| IT departments are under increasing scrutiny and | | | | environment. |
| pressure to deliver environmentally-sound solutions. | | | | 3. Design a best practice floor plan |
| Large data centres are one of the most significant | | | | Adopting an alternating hot aisle/cold aisle layout is |
| energy consumers in an organisation's IT | | | | optimal and can correct many cooling problems in a |
| infrastructure, so any measures that you can take to | | | | typical data centre. By implementing a hot/cold aisle |
| reduce this consumption (and therefore also carbon | | | | layout, equipment is spared from having hot air |
| dioxide emissions) will have a positive impact on your | | | | recirculated and thereby eliminating risk of an outage |
| organisation's environmental footprint. | | | | through device failure. Also, by having a common hot |
| The construction and operation of a green data | | | | aisle, you have the ability to contain areas where |
| centre involve advanced technologies and strategies, | | | | heat density is high, such as racks with blade servers, |
| for example | | | | and deal with the heat in a specific manner. This |
| - Reducing the power consumption of the data | | | | allows for multiple heat rejection methods to be in |
| centre | | | | use within one data centre. |
| - Minimising the footprints of the buildings | | | | 4. Use appropriate technology |
| - Maximising cooling efficiency | | | | In taking a green approach to your data centre, your |
| - Using low-emission building materials, carpets and | | | | evaluation of products is no longer just a price versus |
| paints | | | | performance comparison. It is important to |
| - Installing catalytic converters on backup generators | | | | incorporate the total costs of the environment into |
| - Using alternative energy technologies such as | | | | the calculation, which then also includes costs for |
| photovoltaic electrical heat pumps and evaporative | | | | energy consumption. |
| cooling | | | | 5. Take a green perspective on ILM |
| The consumption of energy is considered the | | | | Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is the |
| dominant - and often the only - factor in defining | | | | optimum allocation of storage resources that support |
| whether or not a facility is green. IT executives | | | | a business. Every element of information in an |
| therefore need to start investigating alternative ways | | | | organisation has a useful lifespan, and this can range |
| of building energy-efficient data centres. | | | | from a voice conversation to certain legal and medical |
| By following these seven simple steps, IT executives | | | | records. By implementing an ILM strategy, you have |
| can come closer to achieving their vision of a green | | | | the ability to create greater efficiencies in data |
| data centre: | | | | storage, which in turn lead to greater efficiencies in |
| Seven Simple Steps | | | | elements such as power consumption. |
| 1. Think green | | | | 6. Investigate liquid cooling |
| Environmental concerns are front of mind throughout | | | | To meet the challenges of blade servers and |
| society today, and you can also take a 'green' | | | | high-density computing, more organisations are |
| attitude towards your data centre, both in terms of | | | | realising the need for effective cooling and heat |
| current state and also future planning. Also, many | | | | management solutions. Many are welcoming liquid |
| data centre vendors and service providers are | | | | cooling systems into their infrastructures to achieve |
| providing green alternatives - factor these options in | | | | better cooling efficiency, while others may find it |
| when negotiating new contracts and planning | | | | difficult to fathom pipes of running water snaking |
| upgrades. | | | | through the plenums of their data centres. |
| Incorporate the green vision in your planning - your | | | | 7. Utilize greener energy sources |
| future will be impacted by legislation, standards and | | | | Many energy utilities are now offering greener |
| market demands in this area. | | | | options for customers, with power from sustainable |
| 2. Virtualise and consolidate | | | | sources. For example, in the United States, the U.S. |
| A virtualisation and consolidation project is often a | | | | Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formed |
| step in the right direction towards green computing. | | | | the Green Power Partnership, which encourages and |
| Research indicates that a server often only utilises | | | | assists organizations to buy green power and reduce |
| between 5 and 15% of its capacity to service one | | | | their impact on the environment. Major economies in |
| application. With appropriate analysis and consolidation, | | | | Asia have accepted the Kyoto Protocol to control |
| many of these low utilisation devices can be | | | | carbon emission however only Japan has committed |
| combined into a single physical server, consuming only | | | | to a reduction by 2012. The awareness on social |
| a fraction of the power of the original devices and | | | | responsibility and opportunity to save operational cost |
| saving on costs, as well as taking a step towards a | | | | has raised the bar on awareness and willingness to |
| more environmentally-friendly data centre | | | | adopt a more green approach towards utilities. |