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The Greening of IT
6 How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment

lighting, electrical, and computer systems are designed for maximum energy
efficiency and minimum environmental impact. The construction and opera-
tion of a green data center involve use of advanced technologies and strate-
gies. The strategies and goals include the following:

■ Minimizing the footprints of the buildings
■ Using low-emission building materials, carpets, and paints
■ Creating sustainable landscaping
■ Initiating waste recycling
■ Installing catalytic converters on backup generators
■ Using alternative energy technologies such as photovoltaics (PVs) and
fuel cells
■ Increasing the efficiency of heat pumps, variable speed fans, and free-
cooling technology

However, in the following chapters, we concentrate on the ways data cen-
ters can become more energy efficient by first exploring the low-hanging ptg
fruit. The basic technologies that we should first examine for existing data
centers range from the use of efficient cooling towers and variable speed
blowers to the use of energy-efficient IT systems, such as virtual servers,
blade centers, and virtual data storage. Server consolidation—although
initially undertaken to save server hardware capital—is also an excellent way
to reduce server energy use. A step way beyond server consolidation is data
center consolidation—also done to reduce facility and personnel resource
cost; however, a significant side effect is reduced data center energy use. Most
data centers have already started to employ newer IT technology such as vir-
tual servers or server consolidation, so this book first explores the technolo-
gies that have already started to be employed at your data center for capital
cost-saving—and discuss the ways this same technology can significantly
reduce energy use. The experiences described in the case studies presented in
later chapters are a way to leverage those lessons learned for your data center.
Many consultant reports indicate that data centers are at a “tipping
point.” Some well-publicized issues supplying adequate electrical power to
data centers include Canary Wharf in London and the area south of 14 th
Street in New York City. In 2006, the financial institutions at Canary Wharf
were told that the power infrastructure could not supply power for additional
servers at their data centers. In recent years, financial organizations have been