Page 106 -

5: The Magic of “Incentive”—The Role of Electric Utilities 71

inefficient-adding, low-utilized servers. David F. Anderson, IBM’s green
architect, has identified virtualization as one of the greenest technologies.
“Virtualization is like car pooling or using mass transportation for applica-
tions. It has the potential to actually eliminate energy-consuming equipment
from the data center while providing equal or better service.” (See also earlier
mentions of PG&E’s pioneering work in Chapter 3, “Collaboration Is Key for
Green IT.”)
Almost all electric utilities are starting to consider offering incentives for
many types of energy-efficient data center facilities and equipment, based on
the metrics being developed by the government and corporations dealing
with data centers. Electric utilities are starting to partner with the federal
government to develop a neutral, real-world testing and demonstration
center to verify new technologies for reducing energy consumption in data
centers. They are also starting to partner with the federal government to
develop a technology procurement program for efficient products and to offer
education and training resources as a component of energy-efficiency pro-
grams for data centers.

ptg
PG&E Led Utility Energy-Efficiency Coalition
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation, is
one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United
States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers
some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in northern and
central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/about/. In
March 2008, the PG&E announced that 24 of the nation’s utilities are partic-
ipating in the PG&E-sponsored Utility Information Technology Energy-
Efficiency Coalition to dramatically reduce power usage in data centers and
other IT applications.
The Utility IT Energy-Efficiency Coalition is composed of more than 24
utilities from across the United States and Canada that are primed to address
the high-tech, data center, and IT infrastructure markets. California utilities
are well represented, with Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and
Electric, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, City of Palo Alto, and Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power attending the meeting. Utilities
from the Pacific Northwest, Texas, New York, and Canada also participated
in the two-day event. To the extent possible, the utilities intend to drive
toward consistent energy-efficiency program and service offerings, leveraging
the support of vendors and service providers to the IT industry. The meeting