August 14, 2007

Best Place To Build An Energy Efficient Data Center

Base Partners, a data center consultancy, and Glumac, an engineering services firm, teamed up to study the “green” credentials of 21 locales that already have pockets of data centers, ComputerWorld reports. The locations studied included New York, Chicago, Phoenix, El Segundo, Calif., Ashburn, Va., and Quincy, Wa.

Glumac and Base Partners devised a fictional 135,000-square-foot data center with a raised-floor area of 110,000 square feet.

Chicago and Quincy came out way ahead of all the other sites studied in terms of annual carbon production (a number of variables were involved - see the article for more details). Going by the cost of electricity alone, Westport, Pa. and Quincy, come out on top, according to the article. But cities such as Miami and Atlanta have it all over the likes of San Jose and Boston.

Microsoft is building a large data center in Quincy.

Here is some advice for IT managers who are looking to establish new data centers or significantly expand their current buildings:

• Negotiate with your electricity provider. Utilities might be willing to apply off-peak rates during peak business hours, or to offer some type of similar deal.
• Look into newer technologies - including chips and software - that can power down servers and PCs during times when they aren’t being fully used.
• Base your cost estimates on equipment life-cycle costs, not just start-up expenses.
• Use smart energy strategies.

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