EU presents new law to meet 2020 energy efficiency target

We welcome the news that the European Commission is pushing public administrations and private companies to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020. One of the fastest ways in which organisations can become energy efficient is to look at their IT infrastructure.
It is well known that there is a fundamental difference between capital improvements (replacing building components for example) and operational improvements (deploying efficiency software). Capital improvements have decade-long ROI, while software improvements can payback in months. At 1E, we believe that an efficiency audit is the first step to greater IT efficiency. A CIO should take it upon him or herself to become agents of efficiency and seek out opportunities to save costs related to unused hardware, software, excess energy use and time.
On hearing the news, Monica Frassoni, president of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE), of which 1E is a founder member, yesterday said:
“The proposal is half-hearted. The European Commission did not fulfil its commitment to replace binding targets with binding measures and has missed out a huge opportunity to save significant amounts of energy and money – at a time when we need both the most. In the next months, we will support the European Parliament and the most progressive members of the European Council in their effort to strengthen its provisions in terms of targets and concrete measures – the technologies exist, business is asking for regulation and they are ready to invest; it’s a policy maker’s dream. I cannot understand why the EU continues to keep Energy Efficiency in the sidelines of European policy,” she concluded.
Frassoni is right about the fact that energy efficiency technologies exist today – not only that; they generate fast returns.
1E customers have had significant success with making significant IT efficiencies. CSC has reduced its PC energy consumption by 40% just by implementing advanced power management technology on its estate of computers. Leading structural engineering firm Arup saved 442 metric tonnes of CO₂, again by taking the simple step of power managing its PCs. What’s more, as well as seeing impressive energy efficiencies, our customers see significant cost reductions. Watch this video to hear how Dell is saving $2.4m year on year. Beyond the PC, organisations can make significant savings in the data center too. CSC went on to engage with 1E and found that of 68 servers, 22% were wasting over 80% energy – and remember, for every watt of power saved in the data center, you save another in cooling, so there is potential to make double the savings. You can read the full CSC case study here.