green data center

• Minimizing the footprints of the buildings
• The use of low-emission building materials, carpets and paints
• Sustainable landscaping
• Waste recycling
• Installation of catalytic converters on backup generators
• The use of alternative energy technologies such as photovoltaics, heat pumps, and evaporative cooling
• The use of hybrid or electric company vehicles

Building and certifying a green data center or other facility can be expensive up front, but long-term cost savings can be realized on operations and maintenance. Another advantage is the fact that green facilities offer employees a healthy, comfortable work environment. In addition, green facilities enhance relations with local communities.

There is growing pressure from environmentalists and, increasingly, the general public for governments to offer green incentives: monetary support for the creation and maintenance of ecologically responsible technologies.

Getting started with green data centers

To explore how green data centers are used in the enterprise, here are some additional resources:

The green data center: Energy-efficient computing in the 21st century: This e-book explains the forces driving IT energy consumption, why you should care and how you can mitigate the problem.

Green data centers are about money, not the environment: In this tip, a systems management expert claims that the real goal of green data centers should be save money through systems management tools like IBM's Tivoli.

Learn more about Data center cooling

ASHRAE data center special report: ASHRAE hosted its annual conference in Dallas last month. This special report contains ASHRAE's latest data center information.
Data center cooling strategies audiocast: This audio cast series tackles the latest data center cooling issues with Liebert Corporation's data center cooling expert Steve Madara.
Cooling data centers with outside air gets the go-ahead: Using outside air to cool your data center can save you money. But what about those nasty contaminants that might come in?
Liquid cooling buyers' guide: Data centers are welcoming liquid cooling into their infrastructures for better cooling efficiency. This guide to liquid cooling in the data center looks at a few products.
Data Center Facilities IT Handbook: Learn how to bridge the communication gap between data center facilities teams and IT staff in order to maintain a productive and efficient data center.
Data Center Library: Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology: A review of Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology by Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Enterprise Architect Rob Snevely.
Data Center Decisions Session Downloads: Power and Cooling Track (Chicago 2006): This track looks at how data center designs can maximize air flow, A/C considerations, new techniques in cooling and the looming issue blade servers bring to cooling.
	Bob McFarlane: Blogs and more: Expert Bob McFarlane recently hosted a blog that tackled the full array of problems that face anyone managing a data center's physical environment. The best of the blog is here.
Heating and cooling playbook: Need help keeping your new blades and ultra-high density server racks from overheating your data center? Our heating and cooling playbook will show you the ropes to keep things cool.

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More resources from around the web: - Gensler has designed a green data center in Frederick County, Maryland.

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RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary ambient temperature  (SearchDataCenter.com) ASHRAE  (SearchDataCenter.com)