energy efficiency

IBM rises to the EC Code of Conduct

After two years of pressure from Greenpeace to make its data centers cleaner and more energy efficient, Facebook agreed to build its next one at the edge of the Arctic Circle, where cold air can cool servers and renewable energy can drive them. Santa was unavailable for comment.

The traditional data center is running out of power, space, and time. Here are some of the new, innovative, and unusual solutions in practice today.

A dozen nitty gritty tools and technologies that cut energy costs, boost data center efficiency and promote green IT practices.

When does green technology move from feel-good marketing-speak to something more actionable? When it turns into the kind of green that feels good in your wallet.

Google's top energy executive has offered some simple steps for making data centers more energy-efficient, including raising the thermostat to 80 degrees Fahrenheit -- or 27 degrees Celsius -- to cut down on cooling costs.

Avoiding energy use is one part of an approach to address power, cooling, floor space and environmental (PCFE) challenges, but not all applications, data or workloads can be consolidated or powered down. The trick is finding the right balance between energy avoidance and energy efficiency, says Greg Schulz, author of 'The Green and Virtual Data Center'.

This increase of 77 degrees Fahrenheit to 80.6 degrees may not seem like a big deal, but it took a year-and-half of work to arrive at this recommendation and agreement by most of the major equipment vendors. The person who led the society's IT team on Technical Committee 9.9 was Roger Schmidt, an IBM fellow and its chief engineer for data center energy efficiency.

The EPA's Energy Star server certification program will help the environmentally conscious but isn't likely to change major buying patterns anytime soon.

The explosion of giant Web properties has server vendors building a new kind of machine that is stripped down to the bare essentials and optimized for cost- and energy-efficiency, analysts say.

Dell on Wednesday talked about steps the company is taking to improve energy efficiency in servers, also outlining a server-refresh cycle that could help customers cut energy costs in the long run.

Many agree with the concept of a socially responsible IT department, but putting ideas into action requires vision and careful planning. Here's how to get started: