European IT companies sign energy code of conduct

Last week, sixteen large European IT companies have signed a code of conduct in which they commit themselves to lower energy use.

The IT sector is one of the most energy intensive sectors in the world. Some time ago, the sector passed the airline industry as energy consumer. In Europe, 8% of energy is consumed by IT devices or their production. In ten years, this number could well double.

To counter this trend, the sixteen corporations have pledged to sign the codes of conduct for broadband and datacentres. These codes were developed in 2007 and 2008 respectively on the initiative of the European Commission. These two branches together represent a third of the ICT energy bill in Europe of more than 100 TWh.

The costs for electricity that can be saved could run up to 4,5 billion euro per year, estimates Commissioner Kroes of the Digital Agenda.

Including the new signees, amongst which giants like BT, Telefonica and France Telecom, the providers of 75 million European broadband connections have committed to the code.

Companies like Nokia, Deutsche Telecom, Intel, Microsoft and IBM had already signed.