Energy Biz - July/August 2008 - (Page 11) companies such as Intel, VMware, HP, Dell, IBM, and Rackable Systems. For virtualization, incentives are based on the amount of energy savings achieved through data center consolidation. PG&E customers apply for the rebate before pursuing a virtualization project. THE CHANGES CUSTOMERS MAkE ARE ESTIMATED TO SAVE IN ANNUAL THEM ENERGy COSTS $300 to $600 PG&E currently offers a flat rebate of $158 per server that is consolidated through the project. In addition to the rebate, the changes customers make are estimated to save them $300 to $600 in annual energy costs for each server that is virtualized. Those savings can almost double when reduced data center cooling costs are also taken into account. San Diego Gas and Electric and Austin Energy also offer virtualization-based incentive programs. Other utilities are currently offering or planning incentives including Xcel and NYSERDA. These programs are commendable and for the customers who find out about them, they may nudge them toward greater optimization for energy efficiency. But these programs could all be so much more effective if they were the same. Or even similar. With unpredictable geographic coverage and such a wide variety of incentives it is excruciatingly difficult for the computing industry to promote them effectively. Our ability to amplify awareness of these incentives — and hence their impact in driving behavior change — would be much greater if we could narrow the programs down to two or three, if we could build on the metrics work occurring in the Green Grid and Climate Savers Computing and if they were predictably available. Even if we cannot achieve a national footprint, harmonizing the programs would be a huge step forward. Specifically, setting incentives associated with the deployment of more energy-efficient computers based upon the Climate Savers Computing product catalog listing, implementing virtualizationbased server consolidation projects where the old equipment is actually retired and a third program based upon improving the power usage effectiveness as defined by the Green Grid would cover equipment selection, data center deployment best practices and data center facility best practices. And the industry could promote these efforts consistently and broadly. Radhakrishna Hiremane is a product marketing engineer at Server Platforms Group Marketing. Lorie Wigle leads Intel’s Eco-Technology effort. www.energycentral.com E n E rgyB i z 11 http://www.energycentral.com
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