bwCloud-OS promotes sustainable IT through intelligent metrics monitoring
Sustainability is a key focus of the bwCloud 3 project. By replacing legacy hardware, optimizing operational processes, and expanding the systematic collection and analysis of key Green IT metrics, we are working to measurably reduce the environmental footprint of IT services at Baden-Württemberg's higher education institutions.
bwCloud-OS promotes sustainable IT through smart key performance indicator monitoring
Sustainability is a central theme of the ‘bwCloud 3’ project. By replacing outdated hardware, optimizing processes, and increasingly tracking key Green IT metrics, we are working to reduce the environmental footprint of university IT
The ‘bwCloud 3’ project is actively committed to promoting sustainability and energy-efficient IT infrastructures at colleges and universities. In addition to ongoing optimizations and hardware upgrades aimed at reducing power consumption and heat loss, we are also dedicated to developing and tracking meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs) to make environmental improvements measurable.
The KPIs and metrics identified so far that are considered key performance indicators for sound environmental management include, among others:
- ES (Electricity Savings)
- CF (Carbon Footprint)
- PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) – A measure of a data center’s energy efficiency
- WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness) – A measure of water usage efficiency
- REF (Renewable Energy Factor) – Share of renewable energy
- ERF (Energy Reuse Factor) – Share of reused energy
- FCF (Free Cooling Factor) – Proportion of free cooling without energy-intensive air conditioning
[%nIT (Proportion of sustainable IT procurement)]
However, as part of our planning process, we would like to point out in all honesty that the uniform collection of these metrics poses a challenging task due to the complex, heterogeneous structure of the bwCloud OS hardware infrastructure, which spans multiple locations and mixed operating models across data centers with varying architectures.
Developing a uniform measurement concept will therefore take some time.
The existing measurement and operational concept will be further developed in the long term with regard to feasibility and benefits and adapted to the respective circumstances.
Through the systematic analysis of Green IT metrics, we aim not only to improve internal efficiency but also to ensure comparability, achieve certifications, and establish a sustainable strategic direction.
In this way, the bwCloud-OS (IaaS) state service makes - and will continue to make - a significant contribution to the ecological transformation of IT infrastructure at colleges and universities in Baden-Wuerttemberg:
- through virtualization instead of the use of physical systems, which are often not utilized to their full capacity
- through continuous modernization of the hardware platform,
- through the measurement, evaluation, and consideration of relevant KPIs to unlock new potential for Green IT.
In the document bwCloud3_AP2.2_05-Kennzahlen_2025-11-05.pdf (bwSync&Share), you will find good reasons for collecting key performance indicators as well as an overview of the Green IT KPIs that will be used in the bwCloud in the future.
The bwCloud 3 project is actively committed to advancing sustainability and energy-efficient IT infrastructures at higher education institutions. In addition to continuously optimizing operations and replacing legacy hardware to reduce power consumption and waste heat, we are developing and collecting meaningful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure and demonstrate ecological improvements.
The Green IT KPIs identified so far as key indicators for informed environmental management include:
- ES (Energy Savings) – reduction in electricity consumption
- CF (Carbon Footprint) – greenhouse gas emissions associated with IT operations
- PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) – a measure of data center energy efficiency
- WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness) – a measure of water-use efficiency
- REF (Renewable Energy Factor) – proportion of energy derived from renewable sources
- ERF (Energy Reuse Factor) – proportion of recovered and reused energy
- FCF (Free Cooling Factor) – proportion of cooling provided without energy-intensive mechanical air conditioning
- %nIT (Sustainable IT Procurement Ratio) – percentage of sustainable IT procurements
At the same time, we would like to emphasize that establishing a consistent methodology for collecting these KPIs is a challenging task. The heterogeneous bwCloud-OS hardware infrastructure spans numerous locations, data centers with different operating models, and diverse technical environments. As a result, implementing a standardized measurement framework will require additional time.
Our monitoring and operational framework will therefore continue to evolve over the long term, taking into account both technical feasibility and practical benefits while adapting to local conditions.
By systematically analyzing Green IT KPIs, we aim not only to improve the efficiency of our own infrastructure, but also to enable benchmarking, support certification processes, and strengthen the long-term sustainability of our IT services.
Today and in the future, the bwCloud-OS (IaaS) state-wide service makes a significant contribution to the ecological transformation of IT infrastructure at higher education institutions in Baden-Württemberg by:
- replacing underutilized physical systems with highly efficient virtualization technologies,
- continuously modernizing the underlying hardware platform,
- measuring, evaluating, and incorporating relevant sustainability KPIs to identify and unlock new opportunities for Green IT.
The document bwCloud3_AP2.2_05-Kennzahlen_2025-11-05.pdf (available via bwSync&Share) provides further background on the rationale for collecting sustainability metrics and includes an overview of the Green IT KPIs that are planned to be monitored within bwCloud-OS and published as part of the bwIT Alliance.