Anyone following the ongoing scientific research into climate change will be familiar with the term "environmental tipping point". It usually refers to some point beyond which irreversible change occurs in either a single ecosystem such as the Arctic or across the entire biosphere.

In a briefing this week with a US-headquartered datacentre infrastructure vendor, Quocirca heard something very different which might also be called an environmental tipping point.

The vendor said this: "So far every 'green' project comes down to the question of whether it will save money as well. Does 'being green' help the bottom line."? So far no surprises and at Quocirca we hear the argument expressed all the time that energy efficiency is a means to be green, and by the way it saves money too which is never a bad thing in these times of economic doom and gloom.

The vendor then went on to say this, which is far more interesting: "However very recently, say in the last few months, several prospects have said to us 'We now believe that being green is important for the sake of being green. We now believe that the environmental benefits are enough by themselves. Don't bother trying to sell us on the financial case. Do tell us what it will cost, and we'll decide whether we can afford it, but saving money isn't why we'll do it or won't."".

Translation: the environmental reasons are enough of a driver by themselves.

The vendor went on to say: "We wouldn't say that it is a trend yet, but we are definitely hearing it in the marketplace for the first time".

Without a doubt the major driver in the datacentre remains energy reduction and equipment efficiency tied back to financial metrics. Both datacentre outsourcers and datacentre infrastructure providers repeat this message to Quocirca repeatedly. Sanity checks over a quiet ale with datacentre managers confirm that message too. However a change seems to be afoot, and a very interesting one too. A tipping point indeed.