[Red Moon]

IT industry urged to address growing carbon footprint

The information and communication technology (ICT) sector in the UK has a carbon footprint as big as the aviation industry, according to a report released today.

ICT equipment accounts for 3-4% of the world's carbon emissions, says the report by Global Action Plan, which warns that growth in carbon emissions from the sector is exacerbated by government policies requiring higher levels of data to be stored.

The report found that 61% of data centres only have the capacity for two years of growth and 37% of companies are storing data indefinitely due to government policy.

It also revealed that 86% of ICT departments surveyed did not know the carbon footprint of their activities, 80% of respondents did not believe their company's data policies to be environmentally sustainable, and less than 20% have even seen their energy bills.

The report, An Inefficient Truth, is understood to be the UK's first survey to measure awareness between the use of ICT in business and its contribution to the UK's carbon footprint.

More than 60% of the chief executives, IT director and senior decision makers from 120 UK enterprises which took part in the survey said time pressures and cost were the biggest barriers to adopting sustainable ICT policies. They believed that recognised standards and tax allowances would help the sector to reduce emissions.

Global Action Plan is calling on the government to provide incentives to help companies reduce their ICT carbon footprint and to review its policies on long-term data storage to take into account the carbon implications.

It wants ICT vendors to improve the quality of their environmental information, for ICT departments to be accountable for the energy costs of ICT equipment and for companies to ensure their ICT infrastructure meets stricter efficiency targets.

Trewin Restorick, the director of Global Action and chairman of the environmental IT leadership team, said: "The average server has roughly the same annual carbon footprint as a [sport utility vehicle] doing 15 miles per gallon.

"With carbon footprint now equal to the aviation industry, ICT, and how businesses utlitise ICT, will increasingly come under the spotlight as government seeks to achieve carbon cutting commitments."

He added that ICT departments have been "slow off the mark to address their carbon footprint", but awareness was now growing.

"To turn this into action, ICT departments need help. They need vendors to give them better information rather than selling green froth, [and] they need government policies to become more supportive and less contradictory," said Restorick.

Tom Kelly, the managing director of Logicalis UK - sponsors of the report – said under-utilisation was a prime example of "energy abuse". The report found that almost 40% of servers are underutilised by more than half of their capacity.

He called on business to evaluate the efficiency of existing ICT infrastructure and improve efficiency in order to avoid legislation.

"A flabby business that guzzles budget and energy is likely to be a prime target for impending legislation," said Kelly. "In short, efficient IT equals green IT."

Source: Guardian

Makes you wonder how green is our TiBB?