IT companies focus on climate change

13:43 11th July 2008

IT companies are increasingly concerned with the environmental effects of data centres, according to a leading IT figure.

The marketing director at OnRelay, Peter de Schulthess, told the Financial Times that heat efficiency is becoming a big problem for data-centre operations - as focus is increasingly directed to the environmental effectiveness of the IT industry.

According to a report by the Global Action Plan 1,000 PCs running continually can consume as much as £70,000 worth of electricity a year - with every unit of electricity consumed by the computer, a further half a unit is required to dispel the heat given off.

Mr de Schulthess said: "Companies are looking for ways to separate power conversion from computer processing.

"Most hardware combines these but mobile (cooling) devices are much more efficient. In these cases, the business requirement lines up with the environmental benefit."

The Global Action Plan, created in 1993, helps thousands of people and organisations make practical changes that create environmental and financial savings.

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