EPA Updates EnergyStar Server Specs

By David Hamilton, theWHIR.com

November 6, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The US Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov) has finished the third draft of the Energy Star specification for servers, making it one step closer to creating a finalized Energy Star efficiency rating for servers, according to a report on IT Knowledge Exchange blog Server Farming.

Mark Fontecchio said in a blog post that the new EPA regulations will open for compliance to one to four-socket Tier 1 servers by February 1, and that Tier 2 servers will not be called upon for compliance until October of 2010. He states that blade servers were not included, nor were DC-powered servers, network and storage equipment, or server appliances; however, the EPA intends to address these products in the future with an add-on to the specification.

The EPA draft makes special note, according to Fontecchio, that non-profit standards firm Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (www.spec.org) is developing a new benchmark for blade servers, much like its release for volume x86 rack servers. The EPA intends to wait until SPEC releases its standard before releasing its own. (more…)

Tags: certification, Energy Star, EPA, servers

Softchoice Adds Green Product Search

By David Hamilton, theWHIR.com

November 3, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Online software and hardware retailer Softchoice (www.softchoice.com) has added ENERGY STAR search functionality to its online store, making it the first of its kind to compare IT hardware based on energy efficiency.

According to the Toronto-based company’s Monday announcement, Softchoice visitors can now search more than 2,000 ENERGY STAR products and compare their results based on price and dozens of performance criteria including memory, hard drive size and processor speed. Supported by government agencies across North America, the ENERGY STAR program certifies IT products including desktop computers, laptops, printers and scanners, helping establish specific environmental standards.

“There have been huge strides in making IT products more energy efficient, but when it comes to making informed, environmentally responsible purchasing decisions, we’re seeing a lot of confusion in the market,” Softchoice President and chief executive officer David MacDonald said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is about making it easier for IT buyers to find and evaluate ENERGY STAR certified products in a straightforward, practical way.” (more…)

Tags: energy efficiency, Energy Star, Softchoice

RichardsoNEyres Issues Green Study

By Justin Lee, theWHIR.com

August 26, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Data center infrastructure provider RichardsoNEyres (richardsoneyres.co.uk) announced on Tuesday it released new research that reveal that many data center operators are not taking green issues seriously enough and are adopting a do-it-yourself approach.

Conducted in association with industry analysts IDL, the RichardsoNEyres report highlights the main data center challenges IT managers are currently facing and includes a six-step action plan to help businesses overcome these issues.

The challenges start with a infrastructure and data center review in an effort to devise an action plan to simultaneously reduce cost, improve performance and reduce environmental impact. (more…)

Tags: emissions, Energy Star, IDL, RichardsoNEyres, virtualization

Equinix Joins Energy Star Program

By Anastasia Tubanos, theWHIR.com

August 11, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Data center operator Equinix (equinix.com) announced on Monday that it has joined the US Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star program (energystar.gov) to help the organization’s initiative to develop a ratings program to measure, track and improve the energy performance of data centers.

The Energy Star program was introduced in 1992 by the EPA as a voluntary partnership intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. The label can be found on more than 50 kinds of products, including homes and commercial buildings. The goal of the program, says the organization, is to assist data center operators in improving energy efficiency by assessing energy performance using standardized metrics that are simple and can be tracked on a continuous basis.

A partnership with data center operator 365 Main (365Main.com) in March was one of the program’s first steps into the data center world. Since then, the EPA says at least 215 data centers have volunteered to supply data on their energy usage.

(more…)

Tags: data center, Energy Star, Equinix