IT energy use dominated by PCs and peripherals

Almost a third (30 per cent) of energy used used in IT comes from PCs and accessories, according to a report.

As a result, analyst Gartner is encouraging organisations to adopt more green policies and also lend a helping hand to those who may be aware of the power waste involved but are unsure how to tackle the problem.

It claims to have created a seven-step programme aimed at improving environmental performance throughout the PC life cycle in a bid to help make companies' IT use much greener.

The first step, as suggested by Gartner, is to “Survey your Environment.” This involves determining how much energy you use and where. From here the steps that follow involve creating a realistic green policy for the company, investing in power auditing programmes and ensuring the equipment used is power efficient and, above all, actually necessary. To show the full life cycle of a PC it ends on PC “Disposal”. This aspect can prove quite costly, so Gartner suggests businesses weigh up the price against their green policy.

“Enterprises can no longer view programmes that improve environmental performance across the PC fleet as optional," said

Stephen Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner, in a statment.

"Organisations increasingly need to establish a plan that contributes to an overall corporate environmental strategy, without interrupting end users’ operations.”

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