The European Commission could be forcing designers of computer servers to revamp their designs to make them energy efficient.

The Commission has a priority list for various gear which could save the community buckets on electricity and this time servers, together with data storage equipment made it on the list. It thinks that if its changes are made the combined energy saving of these products would amount to 1157 TWh per year by 2030. This is twice the total annual energy consumption in Sweden which goes through a lot of lecky on account of it being dark and cold most of the year.

Edouard Toulouse of the European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS), who has been taking part in discussions on the directive said that if the IT industry knows it will be regulated they will be under more  pressure to go green. The EU is meeting with companies tomorrow for a discussion on the next wave of products to be regulated under the Ecodesign Directive.

The Commission needs to have a think about how the industry responds in the coming months and if there have been efforts already made on energy-efficient servers and data storage equipment.  If the industry ignores it then the Commission will then decide if it needs to bring in tighter laws. It pushes them to start looking into this matter, and if voluntary approach is satisfactory, there will be no need for regulation, Toulouse told Euractiv.