IT firms are being urged to improve their energy efficiency in order to avoid a nationwide electricity shortage.

A new report from the consultancy BroadGroup, says power hungry data centres are consuming vast amounts of electricity and are threatening domestic energy supplies.

As a result it says IT companies need to radically alter the way in which they run their business and make energy reduction a key priority.

"IT's age of innocence is nearing an end," Steve Prentice from the IT research firm Gartner told the Independent. "Technology's clean and friendly 'weightless economy' image is being challenged by its growing environmental footprint."

Not only could IT companies reduce their impact on the environment by cutting their energy usage, but they will also save money by slashing their electricity bills as prices continue to rise.

But it may not be long before IT firms are forced to review their energy usage, as new legislation may require them to cut their carbon emissions.

Charlotte Eddington, a senior surveyor at CB Richard Ellis, told Computer Weekly it is only a matter of time before data centres are brought under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

This may in turn affect the design and operation of data centres in the future as energy efficiency become an ever more pressing issue.


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