It's powered by renewable energy sources from Scottish and Southern Energy's dedicated bio-mass plant built right next door to the data centre. The plant burns wood chips, waste paper and fiber fuel to create electricity, hot water and steam. Converted from a former warehouse on the Slough Trading Estate, the facility is quite large at 55,000 square feet.

'This is a fantastic project which will harness bio-mass fuels to power the data center,' says Doug Loewe, managing director of Rackspace. 'We recognise that customers are increasingly looking for suppliers who can help them meet their own environment-related goals. By investing in this facility, we continue to strive to exceed the environmental expectations of our customers while delivering their hosting needs.'

Rackspace was one of the UK's first web hosts to offer carbon neutral hosting. In 2006, the company planted trees through its relationship with tree planting charity, the International Tree Foundation. The web host has planted more than 2,500 trees to date, offsetting the carbon emitted through running servers.

People I know in the business say that claims like these are just 'green washing' and are more about marketing than they are about saving the planet. But building a wood-powered data centre has to count as an honest commitment to making computing more sustainable, in my book.

In fact, industry analyst The Burton Group agrees. Its report, Sustainable IT provision: Meeting the challenge of corporate, social, and environmental responsibility, concludes that IT managers need to start 'thinking green' to give their company a head start over the competition. They say there are significant cost savings of 10 to 20 per cent in using green technologies.

The report says that radical solutions such as designing software to consume fewer processor cycles and using hardware that does not require AC-DC conversion should be standard practice.

The Burton Group encourages companies also to drive down the waste of paper and ink when printing, increase recycling rates and use more recyclable equipment.

They recommend that companies reduce their reliance on products manufactured using toxic chemicals, switch off unused equipment, reduce underused servers and increase the use of fresh-air cooling (which means opening the windows instead of turning on the air conditioning).

The report's author, senior research analyst Mark Blowers said: 'Sustainability should be built in as a consideration when setting up IT systems in the same way that something such as cost is.'

Australian IT industry analyst, Bruce McCabe of research firm S2 Intelligence, echoes Blowers. He says that IT industry should not limit its sustainable efforts to the cutting down of power usage within data centres; it's actually an opportunity for innovation.

'Datacentres make up 1.5 per cent of electricity use in the US — not an insignificant amount,' McCabe told the CeBIT Australia eGovernment Forum. 'But computer science will have a part to play in the other 98.5 percent of energy use.'

He added: 'Organisations that innovate around sustainability of technology will make billions, if not trillions, over the next decade out of this social challenge.'

Investors agree. Tech Talk reported earlier this year that although the overall level venture funding in the IT industry dropped in 2007, green technologies were the exception.

Data from The Library House showed that technologies with environmental protection advantages a saw remarkable growth in VC funding, attracting £206 million in disclosed venture capital in the final quarter of 2007.

So all this greenwash is not all hogwash after all, despite what the cynics say. Environmental computing not only saves money, but creates opportunity for innovation and profit if you are prepared to commit to it. Even making sure your office PCs are turned off every night is good place to start. Why not get the green IT ball rolling at your company today?


>>Sherrilynne Starkie is the managing partner of Strive Public Relations, a strategic communications consultancy serving the Isle of Man. Visit her business blog, Strive Notes for frequent updates www.strivepr.com or follow her on twitter.com/sherrilynne.