The escalating cost of energy is a growing headache for organisations trying to keep their IT bills down as budgets tumble, according to Chris Miller, director at sustainable development company Camco, speaking at Information Age‘s Managing IT Cost Effectively seminar.

But the vast majority of businesses are unaware of precisely what hardware sits within their IT estate, and subsequently how much energy they are consuming, he added.

And despite the widespread attention given to the climate change cause, many organisations are burying their heads in the sand. “A lot of people in the industry are doing absolutely nothing about this,” Miller claimed. “IT departments are working within their comfort zone.”

It is essential that organisations change their current model of thinking about environmental issues, Miller said. The key to this, he argued, is to build power usage measures into business processes, so that they become part of both everyday and strategic decision making.

He also stressed that companies cannot abdicate their environmental responsibilities by claiming their energy usage has been offset by offshore outsourcing. “These companies will get caught out eventually,” Miller said.

Also from the Managing IT Cost Effectively seminar

How the recession has changed IT buying behaviour

The economic downturn put the breaks on decision making, said Stephen Martin of Dynamic Markets

Deriving value from offshore engagements

The offshore outsourcing industry has made some attempts to create value for customers but it not yet a strategic priority, said Stephen Bullas of the European Centre for Offshore Development

The case for open source

Cost and flexibility make open source software a compelling proposition, said Talend’s Martin James