| rld that is turning "green" everywhere you look, what | | | | and ceilings, and make sure you have proper air |
| other areas could possibly come more eco-friendly? | | | | ducts. |
| One place to look is your business. The ability to turn | | | | 3. Reconsider your redundancy. Many companies |
| your datacenter green is a very possible and practical | | | | invest in redundant cooling and heating systems that |
| step. But first, for those who do not know, let's | | | | use double the amount of power they usually need -- |
| define what a datacenter is. A data center is the | | | | for each kilowatt of energy needed, redundant |
| location owned by a websitehost that contains the | | | | circuits use two. This helps prepare systems for |
| web servers. So how can you make this location that | | | | growth and times of peak performance, but the |
| runs on so much energy into an environmentally | | | | result is a maximum power flow where only a |
| friendly place? | | | | fraction of that power is put to use. This practice is |
| Energy experts estimate that datacenters use mean | | | | inefficient and inflates your energy bills. Cut back your |
| 1.5 percent and 3 percent of the electricity that is | | | | redundancy wherever possible, to operate based on |
| generated in the United States. At the high end of | | | | your current needs rather than projecting your future |
| the spectrum the whole state of Michigan can be | | | | needs. |
| powered for one year. According to Uptime Institute, | | | | 4. Use adjustable equipment. You can also plan for |
| "more than 60 percent of the power used to cool | | | | growth and times of peak power needs by |
| equipment in the datacenter is completely wasted." | | | | implementing scalable and modular systems. Scalable |
| Not only are you helping the environment by making | | | | blade servers can concentrate more computing |
| your datacenter more eco-friendly, you may also get | | | | power in a smaller space, requiring less power to cool. |
| benefits through the government. | | | | Also any scalable system will let you operate at your |
| The website has provided steps that will help you | | | | minimum power requirements and give you the |
| get started in your venture of making your business's | | | | capacity to grow into higher power consumption |
| datacenter more environmentally friendly. We will | | | | when you're ready. |
| focus on the first 5 in this post and the last 5 in the | | | | 5. Virtualize your storage. Most servers are |
| next. | | | | underused, because they're loaded with archaic |
| 1. Evaluate your energy efficiency. Add up your | | | | information or software that's only needed some of |
| energy bills, learn where your energy comes from, | | | | the time. With storage virtualization software or a |
| and how it's being distributed in your company. Plan a | | | | device, you can make your applications mobile and |
| road map for monitoring and reducing usage. Your | | | | thereby shutdown unneeded servers. The |
| initial evaluation can provide a baseline for calculating | | | | virtualization device will keep track of your server |
| your ROI after implementing changes. | | | | space and remap applications to different physical |
| 2. Redesign your cooling system. Enclose your | | | | locations as necessary to achieve optimal efficiency. |
| servers in hot aisles so you can concentrate your | | | | Thus, information can be made location independent |
| cooling directly onto the racks. Be sure to reduce | | | | and redirected across multiple I/O devices from |
| airflow loss by sealing off holes in your walls, floors | | | | different vendors. |