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Worldwide Green IT

Case Studies

“What we have to learn to do we learn by doing.”

—Aristotle, Ethics

ptg
The challenges in implementing green IT and green data centers can vary
considerably based on the part of the world where the data center is located.
Challenges include government regulations, the cost of electricity, and the
social/political environment relating to the environment and energy effi-
ciency. The first few chapters discussed these aspects of green IT. The case
studies in this chapter include green IT for countries around the world,
including countries in Europe and Asia. The case studies include the use of a
worldwide computing grid to make green use of unused computer power in
thousands of laptops and other computers around the world. Also included in
this chapter are case studies for data centers in Montpellier, France; Istanbul,
Turkey; and a company with over 30 data centers in India. Although the
social and political environments of the particular country do have an impact
on implementing green data centers, the technical challenges remain the
same. The basic five steps (diagnose, build, virtualize, cool, manage, and
measure) discussed for data centers in the case studies in Chapter 9, “Green
IT Case Studies for Energy Utilities,” and Chapter 10, “Green IT Case
Studies for Universities and a Large Company,” still apply no matter where
the data center is located or how big it is. The great value in looking at green
IT case studies should be to take advantage of lessons learned.
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