I recently wrote an article for SearchCIO on how additive manufacturing delivers unexpected green benefits for CIOs. Here’s an excerpt:

Many CIOs these days talk about how their companies are “going green.” These days, it’s downright hip for people to showcase their organizations’ environmentally friendly and new emerging technologies. But what is green IT? Green computing is generally agreed, as explained on Whatis.com, to be the “environmentally responsible use of computers and related resources … as well as reduced resource consumption and proper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste).”

What if transportation costs and manufacturing waste on certain products could be not just reduced, but altogether eliminated? What if your home or office became a de facto manufacturing plant? Products would not have to be shipped to stores — and you wouldn’t have to drive to pick them up. It’s this thought process that drives the green IT initiative, with CIOs using technology to reduce their impact upon the planet’s resources, whether it’s through the use of solar keyboards or dunking the data center into a vat of oil.

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