Environmental analysis: 'Network infrastructure is wasteful'

The waste of energy resulting from companies' IT network infrastructure has a harmful effect on our environment, according to a technology firm.

Developer of networking solutions D-Link Europe has said that UK businesses consume up to 50 per cent more electricity than necessary through their use of network switches alone.

Marketing manager Andrew Mulholland said: "Anything that can be done to reduce the energy consumption of the switch has an obvious benefit in terms of cost-saving and reducing power usage."

His comments follow a recent survey published by Morse that found 65 per cent of UK businesses are not prepared to comply with carbon emissions reduction and energy efficiency legislation.

Last month, the government announced the introduction of two carbon cutting schemes to reduce UK emissions by at least 34 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme aims to change the behaviour of large organisations to improve their energy efficiency.

Posted by Lauren Steadman