Small and mid-sized businesses, which account for 65 per cent of the world’s GDP, are looking for innovative ways to reduce the amount of energy used by their IT equipment. In a recent global survey 55 per cent of SMEs indicated they were taking steps to reduce IT energy use.

Even small companies now use computer servers to operate websites and run software applications for financial accounting, procurement and manufacturing operations. According to research firm IDC, for every dollar spent on IT equipment, 50 cents is spent on energy to run the devices. By 2010, the cost is expected to climb to 70 cents of every IT dollar. Energy use includes both the power to operate the computers and the air conditioning to cool them. Estimates are that for every $1 spent on the electricity to run an IT system, another 50 cents is spent on cooling costs.