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He said: "The council could save 300 tonnes of CO2 every year just by turning off computers when they are not in use and using the latest air conditioning systems in the data centre that makes the most of the natural flow of air could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an equivalent amount to a housing estate each year."

In a project started by the previous Liberal Democrat Cabinet, the council's IT department is trying to limit its contribution to global warming.

Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Kath Pinnock, said:
"We are installing power management technology which automatically turns off computers and other devices thus saving money and cutting down harmful emissions.

"New cooling technology in the data centre will cut down the amount of air conditioning needed by the computer and telephone systems. The potential savings for both these measures could be huge."

The £1.1m data centre is planned to open in 2010, with efficient cooling measures paying for themselves within four years.

The global computing industry has been criticised for the high carbon dioxide emissions and for high energy consumption. The sector contributes two percent of global carbon emissions which according to research is equal to that of the aviation industry. A third of the emissions are from data centres and 50% of this is from the power used by air conditioning.