Leader: The IT power crisis

Everyone knows turning off the PC at the end of the day can save the company money. But who ever thought those savings could add up to £61m per year?

That's the figure quoted by some recent research into PC and electricity usage at 200 of the UK's largest publicly listed organisations.

It's yet more proof we could be facing what some are calling an 'IT power crisis'.

As energy prices soar, businesses must start to think 'green' not just for environmental or ethical reasons but for entirely pragmatic reasons - saving serious cash.

For CIOs and IT managers this means everything from making sure PCs and printers are turned off at night to evaluating just how cool the air-conditioning in the server room needs to be.

For data centres and other companies offering hosted services, the bills for keeping those services up and running 24x7 could start eating into profits - or causing price hikes. Could we soon reach the stage where energy costs are itemised on bills and passed directly onto the customers?

IT promises to make businesses more productive and efficient and thus ultimately to save money. But all that hardware runs on electricity and, if manufacturers don't start to get serious about creating 'greener' products, the energy costs alone could erase all those benefits.

Are rising energy prices impacting your business' use of IT? If so how? And how are you dealing with it? Do you worry about an IT power crisis? Let us know by posting a Reader Comment below or emailing editorial@silicon.com.