Government response to Energy Supply report published 22.02.12

On 22nd February the government published its response to House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee’s 8th report. The committee’s report *, published in October last year and entitled “the UK’s Energy Supply: Security or Independence”, states that “It is inevitable that the UK will become increasingly reliant on energy imports.” It then goes to say “This is not necessarily incompatible with increasing energy security; it can be maintained by a diverse Energy portfolio that does not rely too much on either a single supplier or a single fuel.”

So, not all bad news you might think. However the report also says that “Failure to deliver (energy improvements) could have serious consequences for energy security.”

And it concludes that delivering energy security, i.e. keeping the lights on and businesses operating, “requires a reliable supply of primary fuels, a secure delivery system and smart and efficient usage by consumers. Failure in any one of these three areas is likely to mean that energy needs go unmet.”

So the future of our energy supplies is very much in our own hands.  Data Centres are big users of power and all of us from designers to operators to users must play our part in improving our energy efficiency.  No-one doubts that the size and number of data centres in the UK will continue to grow in the coming years and so we will have to work hard just to keep our energy use at present levels. The EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres can be a big help in improving energy efficiency.  It sets out a structured framework enabling users and operators to manage and plan their data centres with energy use in mind.  It is not difficult to participate and the requirements are not onerous.  The application can be completed in a few hours and creates an action plan which will result in real benefits and savings in running costs.

Future-tech will be happy to assist with your application and with advice on improving your data centre energy efficiency. Contact us now on 0845 9000 127 or submit an enquiry for more information.