This week in Green IT: Much ado about nothing

Ah, "Green IT." Everyone is talking about it, companies are trying to get "with" it and the press is having a feeding frenzy over it. But who is actually implementing green technology in the enterprise?

Well, Google, for one. The Mountain View, CA-based company currently has greater energy needs than, well, just about anyone and those power requirements are only going to increase. To that end, Google has launched a green initiative that will see the company drawing some of its power from environmentally-friendly sources. Last week, Google took the first step in this initiative: switching on a series of solar panels on the rooftops of buildings in its Mountain View campus (also known as the "Googleplex") that now provide Google headquarters with 30 percent of its power. You can even monitor these solar cells on Google's website in real time. Not bad.

Meanwhile, in Linux-land, even open-source guru Linus Torvalds is slaving away on more power-efficient technology: The upcoming version of the Linux kernel will be built with power-efficiency in mind.

"It makes a lot of sense," Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff said of Linux's new energy-saving kernel. "Raw, flat-out horsepower is less and less what the game's about--especially on laptops, which are becoming more common."

It's clear major vendors, service providers and even the open-source community are heeding the call of green IT. But are enterprises getting on the bandwagon? According to current estimates, the answer is no. A recent study in the United Kingdom conducted by the Green Technology Initiative, found that while many enterprises are interested in green IT, most have yet to implement any sort of green initiative. For example, nearly 90 percent of U.K. businesses polled agreed the carbon footprint of IT systems is core to an overall green strategy. However, only 30 percent of these businesses actually had done anything about it.

For more on green IT:
- See this ZDnet article on Google's green initiative
- This article on Linux's green kernel
- It's not easy being green. But it's a popular tech topic
- And this press release on green IT in the U.K.