The Battle for IT Standards

At Green Grid’s first Technical Forum, many are calling for a ratings standard that would apply to their data centers, much like the LEED standard for buildings Computerworld reports. Specifically, companies consolidating their data centers want metrics to rate energy efficiency and monitor energy consumption in multivendor environments.

Speakers also claimed a lack of user education has been an obstacle to greening their data centers, as well as “bogus claims,” by vendors who have jumped on the computing green bandwagon but haven’t produced the technologies companies need to reduce their energy consumption.

While the Green Grid Forum was going on, Michael Dell and other CEOs, on behalf of the Technology CEO Council, were on Capitol Hill lobbying lawmakers to encourage more energy-efficient practices but not to set specific standards for products that companies like theirs build.

The executives said that some things the government could do to help efficiency would be to award companies that use IT technology that enhances energy efficiency, minimize trade barriers and maximize tax incentives for energy-efficient companies.

The executives also drew attention to two new reports. One report argues that for every kilowatt hour of electricity consumed by computers, servers and the like, the U.S. economy increased its overall energy savings by a factor of about ten. The other lists dozens of products made by its member companies that have improved power consumption over the years.