A slow green reality by doug mohney

Views and Opinions on Green IT (Aug 14 2009) Power and Cooling

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   Turning your data center green is a great concept, but it's not going to happen overnight for a number of reasons. Unless you are building a new data center from scratch – and most likely being subsidized by a vendor as a demonstration project – implementing energy-efficiency and carbon reduction planning has to be a little like planning for retirement.   You have to have a goal, you have to have a plan, you have to contribute to (work on) the plan on a steady, regular basis, and you have to have a date to pull the trigger. 

    

   While the timeframes for a green IT strategy are (hopefully) much shorter than a typical retirement plan, a lot of the macro factors involved are the same.  You have to take into consideration the current legal and regulatory environment and how it might change in the future.  Instead of working with an investment advisor, you may be well served by working with an energy advisor.  

    

   Unlike retirement, your local utility company may be your biggest partner in providing incentives for you to save energy.  Learn about what current plans and rebates are available and establish an ongoing dialogue as to what you would like see from your utility.  The power company may not pay for a "Total Green Data Center Makeover" today, but it might be willing to provide incentives in the form of cash back or loans down the road as carbon cap-and-trade legislation is passed.

    

   Finally, you can start working at "Green" today – but it has to make business sense, in the form of saving you money through power and maintenance savings and/or providing a differentiator in the marketplace.  Customers may not solely choose a data center based upon being green, but many of them are putting it on the checklist so they can keep their stockholders and customers happy.  And everyone is happy when you find a way to save money.

   
   

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