New Help for a Green Data Center

When it comes to greening up the data center, there are two basic elements to a comprehensive strategy. One is to invest in the newest technologies, like virtualization and SSDs, that maintain performance levels while cutting back on energy usage. The other is to rework existing infrastructure to make it more efficient.

Believe it or not, it's the second option that often proves the most difficult. An improved floor layout might generate cooling efficiencies, but what, exactly, is the optimal design? Should you expand an existing storage array, or is it cheaper to locate it off-site?

One such offering is a new online tool from The Green Grid that will help North American enterprises make the best use of outside air (a free and abundant resource) to help keep the inside cooler. The kit includes a graphical map of the United States and Canada (hi-res for grid members, low-res for everyone else) that contains data from more than 2,000 weather stations across the region, and allows users to input data such as local energy costs, IT loads and overall facility loads to determine how much savings they could realize with outside air. It also analyzes savings from the use of other techniques, like water-side economizers.

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