Sustainable Technology

Allstate Insurance achieves LEED Gold for its new data center in Rochelle, Illinois. The datacenter deploys efficient hardware, virtualization techniques, effective cooling systems, white roofing, natural lighting, and a native landscape design to achieve its sustainable facility design. …

… “The Allstate facility, which opened in 2009, is one of the few mission-critical data centers in America to receive the Gold designation from USGBC. It’s a key component of a larger strategy to reduce the number of Allstate data centers to two by the end of 2010 and to increase power efficiency and computing capacity. ” …

Via Allstate Insurance Company: LEED Building Certification

Australian government plans to manage its data center capacity growth through strategic sourcing process. …

… “government data centres generate an estimated 300,000 tonnes of carbon each year which the government hopes to reduce by at least 40,000 tonnes per year over the next five years. ” …

Via The Australian: Data centre strategy

Aussie Data Centre Strategy: “Lindsay Tanner said that through the coordinated approach to managing data centre activities detailed in the strategy, the data centre space required by Government could actually be reduced. “

Green IT strategies need better alignment from government incentives to drive adoption. …

… “we are calling on the Government to take action and recognise that sustainable IT involves using products for as long as possible – not needlessly turfing out equipment to add to an ever-growing mountain of e-waste … ” …

Via CRN: IT repairs

Data centre energy savings produce tangible results to the bottom line. …

… “Green IT strategies – from effective monitoring of power usage to the introduction of technologies such as cloud computing and more energy-efficient hardware – can lead to significant savings on the bottom line … ” …

Via Rackspace UK: Overcoming challenges

NVIDIA Optimus for notebook PCs optimizes the graphics processing workload to improve performance and lower energy consumption. …

… “Notebooks equipped with Optimus Technology can last up to 2 times longer on a battery charge than notebooks with standard discrete graphics without Optimus technology. ” …

Via NVidia: Optimus Technology for Notebook Computers

Leading companies are creating value for their enterprise through broad energy efficiency initiatives that include the information technology function. …

… “This means that the savings or business value derived from improvements far outstrips the incremental capital costs of greening the datacenter. ” …

Via Data Center Knowledge: Business Value of Green

Symantec deploys a portfolio of green IT projects to create a tangible impact on its energy consumption, power costs, and carbon footprint. …

… “decommissioning of hardware from a major data center closure reduced Symantec’s overall device power utilization from approximately 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) to 168 kWh … ” …

Via Environmental Leader: Green IT Efforts

Data center power reduction can be addressed through a multi-pronged strategy that targets demand-reduction, higher utilization of reduced capacity, and smarter data center layout. …

… “Half the power consumption in the data centre is actually from IT equipment, said Zaheer, but customers running data centres can cut this consumption by reducing redundant data, physical resources and hotspots, and by increasing disk utilization. ” …

Via IT World Canada: Green IT

The City of Savannah, Georgia has deployed a green data center with stimulus funding. …

… “Besides new networking equipment, the project included a new cooling system. The city’s goal was for the project to increase its data center’s energy-efficiency rating from 35.6 percent to 73.7 percent. ” …

Via DatacenterDynamics: Savannah data center

IBM recognizes its internal innovation projects for their environmental impact. A number of the solutions are focused on the green data center. …

… “Systems Director Active Energy Management — a software solution that helps data center operators monitor and automatically manage energy use, allowing greater control over power consumption. The technology can reduce system administration and energy costs in a typical data center by nearly 30 percent. ” …

Via IBM: Top Environmental Solutions, 2009

A green IT audit screens for purchasing policies, asset management practices, and power consumption baseline. …

… “Vreeswijk looks to eliminate redundant machines and infrastructure, or looks for redundant workstations, such as unnecessary hot spares … ” …

Via Vancouver Sun: Green computing

Slovak Telekom will use IBM to build a new green data center in Bratislava, Slovakia and it is targeted to begin operations in 2011 enabling capacity growth needs. The data centre will leverage ambient outside air for cooling and implement high-density rack arrangements that optimize cooling system efficiency. …

… “The data centre will be built on approximately 1,200 square meters of a modern, five-floor building, providing a highly-resilient environment. It will be fully equipped to protect Slovak Telekom‘s valuable information technology investments. It will ensure the highest levels of physical and digital protection, including access control, CCTV, intrusion, fire and flood detection and extinguishing systems, as well as, comprehensive monitoring of the IT infrastructure. Green techniques include a cooling system which, during cold months, will leverage outside air, reducing the need for air conditioning units. The high-density layout of the centre will ensure that IT equipment is sectioned according to heat emissions in order to optimize cooling capacity and efficiency. ” …

Via IBM: Green Data Centre