Novel Energy-Saving Ideas for Data Centers

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A "follow the moon" philosophy for data centers aimed at shifting workloads to locations where electricity costs are the lowest at any given time is one energy-saving idea presented by Harkeeret Singh, global head of energy and sustainable technology for Thompson Reuters, according to Heather Clancy, in a blog for ZDnet.com.

Clancy attended Singh's presentation about holistic enterprise energy efficiency during a recent Symposium 2010 conference held by the Uptime Institute in New York.

Two other ideas that interested the author include building data centers that automate virtualization so applications are moved to servers where they will run most efficiently at any given moment in time, and futureproofing a facility's design by running cable and power overhead, so that new cooling technologies can be installed underneath the floor.

Singh also presented conventional ideas for more energy-saving data centers such as rightsizing the IT infrastructure to use servers at a higher utilization, says Clancy.

The Uptime Institute recently said that some of the biggest factors that impact a data center's energy efficiency include idle capacity and the type of equipment used.

Here are more energy-saving options for data centers from Bluestone Energy Services.

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