IT Giants Team Up To Save $5.5 Billion In Energy Costs

A who’s who list of Silicon Valley titans are joining forces to set aggressive goals to cut computer energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The group, collectively called the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, consists of Intel (INTC), AMD (AMD), Google (GOOG), EDS EDS), EMC (EMC), Dell (DELL), HP (HPQ), IBM (IBM), Lenovo (LNVGY.PK) and Microsoft (MSFT) to name a few. Partners outside of the tech industry include the Environmental Protection Agency, PG&E and the World Wildlife Fund among others.

This effort, announced in a press release earlier, is really the further mainstreaming of green IT practices. Gartner sees a day where every IT shop will have a green plan.

Climate Savers will set targets for energy efficient computers and components while promoting power management tools. Specifically, the group is setting a new 90 percent efficiency target for power supplies. If that bogey is hit, the group says greenhouse gas emissions will fall by 54 million tons a year and save more than $5.5 billion.

The manufacturers in the group will build products that at least meet the EPA’s Energy Star guidelines and then increase requirements. Businesses are also supposed to require high-efficiency systems. To support the effort, consumers will pledge to buy systems certified by the Climate Savers group.

Will this effort work? It’s quite possible since all the stars are lining up behind green IT. For starters, financial incentives abound. Energy consumption is everyone’s biggest bill in data centers and elsewhere. Meanwhile, tech vendors would just love another hardware replacement cycle. Meanwhile green IT is good marketing and investors are increasingly watching social consciousness.