior. These eco-printing behaviors of
employees results in economic sustainability of the organization.

Particulars

Table 2: Environmental Sustainability

In Metric Unit
In English Unit (USA)

Type of Paper
Dimension of Single sheet
of Paper
Weight of Paper
Weight of single sheet
Type of Tree
Weight of the tree

Copying Paper

Copying Paper

A4 (210x297mm)

Letter (8.5"x11")

70 gm/m2

20 lbs for 500 sheets of

17"x22"

70*0.21*0.297 = 4.366
gm

20*8.5*11/(500*17*22) =
0.01lb

Pine

Pine

600*1.77= 1040 Kg

59*35 = 2064 lb

Number of sheets produced

520*1000/4.366
= 119100
Source: http://www.paperonweb.com/A1011.htm

10320/0.01 = 103200

The above data shows that 119100 pages are produced by cutting one tree. Therefore
saving paper also results in saving trees. As Per the above source 119100 pages are produced

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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

by cutting one tree hence if we reduce the paper consumption. It will result in reducing the
trees cut and hence helpsto keep the environment save.
4.6 Proposed Model
On the Basis of Literature review and data collected, Researchers proposed the
following model for the organizations. This model will help them to define their policies that
will result in more profit.

Figure 1: Proposed Model

The proposed model of Green Computing has five parameters: Font Size and Type,
Printing without Background, Line Spacing, Margins and Eco Printing that are part of green
computing and that contributes to Economic, and Environmental Sustainability of the
organizations. As well as it helps the organizations to contribute to corporate Social
responsibility. Eco Printing can contribute to Green Computing. Similarly in the way that
when we use double side printing, we keep single space, 12 px and Times New Roman as the
formatting then the organizations can gain environmental and economic benefits. Ink Usage
also contributes to the Green computing significantly [12]. Thus organizations should make
policy to take black and white printouts unless and until not required specifically. Similarly,
employees should be provided a workshop on how to do various settings before taking
printouts. For example line spacing and margins should be reduced before taking printouts.
Moreover font size should be reduced to save ink and paper. Print in Draft mode except when
presentation-quality output is required. Wherever possible, print in black and white instead of
color. If your printer supports duplex printing, using it will enable you to save paper [13].
Most business printers sold todayand many consumer printers as wellinclude (or offer as
an option) an automatic duplexer, which lets you print on both sides of a sheet of paper.
Several vendors now sell their laser printers with duplex printing as the default mode. Duplex
(two-sided) printing is both eco-friendly and economical. Of note, although Century Gothic
has a thinner letter and used less ink, the letters themselves are wider which may lead to more
paper use thereby negating the ink savings due to increased paper purchases [14].

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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

Although, the green computing covers more then what is studied in this research but
still it is an effort to implement green computing without including more investment from
organization. Moreover its the social responsibility of every organization to contribute to
Green computing.
This study is confined to UAE region so the results in specific are applicable to UAE
organizations but in general can also be used and adopted by other organizations also as an
initiative to adopt green computing.
5. CONCLUSION
A recent study by Xerox showed that 45% of the paperprinted in offices ends up in
the bin by the end of the day.This less-than-one day lifespan is the fate of a trillion sheetsof
paper per year, worldwide [15]. The cumulative cost of formsis staggering. In the USA, they
are estimated to cost up to$120 billion per year, yet a third of all forms are outdatedbefore
they are used, and thus end up as waste. Such examplesare not only a tragedy for the trees the longest-livedorganisms on this planet that meet this fate. It is also quitesimply a waste
of money [16].These results are also supporting our studies. It is evident that US, UK and
other countries are also started following Green Computing Principles. As far as UAE is
concerned, there is need to generate more awareness about Green Computing principles and
policies among employees and organizations
The concept of green computing is not just a behavior but a technology in itself.
Adoption of it in order to be more environmental friendly and cost effective is just an effort
to be a better organization. The new and better ways of adopting this technology seems to
appear more in todays world. However, this research focused on only one of the major
principles through which green computing can be comfortably adopted that is printing.The
main concern of the research is to give probable and easy recommendations which would
enhance the adoption of green computing in almost every organization of UAE. Many efforts
suggested in this study can be accepted by the users themselves.
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International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN 0976 6405(Print),
ISSN 0976 6413(Online), Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp. 14-22 IAEME

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