European businesses are overtaking taking the U.S. in the drive for green data centres, though both regions have a long way to go, according to research by network attached storage specialist ONStor.
The findings indicate that 72 per cent of European businesses have either already implemented a green initiative, or would adopt one in six months to two years, while only 60 per cent of U.S. businesses have implemented a green initiative, with 40 per cent admitting the it was not even a discussion point.
But the importance of updating technology in the data centre is beginning to strike companies both in Europe and the U.S., as the threats of power failure and excessive costs mount.
Over 40 per cent of both European and U.S. business have predicted that their current data center will run out of space in less than a year. Worse still, 63 per cent of U.S. respondents, and 58 per cent of their European peers, have already run out of space, power and cooling capacity in their data centre.
Many businesses are also reluctant to encourage greener practices in their organization with the notional hiring of a chief energy officer to take responsibility for energy efficiency. Only 18 per cent of respondents in Europe and even fewer in the U.S. showed any interest in this idea.
The survey showed that one of the best incentives to go green was the prospect of saving money. Nearly 40 per cent of U.S. respondents reported that a 20 per cent to 50 per cent saving in cost would encourage them to go green. However, European companies are less likely than their U.S. counterparts to make green policies contingent on cost savings, with over a third agreeing that a saving of up to 20 per cent would be enough of an incentive.