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

Equinix Expands Green Business Initiative

May 27, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Data center operator Equinix (equinix.com) announced on Tuesday that all four of its Silicon Valley Internet Business Exchange centers have received certification from the Bay Area Green Business Program (greenbiz.ca.gov).

The Bay Area Green Business Program was developed by local governments, in collaboration with the US EPA, Cal EPA department of toxic substances control and the business community, and “verifies that businesses meet higher standards of environmental performance.” It reviews company programs that support energy conservation, “green” purchasing policies, recycling, pollution control and transportation alternatives, and it awards certification after an external audit by local government officials, says Equinix.

Further emphasizing its commitment towards supporting green initiatives in the data center business, Equinix reports it has also become a member of The Green Grid (thegreengrid.org), a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems.

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Tags: Bay Area, data center, energy efficiency, EPA, Equinix, The Green Grid

Web Hosting’s Green Movement

By Dennis McCafferty

There’s a shift going on in the hosting world, toward eco-friendly business - as a community of industry associations, government organizations and other would-be policy makers work to define “green” hosting

It may not be easy being green – but it could be worth the effort.

That’s the picture painted by recent activity in the hosting industry: Environmental policy advocates and government leaders are working with industry executives to explore virtualization and other practices as ways of reducing dependence on the energy-sapping equipment now fueling data centers.

In New York, one hosting company is using hybrid vehicles to transport servers, among other efforts.

And in San Antonio, Rackspace, another host, isn’t only turning to virtualization as a way to reduce consumption – it’s launching a comprehensive, company-to-customer series of green initiatives, including supporting wind turbine farms in the US.

“Why are we doing this?” says John Engates, CTO of Rackspace. “Because the environment right now is in a very dangerous state. Internet and data-center infrastructure are growing at a very fast pace, and we’re going to ruin the planet if we don’t do anything about it. As a large data-center operator, our customers expect us to take the initiative to do the right thing. But there are self-serving reasons as well. We save on energy costs and equipment costs to our customers by doing this, and that puts us in a better financial situation.”

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Tags: AMD, blade server, cooling, data center, Dell, EPA, government, HP, IBM, Intel, LimeLeap, Logicworks, Rackable Systems, Rackspace, renewable energy, solar, SprayCool, Sun Microsystems, TerraPass, The Green Grid, virtualization, VMware

Building the Green Data Center

By Wayne Epperson

There are a few reasons for building green, and fortunately for the environment, the business bottom line runs pretty parallel to the interests of the environment – cutting back on cooling and energy consumption means dollars saved

Environmentally conscious is a preferred business standard these days. And there is a wealth of data – appealing to both the sympathetic and the business-minded – making the case for companies to go green. In most businesses, however, the bottom line for green energy initiatives is the same as ever – reducing costs and improving earnings.

Fortunately for the environment, the bottom line for business runs pretty parallel to the bottom line for the planet in the hosting business, where power-hungry data centers account for a sizable chunk of operating expenses. If those operators can lower electricity consumption and costs while increasing efficiency – voila, they’ve joined the green revolution.

The best way for a hosting provider to go green would be to build their data center from the ground up with efficiency first on the list of directives. But if the data center already exists, it doesn’t make fiscal sense to tear it down, just to build a green one. In practical terms, there are a number of steps hosts can take to retrofit their existing operations to simultaneously reduce both their carbon footprint and operating expenses.

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Tags: AFCOM, AISO, cooling, data center, EPA, renewable energy, solar, The Planet, trade show, Uptime Institute, virtualization