An encouraging 92% of the 300 senior UK IT decision-makers surveyed by CBR said they wanted to make their firm’s IT infrastructure more green.
Almost half the respondents were motivated by making better use of server and storage capacity, while almost 10% were mainly looking to cut power costs.
Concern about the environment only registered as one of a host of reasons listed in the other category, mentioned as a reason for becoming more green by just three respondents out of 300.
But while general worry about climate change isn’t greatly affecting behavior, explicit government and board-level pressure are beginning to bite. Complying with the EC Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment recycling directive was cited by 16% of respondents as a major influence on IT strategy, and a similar number said they were under pressure from management to be more ethical.
Figures from the US Environmental Protection Agency make it clear why server and storage capacity is such a target area for IT. According to the EPA, US servers and data centers have doubled their electricity usage in five years, gobbling up $4.5bn of power last year, while storage power consumption grew 20% between 2000 and 2006. And the picture is no different in the UK, where the cost of power is forcing IT decision-makers to put green initiatives higher up their agendas.
