Articles from federaltimes.com

Air-conditioning bills can really add up. As the federal government looks for energy savings by consolidating its more than 2,000 data centers, companies are developing techniques to save on one of the highest costs associated with data centers — cooling them. Gary Forbes, power and cooling specialist with technology company CDW-G, said that in traditional data centers, the exhaust from servers causes areas farthest from them to be cooled while areas closest to the servers remain warm. "Bringing air conditioners and air handlers closer to the loads are the most notable trend in squeezing energy savings out of existing facilities," Forbes said. New cooling technology cools servers directly in a process called "in-row cooling." (Read Full Article)

As much as one-third of the energy consumed in the IRS' data centers is wasted because industry best practices aren't being followed, the Treasury Department's inspector general says in a new report. The energy savings at just two enterprise computing centers the IG reviewed could total $3.2 million over four years, the IG said in the report released Monday. The actual savings could be much larger if IRS took similar measures at data centers located at the agency's nine other campuses, the IG said. "Not fully implementing applicable best practices or other data center improvements affects the IRS's ability to minimize energy consumption and costs, resulting in the inefficient use of resources and taxpayer funds not being most effectively used," the IG said. (Read Full Article)

State is working with GSA on several projects, including a $120 million data center on the Western power grid. The new facility will serve as a back-up to the Eastern power grid. Two hundred days after Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, federal officials are giving themselves top grades for quickly pushing their portions of the stimulus money out into the economy. But critics say they want to see the feds — and the state and local governments mostly responsible for actually spending that money — pick up the pace. Of the $499 billion that Congress authorized for agencies in grants, contracts and other spending, almost 47percent has been obligated — that is, set aside for specific purposes and waiting to be spent. Of that, 16 percent has been spent. “On a scale of one to 10, I think it’s a 10,” said Edward DeSeve, who is overseeing implementation of ... (Read Full Article)