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It used to be that energy was such a commodity that organisations would put as much thought into power consumption as into boiling a kettle. But as climate change takes the political centre stage, the IT industry and businesses in general, are waking up to a looming power crisis. Consumers have been switching off the television at source and recycling their household waste for years and businesses are under mounting pressure now to develop more responsible approaches. CIOs are being asked to account for ever-increasing energy bills and prepare for a tide of environmental legislation.

Two factors are focusing boardroom attention on power issues. First is the direct impact of rising energy prices and costs associated with the growing reliance on automation through IT. Second is pending legislation to control the unsustainable burden of power consumption and electronic waste, and the unknown effect it will have on the policy, strategy and development of the IT business function. “IT’s age of innocence is nearing an end,” says Steve Prentice, chief of research at Gartner. “Technology’s clean and friendly ‘weightless economy’ image is being challenged by its growing environmental footprint. While a number of regulations are already increasing the end-of-life costs for IT equipment, IT also has to face mounting concerns over spiralling electrical power consumption.”

Adding fuel to the fire

This is not least because energy prices are rising at an unprecedented rate, while supply is falling. Power cuts may not seem a realistic near-term prospect, but the signs indicate that the IT department should prepare for the worst.

The European Energy Markets Observatory Report, published last year, warned of electricity shortages as rising demand exceeds capital utility infrastructure investment.

The UK featured alongside France, Belgium and Greece in the report as the countries with the lowest levels of spare capacity. It found the average margin between electricity supply and demand fell to its lowest ever figure of 4.8 per cent in 2005 and early 2006, a full one per cent lower than the 5.8 per cent margin in 2004.The report said increasing consumption and the lack of capital investment by domestic energy operators was exacerbated by more extreme weather conditions.