Most organisations have taken a laid-back attitude towards energy consumption since IT has been widely adopted. Printers and photocopiers stay switched on, PCs are left running all night, and server rooms are kept at near-Arctic temperatures by air conditioning.
That’s all beginning to change. Fuel costs are spiralling, and a recent spike caused by instability in oil-exporting companies such as Nigeria briefly saw oil prices reach $100 a barrel.
The underlying trend is upwards: rapidly growing economies such as China and India are driving up demand for oil, and the Centre for Global Energy Studies predicts that worldwide demand will continue to grow at a rate of 0.9 per cent a year.
On top of that, there is increasing pressure on businesses from the European Union (EU) and government to reduce carbon emissions. The latest draft legislation from the European Commission states that the industries creating the most pollution must cut their emissions by 21 per cent by 2020. Most of this reduction will come through a carbon-trading scheme in which polluters such as power generators and oil refineries buy and sell emission permits.
“All emission trading rights will be auctioned to utility companies, starting in 2013,” says Colette Lewiner, head of energy, utilities and chemicals at Capgemini. “This means a cost to the utilities of between 20 and 30 billion euros a year.” The end result is that customers may end up paying more.
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