Nonprofits Weigh Green Technology Survey
Executive Summary
Background
The purpose of this survey was to determine the following:
- The current availability of green technology information and services.
- Current knowledge of green practices.
- Interest level in green tech and services by nonprofits.
The survey ran on TechSoup from March 3rd 2008 till March 25th 2008. There were a total 291 respondents.
Who took the survey?
There was a very good cross-section of respondents to this survey. In past surveys, over 60% of respondents had budgets below $1 Million. In this survey there was a broader representation of budget sizes with a roughly 50-50 split between organizations with budgets below and over $1 Million.
Based upon the high response rate of organizations that offer environmental programs and currently use or have used recycled and/or refurbished computers, it can be concluded that the respondents are the environmentally converted.
A surprising 39% of organizations currently offer environmental programs and services.
The organizations that are offering environmental programs are not limited to the environmental organizations that you would expect to be offering environmental programs. There were several other groups such as organizations serving youths, educational organizations and civic engagement organizations.
Information on green technology is not perceived to be widely available.
Only 16.4% of respondents reported that information was available or very available. Another 17.2% reported that they were not sure. Over 55.9% of respondents reported that they found out about green technology through word-of-mouth.
There is a great deal of interest in information and products and services that will assist organizations in being green.
| Useful information? | Not at all valuable | Somewhat valuable | Valuable | Very valuable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diminishing paper use | 3.8% | 14.5% | 37.6% | 44% |
| Diminishing electricity or power use for office equipment | 4.3% | 17.1% | 38% | 40.6% |
| Proper electronic recycling | 3.8% | 18.4% | 42.3% | 35.5% |
| Green IT equipment purchasing | 2.6% | 20.9% | 45.7% | 30.8% |
| Other products that save energy consumption (energy star) | 4.3% | 18.8% | 47% | 29.9% |
| Decreasing computer server power consumption | 9.4% | 26.1% | 35.9% | 28.6% |
| Video conferencing and other technologies that decrease the need to travel | 17.1% | 27.4% | 27.4% | 28.2% |
All of the categories of information got at least 50% of respondents reporting that the information would be helpful or very helpful. Over 70% of respondents reported that the following information would be valuable or very valuable: diminishing paper use, diminishing electricity or power use for office equipment, proper electronic recycling and green IT purchasing.
Respondents reported primary interest in products that reduced paper and power usage rather than services.
| Products and services? | Not at all interested | Somewhat interested | Interested | Very interested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Efax server or online service (turns incoming faxes in to digital documents) | 17.5% | 31.2% | 32.1% | 19.2% |
| Smart power strips (automatically turns off equipment when its not being used) | 6.8% | 23.9% | 36.3% | 32.9% |
| Eco printing software (that reduces paper use) | 4.3% | 17.9% | 48.3% | 29.5% |
| Video or web conferencing equipment or services (to reduce travel) | 17.5% | 32.9% | 28.6% | 20.9% |
| Low wattage computer equipment | 3% | 26.9% | 44% | 26.1% |
| Reduced toxics computer equipment | 3.8% | 23.1% | 40.6% | 32.5% |
| Factory refilled printer toner and ink | 8.1% | 20.9% | 37.6% | 33.3% |
| IT hosting services (to save you having to install and maintain server equipment) | 32.1% | 27.8% | 26.1% | 14.1% |
Over 70% of organizations reported that they were interested or very interested in Eco-printing software, low wattage computer equipment, reduced toxics computer equipment and factory refilled printer toner and ink. By contrast, IT hosting services and efax server or online server had much less interested.
Not surprisingly money is the bottom line for organizations when they make hardware and software purchases.
Price and Expense of installation was reported by over 70% of respondents as being important or very important for both software and hardware purchases. Ease of use was also reported as being an important aspect.
Survey respondents are using recycled and refurbished computers at high rates.
64% of respondents reported that they have or currently use recycled or refurbished products. More than 80% reported that they were somewhat satisfied to very satisfied with their hardware products but identified issues with technical support and system reliability. At TechSoup we are working hard on addressing these obstacles both in our own Refurbished Computer Initiative (RCI), and in the area of refurbishment standards for the computer refurbishing field.
