Green Grid Announces New Guidelines for Data Center Energy Efficiency

With servers humming constantly and air conditioning systems keeping the climate at just the right temperature, data centers have some pretty steep power demands. Now the industry is promoting a new set of energy efficiency guidelines.

The Green Grid, a consortium of tech companies founded in 2007, launched the new guidelines at its second annual technical forum in San Jose Wednesday. The Green Grid calls it the Data Center 2.0 program, which it says will create a “multi-year set of design guides proposed for use by data center operators and designers to build and operate energy efficient data centers.” The program will offer guidelines for newly built centers and renovations to existing ones, the group said.

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There’s a mix of environmental altruism and economic self-interest at work here. It costs a lot to keep these centers running, and the industry is looking for ways to get the most bang for its bucks.  Companies have planned data centers that are off the grid, and others that meet LEED Platinum status. Even supercomputers are being built with energy efficiency in mind.

“As IT and facilities budgets receive increased scrutiny, efficiency becomes a more business critical issue for data center managers globally,” said IBM’s Tom Brey, a director of The Green Grid.

The group has also developed a set of training materials for members that focus on efficiency, and revamped its Web site to highlight energy efficient practices. Additionally, the group released a series of white papers on the subject.

Photo credit: Clay Irving, on Flickr, via Creative Commons License.

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