Articles from By Iris Kuo Of Venturebeat

1. Racktivity Raises $8 Million for Data Center Efficiency Explore The New York Times (Dec 1 2010) Cloud Computing Racktivity has raised $8 million in second-round financing for its management of data center power. The round was led by Partech International, with the participation of existing investor Big Bang Ventures. The European company also announced it would open a U.S. headquarters in Redwood City, Calif. It will use the new round of funding to accelerate growth, and will also be working to expand its sales presence Europe and the U.S. Racktivity makes a power distribution unit called Rack Controller, as well as software that manages and reduces data center energy use and maximizes uptime, or the time equipment can be left on without needing to be rebooted. The company says it will deliver the first of its modules to the U.S. in the first quarter of 2011. Greening data centers are a growing concern for big companies. Data centers eat up around three percent of all ... (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Europe   IBM

2. Inside the Race to Green Data Centers Explore The New York Times (Dec 1 2010) Servers When one thinks of green, the first thought that comes to mind probably is not a chilly warehouse packed sky-high with servers. Yet in the energy-efficiency world, that’s exactly what where an increasingly amount of focus is going to — data centers. Data centers are used by companies to store Web servers and associated computer equipment. And the behemoth buildings, which typically take up hundreds of thousands of square feet, are huge energy hogs, requiring large amounts to power the equipment, as well as air conditioning to keep the servers from overheating. In 2006, the government reported that data centers consumed 1.5 percent of all electricity in the U.S., costing $4.5 billion, and projected the energy use could nearly double by 2011, costing $7.4 billion a year. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Greenpeace   Google   Yahoo

3. Yahoo’s New Facility Shows Trend, Growing Importance of Green Data Centers Explore The New York Times (Sep 20 2010) Wind , Cloud Computing , Servers , Storage Yahoo unveiled a new data center in Lockport, New York today, boasting one of the most energy-efficient data centers in the world – and exemplifying the push among big Internet companies to green data storage. The new data center boasts some nice stats — the company says it will use 40 percent less energy and 95 percent less water than conventional data centers. Yahoo says its power-use effectiveness (PUE) for the facility is 1.08, which means 92 percent of power consumption goes towards actual computing, not ancillary things like lighting and cooling. The data center will powered in part by hydropower and reduce energy costs to one cent for cooling for every dollar spent on electricity. It was built in part with a $9.9 million grant from the Department of Energy. The issue of green data storage is one that’s growing in importance. The EPA has expressed concern about ... (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Greenpeace   Amazon.com   Google

4. On the GreenBeat: Solar Forecast Sours, 2 Million Smart Meters Installed Nationwide Explore The New York Times (Sep 1 2010) Solar One hot topic right now is the future of the solar market, which is considered over-saturated. One writer, citing a conversation with a venture capitalist, calls this the “sunset of solar venture capital.” Noting analysts’ bearishness on solar going into 2011, the Motley Fool’s Travis Hoium bets on First Solar, but says Trina Solar and Yingli Solar also have a shot at making inroads into the residential and commercial market where SunPower reigns supreme. Jigar Shah at Cleantech Blog picks at Fool’s metric of cost per watt, saying widening efficiency gaps have rendered those numbers moot. “In any case, solar is coming down in cost and the race is fun to watch.” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced yesterday that two million smart grid meters have been installed in the country as a result of funding from the Recovery Act. The release cites a study by the ... (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Greenpeace   Google   Steven Chu

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