IT an energy waste heavyweight

By Alex Kayle, Senior portals journalist

Johannesburg, 21 Aug 2009

The IT industry is as much to blame for high carbon emissions as the aviation industry, as both industries emit 2% of the world's carbon emissions.

This is according to Tore Brynaa, business solution manager and service automation specialist at BMC Software, who spoke at the ITWeb Green IT Summit held in Bryanston this week.

He said: “Airlines use the same amount of carbon dioxide as IT operations do. And government organisations are starting to look at IT in the same light as they would at airlines, and are placing tougher regulations on them.”

Brynaa pointed out that just by controlling desktop power and screen settings, BMC Software saved $1.5 million per year on electricity.

“BMC Software estimates it emits 5 300 tons less carbon dioxide each year as a result of working smarter, using virtualisation technologies, consolidating the data centre and reducing airline travel.”

Energy drain

According to Tim James, founding director of Sustainable IT, SA is 10 years behind the rest of the world in optimising the distributed environment. He added that one PC uses as much energy in a year as the average household in SA in one month.

He said this is compounded by the problem of electricity rates expected to triple in the next three years and that it's imperative for companies to have a green IT strategy in place.

James suggested that in the near future there will be tax rebate incentives for companies that invest in energy-efficient technology, which would then have to prove a reduction in energy consumption.

Richard Sutherland, product manager for Fujitsu, said only 50% of power is utilised in a traditional data centre while the rest is wasted: “Low power technologies and better power management solutions can save costs in energy usage.”