UK companies green about environmental impact

Although almost two-thirds of UK companies have green policies, few of their IT departments are proactively seeking to reduce their power use and carbon emissions.

This lack of action is partly down to the fact that 89% of UK organizations don't know how much power their IT department consumes, and only 12% of businesses actually charge their IT departments directly for power use, according to a UK survey by business and IT consultancy Morse.

Given that 76% of organizations haven't set targets for energy use reduction, it's hardly surprising that the IT department are so apathetic. Without knowing their power usage, it's difficult for IT departments to set meaningful targets for their reduction.

Green initiatives don't have a line linking it to the IT. It's not connected to anything, it's not measured, so they can't talk about what they are spending in comparison to a year ago, said Morse consultant Tim Turquand.

He said companies need to take a longer term view, not just looking at the price tag of a new server, but how much power it uses, as well as looking at areas such as virtualization and redeployment of kit. Above all, green strategy needs to be company-wide, incorporating IT.

It's very much a case of saying one thing and doing something different. There's a green strategy, but in reality it's not linked to IT strategy, he said.

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