Originating Author: Fred Moore
In dividing the 'blame pie' for energy consumption, little is ever said about lowering energy rates, rather the sole focus seems to be on lowering consumption. Utility companies have a role to play in addressing power concerns but too often are easily excused. Thus far in the IT world, the responsibility to solve rising energy costs falls on vendors and users. To date, PG&E in California and Austin Energy in Texas are two of the the few utilities offering rebates for IT equipment installations.
Why are energy providers not called upon to be more directly responsible? The IT community (among others) needs to put pressure on energy companies to keep rates down with incentives such as PG&E's. Organizations shoul be incented to improve efficiencies and accelerate investment in clean technologies. So far (amazingly) energy providers have faced little public resistance on this front. In contrast, IT vendors in general and storage companies specifically, solely due to competitive pressures, reduce acquisition prices/GB ~20-30% annually based on technology improvements.
Action Item: Organizations should channel a larger portion of their price cutting efforts to energy providers through rebates and other means, rather than solely rely on storage providers to solve the IT energy consumption problem. Utility companies need to be pressed like storage vendors to lower prices by improving efficiencies and implementing carbon neutral initiatives.
Action Item:
Footnotes:
