In 2008 International Science Grid stated that 4% of the world’s CO2production was due to Information & Communications Technology (ICT), that this was about the same amount of GHG (greenhouse gases) produced by the airline industry, and that of that 4% Gartner Group says that 25% came as a result of commercial and private datacenters. In 2008 the world’s GHG output was, according to the German renewable energy industry institute IWR, 31.5 x109, or 31.5 billion metric tonnes. So, 1% of the world’s total GHG emissions amount to 31.5 x 106 metric tonnes (315,000,000 million) and that amount was the result of just one source, private (corporate/government) and commercial datacenters. That’s not the whole story though. ICT is increasing at a logarithmic pace and as it increases so too does the contribution to Global Climate Change (GCC) from datacenters. The more efficient we make our ICT devices and infrastructure, the lower the cost to the consumer and hence the greater the demand for those devices (see Khazzoom-Brookes); the greater the demand for ICT, the more load is put on datacenters, the higher the contribution of the industry to GHG totals.
What all that means is that the looming carbon trading schemes, carbon taxes, cap and trade, and whatever else comes into play to lower GHG, will greatly impact the cost of running a datacenter. That cost will be passed on, either directly or indirectly, to the data center’s customers. We will deal with specifics in the next post, but you need to know that when one of the world’s richest persons, the person most singly responsible for the explosion of the ICT industry, Bill Gates, expounded at TED 2010 (a gathering of some of the world’s most influential thinkers and researchers) on the imminent need for us to get to zero carbon, or when companies such as Exxon Mobile are talking about the need for carbon taxes, then these shifts in the way business is done are coming and they will affect you. Whether that effect will adversely affect you or not will depend on the mitigation process you start now. The single biggest step, with the greatest positive ROI, that you can take, is to commit to a datacenter that itself is committed to green energy and green practices. Identify the leaders in that field and move your ITC infrastructure into their facilities while you can. The demand is growing, the field is small and space is and will continue to be, limited. The question to ask yourself is, “Who will make he move first, you or your competition?”
About Brian Fry
Brian is a driving force behind the development of Canada's first truly "green" datacenter, RackForce's GigaCenter in Kelowna, BC. This facility, engineered with input from IBM's Big Green team and powered by a hydro-electricity, delivers large-scale, technologically-advanced infrastructure for disaster recovery, colocation, and cloud/virtualization computing demands, and it sets the standard for green datacenters.
Brian launched his first technology company in Vancouver in 1985, and spent the Internet boom years in California. In 1997, Brian and his family left the traffic and pollution of California behind and returned to the safe, clean and green interior of BC. Brian became a partner in PowerLink Internet Services, which quickly grew into one of the largest ISPs in British Columbia, and was sold to Internet Direct in 1999. A short time later, Brian co-founded IPWorld Networks with Tim Dufour. This established a successful partnership, and in 2001, Brian and Tim co-founded RackForce. Brian and Tim have created a company that has significant business relationships with IBM and Microsoft, and that provides environmentally sustainable Dynamic Datacenter Services to a world-wide customer base. Brian is an outdoor enthusiast, and his passion for skiing and hiking reinforces his commitment to Green IT.
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