The Green Grid Vice President, Lance R?timann, will provide ICTFOOTPRINT.eu strategic guidance and feedback on sustainable ICT mechanisms to help organisations understand and improve energy efficiency in their technology estates.
Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, ICTFOOTPRINT.eu has constructed a 36-month work plan for businesses from ICT sector, containing practical information related to energy efficiency and carbon footprint methodologies & indicators, advisory bodies for green procurement, and one-on-one help desk services.
ICTFOOTPRINT.eu identified that The Green Grid’s Data Centre Maturity Model (DCMM) is one example of a model which can enable data centre operators to measure their energy efficiency and identify the on-going steps needed to achieve greater performance.
Roel Castelein, EMEA marketing chair at The Green Grid, commented: “Working with an EU funded project like ICTFOOTPRINT.eu is an excellent opportunity for the Green Grid to share its findings on data centre efficiency in Europe with businesses seeking to prioritise their ICT energy efficiency. It is also a great way to engage with the challenges businesses face when making these improvements.
“In our research conducted last year, 62 per cent of respondents state that resource efficiency is important at board level, but 43% see the greatest board challenge in predicting future cost. Over 40 percent of respondents reported running costs and upgrading adding considerable cost to the overall organisation. The issue of energy efficiency in modern data centre estates clearly remains to be something of a mountain left to climb. ICTFOOTPRINT.eu will be a significant enabler for businesses to peak this challenge by providing the kind of information that drives economically resource efficiency up.”
According to The Climate Group, the use of ICT accounts for more than eight per cent of the EU’s electricity consumption and up to four per cent of its carbon emissions. ICTFOOTPRINT.eu plans to be part of the process that may reduce these figures by targeting companies unaware of how to improve their energy efficiency, with a particular focus on SMEs.
Cristobal Irazoqui, the European Commission project officer for the ICTFOOTPRINT.eu initiative, says that “ICTFOOTPRINT.eu is a cornerstone in the European Commission’s strategy for spreading the knowledge on how to assess the energy efficiency of the ICT sector; both in terms of Key Performance Indicators and Life Cycle Assessment based standards.”
The Green Grid and ICTFOOTPRINT.eu will meet in the European Commission’s office in Brussels on May 18th to discuss next steps for their joint project. They will be joined by all project partners and members that make up the External Advisory Group.
