A high-ranking energy official in California yesterday dismissed
the idea that the rise in the state's IT industry has been a big
contributor to the electricity problems encountered there earlier
this year, describing the claims as "ridiculous".
The power shortage that led to rolling electricity blackouts in the
state "isn't really a function of the computer industry [or] server
farms," said Claudia Chandler, assistant executive director of the
California Energy Commission. "Computers have probably saved us
more energy than they have used."
Chandler's comments contradict contentions made in January by the
electric power industry's research arm and some local utilities in
California. Officials from those organisations cited a big increase
in electricity demand in areas where Internet hubs and datacentres
have come online, with one saying that such facilities can consume
more power than large manufacturing plants.
For example, Silicon Valley Power, the municipal utility for the
city of Santa Clara, said it saw a 12% increase in demand for
electricity last year. A spokesman said the utility's power load
could double in the next two to three years, with 80% of the new
requests for energy coming from Internet datacentres.
But Chandler said the state government looked into the claims and
found that electricity use in Silicon Valley has only risen 1% more
than it has in the rest of California over the past ten years. She
described the argument that the Internet and the IT industry have
played a significant role in the state's electricity crisis as
"urban myth number five".
"I have spent a lot of time debunking this," Chandler said. She
attributed the IT power usage claims to lobbyists for the coal
industry, charging that they suggested server farms and datacentres
located in Silicon Valley were driving up the state's electricity
consumption as part of an attempt to promote the construction of
new coal-fired power plants.
Chandler also dismissed predictions that this summer could be
marked by massive rolling blackouts in the state, noting there were
only two such events in May and none last month. Conservation
efforts by California residents and businesses have paid off,
Chandler said, adding that energy consumption declined by 11% in
May and 14% in June on a year-to-year basis.
People working in the IT industry can do their bit by turning off
their computers at the end of the day and by putting their machines
in sleep mode when they're at work, Chandler said. In a recent
survey, she added, 89% of respondents said they leave their systems
on all night - a practice that the state hopes to curb.