Organisations are unable or unwilling to implement green initiatives in their data centres, according to a recent survey by the Aperture Research Institute.

The study found that nearly three quarters of respondents would refuse to activate power saving features if it meant a drop in performance.

A significant 37 per cent of the data centre managers also indicated that they had no plans to measure energy efficiency.

Many organisations claimed to lack the tools to implement energy saving initiatives. Some 15 per cent stated that they had no way of tracking whether power saving settings were on or off.

Companies are also failing to decommission 'ghost servers', according to the report.

Nearly one in five of those questioned had ghost servers running in their data centres which were no longer required by the business, needlessly consuming electricity and space.

"Many organisations have made a commitment to cutting their environmental impact," said Steve Yellen, principal of the Aperture Research Institute.

"But when it comes to the data centre, most lack the tools and processes they need if they are to deliver on that promise."

Business managers should take more responsibility to ensure that power-saving targets are set, according to Yellen.

"The number-one cause of increasing power consumption is an increase in demand for IT services, so business managers must be made accountable for the energy their applications consume," he said.

"Only 24 per cent of the organisations we surveyed said that the IT department charges the business for energy use."