Mission Critical - Winter 2008 - (Page 18)

Zinc Whiskers Continued from page 16 Theory supercomputing facility in Berkeley, CA. The facility is intended to serve as a model of energy efficiency for all data centers and computational facilities across the country. LBNL is said to be considering a combination of some of the most aggressive mechanical and electrical plant energy solutions available. Finally, an unidentified Internet giant in the neighborhood is said to be developing a “fan free” natural convection air circulation system to cool its servers. LEED Certifications are a good measure of the environmental standards with which buildings are constructed and operated, but they have little to do with energy efficiency in a data center environment. You will realize greater economic value by demonstrating compliance with the California Energy Commission’s Recommended Program for Data Center LEED Certification. The CEC program is now under development by an integrated group of corporate, institutional, and government experts and is expected to be ready sometime in 2008. Government Standards Government-funded standards development is now in progress and producing promising preliminary results. Programs include federal and state-funded efforts that are very much in line with EPA recommendations. That is, the standards are being developed in a collaborative manner that involves all facets of the data center community … from owners and operators to consultants and vendors and politicians. DOE has tasked LBNL’s Research & Development Group with creating a data center energy-efficiency audit program. DOE intends to encourage us to take this audit program into each of our IT facilities and make some real improvements starting in 2008. DOE’s “Save Energy Now” program will allow data center operators and owners to assess their facility efficiencies, to receive solutions updates, and to join technical working groups. More information about the program can be viewed online at www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/partnering_data_centers.html. EPA’s Energy Star Program for Buildings is being amended to include data center facilities. Ratings are a function of the building type and operating characteristics. So, although the program is still under development, I expect to see rating systems for different types of data centers. Take a look at the Energy Star website: www.energystar.gov/index. cfm?c=new_bldg_design.new_bldg_design guidance. The Green Grid is a consortium of U.S. corporate and institutional stakeholders dedicated to the development of reasonable standards for monitoring, measuring, and managing energy efficiency in data centers. DOE and the Grid are collaborating to improve energy efficiency by educating IT managers on the technical implementation of a greener data center and the associated financial benefits. As part of a Memorandum of Understanding, the two organizations will develop a set of best practices and guidelines to help improve energy efficiency in their data centers. Their intention is to establish guidelines that can be used across the globe and integrated into other national programs. Europe already has organizations working on IT and data center energy efficiency, including the UK’s Green Technology Initiative. Get Up to Speed Many of us like to consider the recent EPA report to Congress to be a formal announcement ushering in a new era of data center energy and operating efficiency alike. Following the formation of private industry’s activities at the Green Grid, the Green Building Council, and similar “green” organizations, the future appears to be inevitable. Becoming more closely associated with the various organizations that will drive change in the future is a good way to prepare for the innovation and best practices coming down the pike. Having a corporate representative on The Green Grid allows a company to keep in close contact with changes at the highest level. More junior staff can get involved with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and The Critical Facilities Round Table in California, and 7x24, AFCOM, and Data Center Dynamics activities all across the country. Finally, developing a strategic relationship with a world-class consultant with good practical experience and familiarity with government organizations will round out a good energy-efficiency team. On December 17, the Critical Facilities Round Table (CFRT) (www.cfroundtable.org) participated in Mission Critical Magazine’s webinar with DOE’s Paul Scheihing and ICF International’s Rebecca Duff, who did a great job standing in for the EPA’s Andrew Fanara. The CFRT group will support their ongoing activities and objectives by bringing the opinions of data centers owners and operators into the process of developing programs for DOE’s “Save Energy Now” and EPA’s “Energy Star” ratings for data center facilities. CFRT is a non-profit organization, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, dedicated to information sharing and solutions development amongst our member owners and operators of critical facilities. Please visit our Web site at www.cfroundtable.org or contact us at 415-748-0515 for more information. ■ ◗ REPRINTS OF THIS ARTICLE are available by contacting Jill DeVries at devriesj@bnpmedia.com or at 248-244-1726. 18 | Mission Critical Winter 2008 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/partnering_data_centers.html http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/partnering_data_centers.html http://www.cfroundtable.org http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_bldg_design.new_bldg_design_guidance http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_bldg_design.new_bldg_design_guidance http://www.cfroundtable.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mission Critical - Winter 2008

Mission Critical - Winter 2008 Table of Contents Editorial: What Have We Been Doing? Cronin’s Workshop: Imagining the Perfect Data Center Power And Cooling Solution Digital Power: The Next Edge in Business Resiliency Zinc Whiskers: Keeping Up With The Green Movement Mission Critical Care: Shipping, Staging, and Installation Legal Perspectives: “A Reliable Energy Supply Is Key to Data Center Success” Continued Payback, Instant Protection Beyond the Nines The Green Information Technology Revolution Health Care Network Offers Glimpse of the Future of Backup Power High-Density Data Centers – Discuss, Design, Deploy High Performance Data Centers Call for Innovative Cooling Techniques More Data in the Data Center Five Considerations for Powering Data Center Racks New Products Industry News Events Classifieds Letters Ad Index Datacenter Wiki: wiki-Mission Critical

Mission Critical - Winter 2008

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