Green IT won't save the world
- TAGS:energy saving, Fraunhofer Institute, green IT
- IT TOPICS:Emerging Technology, Government & Regulation, Hardware, Management
In a study released late last month, the Fraunhofer Institute cites estimates that IT systems consume about 3% of the electricity produced in Germany. In 1999 Lawrence Berkley Labs produced a study showing that IT equipment consumed about 3% of electricity used in the United States.
Two data points at two times from two parts of the world do not make a trend, let alone a rule. Still, they do indicate that even with the most dramatic of a green revolution IT can muster, the net energy savings to society will be modest.
After all, if IT systems electricity usage went to zero here or in Germany, two of the most computer-saturated markets on the planet, the pressures on our respective national energy grids would remain.
This is not to say IT executives should dismiss green initiatives. Not at all. Most of them make economic sense. With the cost per kilowatt hour rising precipitously, not having energy-saving programs in place would be foolish management.
Just don't expect to save the world. And regulators should look beyond IT as a place to dictate real energy gains for society as a whole.
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