Tech firms get green by trimming big energy bills

Larry Longseth

Published March 24, 2007 at midnight

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Colorado generates nearly 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, primarily from increased coal combustion. That's according to an analysis of government data released by the Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center last year.

Additionally, fossil fuel power plants gulp 20 billion gallons of Colorado's limited water resources annually, and soaring gas prices are driving oil and gas companies to drill pristine lands. In all, global warming pollution has jumped 221 percent in Colorado in the past 40 years, according to the analysis, continually contributing to the deteriorating state of the environment and the effect that has on global economies.

And the International Energy Agency says worldwide demand for oil will increase by more than 50 percent by 2030, as access to energy helps spur economic growth. But as gas, coal and oil prices remain volatile, it is time to reconsider how best to use energy resources in order to help sustain our economy and protect the environment.

The business community has an important role to play in this transition, as companies today move far beyond purchasing recycled paper and using new energy-efficient lighting to adopting new technologies that lower power consumption. Information technology has become essential to most businesses but has its own environmental and energy costs - the power needed to run computer servers is rising 15 percent annually.

By 2010, industry analysts predict there will be more than 16 million servers installed in the United States and more than 35 million worldwide. In fact, IT departments are now spending more on power and cooling than hardware itself.

New software allows business to measure power usage in computer servers, allowing them to use their available power more efficiently than ever before. For instance, thanks to power management software, the latest high-end computers use only 20 percent of the energy needed by previous generations of servers to do the same work. Such savings create a huge economic impact on the state when you consider that Colorado Springs is recognized as one of the key U.S. cities that companies consider for planning new data centers.

And the IT industry continues to look for ways to develop new energy- efficient technologies - 11 IT companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Intel and AMD, have formed the "Green Grid" to work together to determine how data centers can improve power utilization and reduce energy costs.

CIOs and IT companies aren't alone in rethinking energy strategies. Companies that provide the energy are implementing more efficient and cleaner ways to find, extract and produce energy from existing sources, petroleum and coal.

In the end, collaboration by industry, government, researchers and consumers will produce develop and use new innovations that reduce energy consumption and protect the environment - no one of them can do this alone. Meanwhile, technology providers and users have a responsibility to embrace energy-efficient solutions.

Green technology is good business and, by working together, Coloradans can set an example for the entire nation.

Larry Longseth is senior state executive for IBM's 5,500 Colorado employees.

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