Your Cloud bill (taxes and energy not included)

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Last 1st of December Gartner published their predictions for IT organizations and users for 2012 and beyond. I couldn't help being suprised by the one that tells that by 2015, 80% of cloud providers will charge the cost of energy as a separate item, as if it was a tax. They also predict that many industries that settled in China will come back to the US because of the hidden costs of offshore outsourcing and because of the rise of oil prices.

In another article I already commented that energy price rises will change the way we use and we understand ICT. And the big actors on the field are making moves that make me think they understand it in the same way. For example, even though it has recently announced that it will abandon their investment in research projects aiming at reducing the price of photovoltaic energy, Google is a big investor in wind farms (onshore and offshore) and solar roofs. This investments are not only to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. I think Google knows that energy availability is essential for its business, so assuring a source of electricity independent of oil prices' fluctuations is strategic for them.

Another big company clearly betting on a new paradigm in the use of energy is IBM. Big Blue is strongly investing to be the leader in management technologies for the new electricity transport networks, also called the Smart Grid. These new networks will be able to tell your washing machine "start up. We'll have plenty of wind for half an hour and the electricity produced will be very cheap". And the technology developed by IBM has already come out from the laboratory. Last August the company tested its Smart Meters in 1,000 households of a small town of the US and is also involved in projects in Brasil and South Korea to improve and convert their networks.

In Spain some companies are beginning to move. At the end of last October the association EnerTIC was officially presented. Formed by several IT and energy enterprises, EnerTIC seeks to develop and promote Information Technologies to save energy. Telecommute, Smart Grid or Smart Cities are some of its target fields. A part from IBM, companies like BT, Ericsson, Enterasys, Intel, Fujitsu, Siemens or Salicru are also members of the association.

Many other businesses are simply starting to measure and control their energy bill and the greenhouse gas emissions associated. It's a first step to know their dependency on energy which will allow afterwards to make changes to reduce it. The market is plenty of solutions from start-ups and big actors wanting to take the leadership in this field.


Many voices are alerting from a long time ago that we'll have a big problem with energy availability. If we take a look at the big names of the IT sector and the meaning of the steps they're making we can realise it's time to take it seriously. And if we're not still convinced, perhaps the last announce of the rise of electricity prices in Spain will push us.