Colt Boasts Energy Efficiency Savings

LONDON -- Colt, Europe’s leading information delivery platform, today announced a reduction in energy usage of 18% across its European data centre estate as part of a continuous energy efficiency programme that commenced in 2010. Over a three year period, the programme achieved savings in annual electricity usage of 43 gigawatt hours (GWh), equivalent to a reduction in CO2 footprint of 15,000 tonnes and savings of €4m in power costs1 per annum. With electricity consumption by Europe’s data centres projected to reach 104,000 GWh (104 TWh) by 2020, up from 60 TWh at present, there is a pressing demand within the industry for greater energy efficiencies to minimise both carbon footprint and energy consumption. Energy usage currently represents a substantial business expense across the industry, accounting for 30–50% of data centre operating costs. Based on efficiencies achieved over the last three years, Colt believes that without significant capital investment, on a like-for-like basis, an initial reduction in annual energy usage of 5% (3 TWh) is a realistic minimum target for Europe’s data centre industry, taking into account the average age of data centres across Europe which is estimated to be in excess of nine years. An industry-wide reduction of this scale, would reduce the industry’s CO2 footprint by over 1.2 million tonnes and yield savings of almost £250m/€300m in operating costs per annum. This would provide an environmental impact equivalent to mitigating the total annual electricity consumption of approximately 740,000 households5 in the UK (3.5 times the number of households in the City of Manchester). Colt Technology Services Group Ltd