Ignorance among UK IT managers and suppliers remains the key obstacle in the adoption of green IT practices.

In a survey carried out by the National Computing Centre (NCC) with 120 IT decision-makers, 18 per cent said they always evaluate the carbon footprint of any new IT systems they purchase, but nearly half said they still did not consider the environmental impact of IT equipment.

“The industry needs guidance to make more well-informed choices when it comes to choosing suppliers,” said a head of IT, who requested anonymity.

“We are bombarded every day with calls from vendors offering the latest and greatest in green IT, but many do not even know what the requirements are and IT managers have nothing by which to judge their products.”

The real motivation for introducing technology such as virtualisation is still economic, with 70 per cent saying they had adopted greener IT equipment to reduce the cost of ownership through lower energy bills, while 48 per cent said they were more interested in taking an environmental stance.

Some IT leaders have started to notice a change in the supplier community. Robin Young, chief information officer at bank Citi’s UK consumer division, said progress is being made.

“Suppliers are no longer using green hype in that sinister and negative way that they used to.

“Even though their understanding of what actually makes a difference in terms of environmental impact is still basic, I have noticed that there has been a step change in the market,” Young told Computing.

“By being green you can look good and save money. So having IT that is environmentally friendly is not just a trend anymore, it is a real need.”

Most firms are still not evaluating their IT carbon footprint before deciding the best way to start reducing it, says the survey. Just 12 per cent of respondents have used a third party for environmental auditing, while 26 per cent would consider doing so.

Confusion linked to the lack of guidelines is hampering the establishment of green technology standards, with 58 per cent of those surveyed by NCC claiming they did not have a specific green IT policy.

Knowledge of how to manage green IT processes is still a big problem, said NCC’s group marketing manager Michael Dean.

“People are aware of the potential benefits in terms of cost savings, the environmental effect, and enhancements to the company’s reputation, but many are in the early stages of adoption and do not know how to manage the transition,” said Dean.

“IT directors tend to take responsibility for green IT, rather than a sustainability director or somebody outside IT. Firms are trusting their IT guys to come up with environmental directives,” he said.

The value of being seen to be green was a motivating factor cited by 52 per cent of the managers polled. And 30 per cent experienced pressure from senior management to adopt a company-wide green mandate.