Low Emission IT - The Internet Meets The Oil Crisis

Low Emission IT - The Internet Meets The Oil Crisis.

• Essential research for those involved in minimising the energy used to power IT infrastructure.
• The role of the IT manager now includes energy management.
• Companies must reduce the energy used by existing equipment.
• Small changes to procedures can have a significant impact on energy use.
• A large number of eco badging schemes have emerged in the last two years.
• Do IT managers have to balance energy and performance?
• Opportunities for vendors whose products have smart energy management features.

Until recently the energy used by IT equipment has only been of peripheral concern to computer manufacturers and PC users. However, the recent rise in oil and gas prices, combined with the explosion in the use of information technology in both the home and workplace, has focused attention on the energy required to process and store the megabytes of data we create and access each day.

This report highlights the challenges facing the IT industry as the focus shifts from the sheer processing power of IT equipment to the amount of energy consumed by data centres and networked equipment. One of these challenges is the steep learning curve IT managers have found themselves on as they get to grips with an array of initiatives and emission reduction schemes, as well as the new efficient technologies that vendors are bringing to the market.

The report also highlights niche players in the power management software and hardware market as some of the key beneficiaries of the drive to lower energy IT related energy consumption.

While manufacturers are keen to sell more equipment, and some are using the eco-badge to do this, there are a number of measures users can take to reduce the energy requirements of their IT systems without investing in new equipment. Currently this is an important consideration as the recent oil price spike has coincided with a credit crunch that in some cases makes it difficult to finance a complete upgrade of a corporate IT system.

Additionally, the report reviews a range of green computing initiatives such as Energy Star and the EU Eco-Label. Low emission computing solution providers NEC, Verdiem, Rackable Systems and Intel are also profiled in this report.

The research in this report will be of interest to:-

• IT managers.
• Data centre operators.
• IT vendors.
• PC and network technology manufacturers.
• Government IT officers.
• Eco labelling organisations.
• Energy strategists and policymakers.

Approximately 2% of the electricity produced in the US is used to power computers and other IT related equipment. If the energy required by manufacturing equipment such as microprocessors, cables and printers is included then the proportion of electricity used by the IT sector is 3%. These figures may not seem large compared to the amount of electricity used, for example, by packaging manufacturers or to power house appliances. However, the increased use of computers, driven by the introduction of new communications technologies such as the Internet, means IT related energy consumption, and the carbon emissions resulting from the conversation of that energy from fossil fuel to electricity, are rising.

A typical PC consumes 600 kWh of electricity a year. In addition to the energy used by the PCs themselves, the data centres that lie at the core of the Internet also need large amounts of electrical energy both to power equipment and to cool the rooms in which the equipment is installed. In the order of 1 billion PCs are in use worldwide and in the US over 75% of the population have some form of computing device, with replacement rates running at over 50%. The number of Internet users crossed the 1 billon mark in 2005, and this is expected to rise to 2 billion in 2011 with growth being driven by emerging markets such as China, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, and India. It is therefore the rate of growth of the IT market and not just its present size that is causing particular concern.

Concerns over the environmental impact of their products have encouraged manufacturers to jointly develop standards for low carbon emission technology. Eco-labelling is being used to encourage users to buy energy efficient computing equipment. Computer data centre managers are trying to find ways to cut the energy costs associated with data centres. Governments are encouraging equipment manufacturers to find new ways of cutting down standby power (the power consumed when a piece of equipment is idle), and consumers to switch off equipment when not in use, especially overnight.

For the IT manager, who until recently was focused on maximising the speed at which data is processed and minimising the cost of storing that data, energy use is now influencing equipment purchasing decisions.

Low emission IT has also created both challenges and opportunities for the major players within the IT industry and has provided an important boost to products that support thin client computing. A number of smaller vendors who have power management solutions have seen their products move out of what has until recently been a niche market into mainstream computing.

This report examines a range of low emission computing technologies and initiatives and assesses their impact on equipment manufacturers and organisations who intend to modify their IT infrastructure in order to minimise energy bills and to meet emissions targets.