Green Grid launches free online energy efficiency tools for data centres managers
Greenwise Staff
8th February 2010
The Green Grid, the business consortium promoting energy efficiency in the global IT industry, has launched a new set of tools to help data centre operators drive down energy inefficiency in their facilities.
The online tools, which are free to use, include data capturing and reporting to help data centre managers improve decision-making around
energy efficiency in an industry that is seeing rapid expansion but is responsible for a major part of the
IT industry's growing energy and carbon footprint. Scientists estimate that the energy footprint of the internet is growing by more than 10 per cent each year – and running data centres is a major part of that growing footprint.
The Green Grid’s latest tools include a ‘
Power Efficiency Estimator’ that can compare different scenarios of power topologies and technologies inside a data centre facility, taking into consideration factors such as workload, availability, and space constraints. In addition, a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) Calculator enables data centre operators to input their facility’s specific energy data at regular intervals to determine their PUE. PUE is a metric created by
The Green Grid that determines the amount of energy used by a data centre.
The Green Grid is also offering guidance about how to maximise energy savings when using viritualisation in a white paper called ‘
Impact of Virtualisation on Data Centre Physical Infrastructure’.
The latest tools are set to compliment a
free tool launched last year by The Green Grid aimed at cutting air conditioning costs in data centres.
Commenting on the launches, Christian Belady, Microsoft representative and treasurer of The Green Grid, said: “The Green Grid is demonstrating its commitment to improving data centre
energy efficiency through the hands-on development of tools, standards and global alliances that make it easier for end-users to drive practical improvements."
The Green Grid is a is a global consortium of IT companies and professionals seeking to improve energy efficiency in data centres and business computing systems around the world.
The new tools will be available by the end of March.
Related News:
Green IT and Software NewsEnergy Efficiency NewsRelated Links:
www.thegreengrid.org