Study: Computing industry not embracing green IT

A new survey of the computing industry shows a disconnect between awareness and actual application of green IT in Internet and e-commerce companies in North America and beyond.

Industry leadership group BPM Forum released results today of its Think Ecological survey of 175 IT professionals and executives from companies such as Yahoo and Time Warner in December and January. Think Ecological—a venture of BPM with Intel and Rackable Systems—aims to persuade businesses to embrace green IT strategies for data centers by promoting corporate responsibility and showing cost-cutting opportunities.

The survey showed that while 82 percent of IT professionals said their companies were more aware of ecological concerns than a year ago, 81 percent said the industry was failing to make changes to reduce energy consumption. More than 30 percent of respondents said their companies were doing nothing to embrace green IT strategies.

"There's a disconnect in the actions companies are taking to overcome the problems, and their awareness of the problems," said Jason Caori, senior marketing manager for Rackable Systems. "The survey showed a lack of leadership and a lack of people who own this agenda within companies."

Data centers consume about 2 percent of the U.S. power supply (about the same as televisions), and that figure is expected to roughly double by 2011.

The situation could be dire for the companies that deliver services using data centers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that power failures and limited power availability during the next five years will temporarily stop operations at more than 90 percent of data centers.

And researchers at Gartner said in November that nearly 50 percent of data centers worldwide will have trouble finding the electricity to run and cool equipment (see Booming data-center business creates troubles for India). Gartner suggested companies incorporate virtualization and combined heat and power technologies, also known as cogeneration, for the simultaneous production of electricity and useful heat from a single fuel source, such as natural gas, biomass, biogas, coal, waste heat or oil (see Data centers: $7B in annual energy costs).

Some of the upgrades companies could make are as simple as server upgrades, Caori said. The average server is about four or five years old. Simply using new processors and solid state hard drives could reduce energy use by more than 30 percent, he said. New hardware is being developed to withstand higher temperatures, reducing the cooling cost for data centers, he said.

And other technologies can detect inefficiencies in circulating the air that cools data centers, a field being pursued by SynapSense (see IBM rides third wave of cleantech).

"The reality is that demand for computer equipment and services is not lessening; it's growing," Caori said. "And demand grows, the power supply is not keeping up with it. That gap is not sustainable, and there needs to be a correction somewhere. If you can't decrease demand for the technology, you can increase the efficiency of the technology."

Derek Kober, program director for the BPM Forum, said the study showed a lack of awareness of available solutions, highlighting the need for third-party organizations such as BPM that can provide information. The study showed there was no common group to advise on best practices.

Additionally, many companies are focusing on minor changes to improve their carbon footprints instead of tackling substantial uses of energy and resources, he said.

"They focus on the tangible, like recycling or turning off the computer at night, or printing on two sides of a piece of paper," he said. "It's not to say those aren't important steps, but companies need to dig to the next level, not only look at day-to-day processes but look at the infrastructure driving your technology."

Kober said he was encouraged that awareness of ecological concerns had increased, with many respondents recognizing the possibilities for lowering power consumption, making better use of existing space and reducing costs. But another driver in coming months could be the good PR associated with energy reductions, he said.

"Beyond the Googles and the Amazons, which have made big announcements about their initiatives, there's not a lot of talk about the progress being made by smaller companies in these ecological practice," he said (see Google, GE team up on cleantech and Google pushes for enhanced geothermal).

The survey included input from companies across the Internet and e-commerce space, including online retail, hosting, software as a service and travel sites.

Download the report here »