Michael and other Dell team members spent the greater part of Wednesday morning last week in Washington, D.C. participating in the IT Energy Efficiency Summit. Dell partnered with CIO magazine to host this first-ever event designed to provide CIOs and other IT decision makers with insight into energy efficient computing strategies.
In a moderated question and answer session with CIO publisher emeritus Gary Beach, Michael discussed various aspects of the greening of the IT landscape. (See highlights from his comments in vlog below.) He discussed Dell's drive to become the greenest technology company on the planet, our ReGeneration movement, how we consider the environmental impact behind everything we do as a business and the importance of carbon intensity—stay tuned for more on this front.
He also shared different ways organizations can minimize their energy footprints, such as incorporating more energy efficient systems across their IT infrastructures, utilizing advanced power and cooling solutions and leveraging virtualization technologies. By applying an energy efficient approach to every aspect of their operations, Michael reminded attendees that their organizations stand to significantly reduce energy costs while meeting their corporate green initiatives. Put simply, embracing energy efficiency makes good business sense.
Driving energy efficiency into the data center is certainly a topic of growing importance among CIOs considering that such facilities are massive consumers of power. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, data centers account for an estimated 1.5 percent of the nation's energy use. This number is expected to double within the next five years as power and computing performance demands continue to increase, costing an estimated $7.4 billion annually.
Attendees at the forum also heard from David Rodgers, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency with the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. Rodgers reiterated Michael's point regarding the critical role that IT has and will continue to play in reducing overall power consumption. He spoke of the federal government's efforts to continue growing the economy without growing our nation's energy use, and encouraged attendees to make use of technology in new and innovative ways to help lower energy consumption within their organizations. Rodgers believes the path toward a more energy-conscious culture will be driven by industry rather than federal mandates. He envisions a future in which the IT industry works more closely with the federal government to help define new standards around energy use and drive increased adoption of energy efficient technology and best practices.
We want to thank CIO magazine for organizing the IT Energy Efficiency Summit and helping to bring attention to an increasingly important subject. Here are video highlights from Michael's conversation with Gary Beach during the event.
View Video
Format: flv
Duration:
