Sustainable Technology

CIO decisions can benefit the business when the energy impact is understood.  Best practices and design considerations can almost halve energy consumption in the data center.  …

…   “After the energy consumed directly by the servers, routers and switches within a data center, power distribution and cooling provide the largest opportunities to save energy.”   …

via Environmental Leader: Data Center Design.

Sabey Data Center Properties has achieved gold and platinum LEED certified data center that will support multiple tenants. …

… “Sabey has obtained a Gold LEED certification for the shell and core for Building B, a 188,000 square foot/22 Megawatt facility. VMware, a major tenant in Building B, has recently received a Platinum LEED certification for the tenant improvements supporting the critical infrastructure within the data center. Sabey Construction was the general contractor for both VMware’s tenant improvements and for the core and shell. ” …

Via Sabey Corp: Green Facilities

NetApp pushes the boundaries of green data center design with increased temperature setpoint for supply air for cooling system, ambient air cooling, pressure control on the data center room, cold air isolation, and overhead air distribution. …

… “NetApp‘s goals for sustainability and reducing data center power consumption are reflected in the innovative design and construction of its data center. NetApp estimates that the data center’s power usage effectiveness (PUE) will be 1.2, or 80% more efficient than the average data center PUE of 2.0, which will result in NetApp saving $7.3 million a year. NetApp’s energy efficiency improvements will also result in reducing CO2 by 93,000 tons a year, which is equivalent to removing 15,400 cars from the road. ” …

Via NetApp: Energy-Efficient Data Center

eBay appoints industry veteran Dean Nelson, founder of Data Center Pulse, as its leader for global data center strategy, architecture and operations. …

… “Nelson’s cutting-edge thinking on energy efficient, environmentally friendly data center design and operation has earned him the respect of his colleagues. At eBay, Nelson is being called to lead the company’s data center strategy which includes completing the state of the art facility in Utah that is being built to LEED Gold standards and will serve as a showcase for the latest innovations in electrical, mechanical and cooling technologies. ” …

Via eBay: Dean Nelson

CoreSite expands data center capacity in downtown Los Angeles to satisfy the needs of enterprise customers for move-in ready space with sustainable features. …

… “CoreSite continues to focus on energy efficiency in data center design and construction. The new Los Angeles data center space will feature 95%-efficient, scalable UPS units, variable-speed fan air conditioning units, zoned lighting, and branch circuit monitoring to encourage responsible energy use and minimize P.U.E. (Power Usage Effectiveness). ” …

Via CoreSite: Los Angeles Data Center

Dave Filo, Co-founder and Chief Yahoo, discusses Yahoo’s green techniques in its New York data center design, starting with low cost, low carbon energy sources (think Niagara Falls) and effective use of ambient air for cooling. It’s a chicken coop design. …

… “For data center geeks, we expect our Lockport, NY, data center design will have an annualized average PUE (power usage effectiveness) of 1.1 or better. To achieve that, we’ve come up with a unique building design that we call the Yahoo! Computing Coop … ” …

Via Yodel Anecdotal: Greener data centers

Apple augments its MacBook Pro line of notebook models and lowers prices up to three hundred dollars. …

… “The industry’s greenest notebook lineup, every Mac notebook achieves EPEAT Gold status and meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements, setting a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design. Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. All MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models contain no brominated flame retardants and use internal cables and components that are PVC-free. The built-in battery design results in less waste and depleted batteries can be replaced for $129 or $179, which includes installation and disposal of your old battery in an environmentally responsible manner. ” …

Via Apple: MacBook Pro New Models

Citigroup’s new Frankfurt data center has achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum rating from the US Green Building Council.

… “Sustainability during the design, construction and operation phases was a primary consideration in the delivery of the 230,000-square-foot building. Its innovative design was executed with no increased cost over more conventional data centers and without adversely affecting reliability and resilience of the systems it houses. ” …

Via Citigroup: First Ever LEED Platinum Accreditation for a Data Center

AMD challenges Intel for ownership of the future data center by introducing powerful server CPU roadmap that is power efficient. …

… “Months ahead of schedule, AMD plans to deliver the six-core AMD Opteron processor code named Istanbul in June this year, with up to 30 percent more performance within the same power envelope and on the same platform as current Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors. ” …

Via AMD: Server Platform Roadmap

AMD vid of Istanbul Six cores versus Quad core CPU …

Digital Realty Trust adopts BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) Bespoke datacentre standards for its future datacentres. …

… “Jim Smith, Chief Technology Officer for Digital Realty Trust, said: Adopting the BREEAM standards right at the beginning of the initial design stages will not only build in reduced running costs because the building’s insulation and cooling will be optimised, but in the longer term the value of the building can be expected to be higher than a comparable building which is not BREEAM accredited. ” …

Via Digital Realty Trust: BREEAM Sustainability Standards

Sacramento Municipal Utility District recognizes RagingWire’s efficiency efforts with a incentive rebate of $150,000. …

… “Some of the efforts include installing waterside economizers, oversized cooling towers, variable speed pumps, and highly efficient chillers. The result of this past year’s efforts alone have created additional energy savings of over 2,000,000 kWh of electricity per year, which equates to reducing 1.6 million pounds of CO2 emissions, or the equivalent of driving a small family car around the Earth over 100 times. These savings are incremental to RagingWire’s already environmentally friendly design. ” …

Via RagingWire: Energy Efficiency Rebate from SMUD

Take a holistic approach to green IT by designing your applications right from the start. …

… “The objective is to reduce redundant business requirements and to optimize application design. The benefit is a reduction in transaction volumes and data storage requirements. ” …

Via BeyeNETWORK: Holistic View of the Green Technology Ecosystem