IBM launches $1bn-a-year green initiative

IBM is to launch a billion-dollar programme aimed at increasing energy efficiency in its data centres.

According to The New York Times, the largest operator of data centres worldwide will be putting $1bn a year into the scheme, which aims to see computing capacity double without an increase in power consumption. Elements of the programme include new cooling systems, software, and 3D-modelling and thermal-engineering techniques to manage air flow more efficiently.

IBM will roll out the new technology in its own data centres and, if requested, in those of its clients.

The initiative will be revealed in full later on Thursday at an event in New York. IBM is a member of the Green Grid, a consortium created last year, including vendors such as HP, Dell and Sun, to tackle the issue of energy-efficiency standards in high-performance computing.

Energy efficiency is one of two major approaches to the issue of global warming that are being adopted by the IT industry. The other — carbon offsetting — is exemplified in an announcement made on Wednesday by the UK-based ISP Eclipse Internet that it has become carbon neutral. Eclipse, which is a member of the CarbonNeutral network, is investing in wind-farm technologies in India, a methane-capture project in Pennsylvania and a Ugandan forestry project.