The images evoked by the global warming cynics are all too terrible: a hot, hungry world with large parts of the current landmass submerged under the oceans and those still above facing terrible droughts or foods. But this whole controversy around green technology and the climate change catastrophe it is supposed to stave off begs a couple of questions. If the world is heading towards such a disastrous state, why aren't the governments of all nations taking some drastic steps? Surely, if the entire world is imperiled, wouldn't it be better for nations to dictate to its industrialists about the caps in power consumption that they must adhere to?

Cleaner generation
The answer to the first question is a pointer to the progress, or the lack of it, made by the developed-developing world combine. The Kyoto Protocol, to which most countries in the world are signatories, mandated that by 2010 industrialised countries bring down their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% from the 1990 levels. No commitments in capping emission levels were expected from developing countries such as India and China.

As a result, there has been little incentive for cleaner energy generation plants in India; fighting the war on this front is as important as being energy-efficient in consumption. The North East still remains largely untapped when it comes to harnessing the rivers for hydro power, among the cleaner sources of power generation, experts opine.

The progress on cleaner energy development efforts in the developed world has been mixed. In Germany, for example, the share of electricity from renewable energy has increased from 6.3 percent in 2000 to about 16 percent as of this year, overshooting the target of 12 percent that it had set for itself.

However, this has not happened without government intervention: a law that required businesses to buy energy generated from renewable sources first before buying energy from non-renewable sources contributed in a big way in achieving this target.

Interestingly, most experts agree that the United States has fallen far behind other countries in promoting clean energy. Recently, Bill Gates and other corporate figures who have formed the American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC), pointed out in a detailed report that America's current energy strategy is hurting the economy, the environment and national security. The group suggested the government devote more money to fuel alternative energy.

The group sees the energy challenge as more serious and much worse than most people realise, predicting a burden that will become more costly unless the US can change its current energy policies.

In its findings, the group pointed out that the nation spends $80 billion a year on military research and $30 billion a year on health and medical R&D, but only around $5 billion each year on new energy R&D – a budget that dwarfs in comparison to budgets for similar purposes allocated by many other countries.

Indeed in a recent book titled The New Polymath, the author, Vinnie Mirchandani, includes the lack of agreement around sustainability among the “wicked problems” of our time, those that remain unsolved despite ample technology progress.

Energy efficient consumption
Meanwhile, vendors have jumped on to the green-selling wagon. Campaigns for servers, cables, printers –  all are awash in green. Users, though, are most likely to buy new infrastructure only when their refresh cycle so warrants.  

Smart choices that save power can seemingly go against the grain of conventional convenience. When Prasenjit Mukherjee, GM – IT, Reliance Energy, decided to replace their ageing printers, they replaced many personal printers with a few network printers that moved to power-saving mode when not in use. “This move has helped us save power,” says Mukherjee.

However, unless the hardware becomes obsolete, there is little motivation for technology decision makers to bring in energy-efficient infrastructure or to ensure that power-saving guidelines are followed. For one, the CIO's KRAs are not linked to the energy bills, or more specifically, the reductions or increases therein.  

The government too has been shirking from playing its part of promoting conservative use of energy in businesses. “I don't think the government is doing enough to support the cause of green technology. It should provide incentives for the usage of green equipment, given the shortage of electricity generation in our country,” says Shyam Kalambi, Head - Information Systems, India & ASEAN.  

The biggest gains in energy-efficiency are coming from virtualisation projects where the main intention is reducing the server farm. “Virtualisation and consolidation of servers is bringing in a lot energy savings,” says Nareshchandra Singh, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.