Symantec announced today the findings of its 2009 Green IT Report, a follow up to the Green Data Center report released in late 2007. According to survey data, senior-level IT executives report significant interest in green IT strategies and solutions, attributed to both cost reduction and environmental responsibility. The data points to a shift from implementing “green” technologies primarily for cost reduction purposes, to a more balanced awareness of also improving the organization’s environmental standing.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the 1.0 version of the Energy Star for Servers specification. This first release only covers standalone servers with one to four processor sockets; it does not yet cover servers with more than four processor sockets, or blade servers of any size. Three criteria are being weighted by the specification: power supply efficiency, virtualization functionality, and energy-efficiency benchmarks and standards for measuring and reporting energy use.
For the second year in a row, ComputerWorld has showcased the achievements at 12 IT departments that are reducing power demands and using technology to create energy efficiencies. Thirty criteria were used to determine which organizations had the greenest IT departments. The IT departments selected include: Mohawk Fine Papers, State Street, Allstate, Citigroup, PricewaterhouseCoopers, State of Indiana, KPMG, Seventh Generation, Office Depot, Burt’s Bees, Marriot and Austin Energy. Find out why these organizations were selected.
Can Off-peak Air Conditioning (OPAC) technology, improve the green energy profile of data centers? One of the major energy consumption categories of data centers is their need to keep all of their rows of rack mounted servers operating within their critical temperature parameters. Many various techniques are increasingly being adopted by data centers around the world in order to lower their overall cooling needs. An additional technology exists that I believe can help data centers improve their energy usage profiles by shifting energy demand to off-peak hours and in so doing significantly lower their energy consumption during critical periods of peak demand. Off-peak Air Conditioning (OPAC) technology is a way for data centers to improve their peak energy demand profile.
A new study released recently by Deloitte and CFO Research Services highlights the current and emerging interdependencies between IT and enterprise sustainability performance. The study, titled “The Next Wave of Green IT,” surveyed 353 senior finance, IT and business unit executives at companies with revenues of $500 million to more than $10 billion throughout Europe, North America and China to explore how large companies around the world view IT’s role in the future of enterprise sustainability.
The GREEN CLOUD UPDATE, a regular feature that covers current news in the green cloud computing space looks at the following stories: The Environmental Protection Agency will announce Energy Star performance rating for data centers; Advanced Micro Devices introduces new Energy Efficient processor, designed for very dense data center environments; SAS to build USD 70 million cloud computing facility built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for water and energy conservation.
In a milestone for green computing, Citi‘s newly completed 230,000 sq ft data center in Frankfurt am Mein, Germany became the world’s first such facility to earn the prestigious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating. The environmentally-conscious building, designed by British architectural practice Arup Associates for Citi, has already been honored for its ground breaking eco-friendly design and now it has been awarded the most prestigious rating, the LEED Platinum rating.
Many people in the software industry have heard the buzzword cloud computing. Cloud computing promises to revolutionize how computing is done and huge investments are being made by the major players in the industry to stake out a portion of this sector. The infrastructure that underlies the cloud is a massive energy consumer. What is needed is for the idea of a green cloud to also catch on within the industry. A green cloud is cloud computing that uses intelligent power management and cooling to minimize its energy needs for some given level of service.
