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If you manage a data center , or engineer the architecture for clients who do, you know how critical to save energy have become. High-density computing environments can be a huge drain on operating budgets for several reasons:1) expanding power demands, 2) increasing power costs, and 3) excessive heat. It's a challenge to conserve energy while supporting these growing loads - without bringing unwanted governmental scrutiny or surcharges for being an energy hog.

The good news is that even a small data center can save tens of thousands of dollars simply through wise choices in management practices, IT hardware, power, and cooling infrastructure. For example, the 3-year utility savings from an energy-efficient server can nearly equal the cost of the server itself. Couple this strategy with energy-efficient power and cooling systems, and a midsized data center with 1,500 servers could save millions of dollars while reducing the organization's carbon footprint.

●Turn off idle IT equipment.

IT equipment is usually very lightly used relative to its capacity. Servers tend to be only 5- to 15-percent utilized, PCs are 10- to 20-percent utilized, direct-attached storage devices are 20- to 40-percent utilized, and network storage is 60- to 80-percent utilized.

To fight this, identify underutilized pieces of equipment and power them down. If a system hosts only one rarely used application, there may be resistance to retiring it, but there may be more cost-effective ways to serve that niche.

Another strategy: Identify and remove "bloatware" (ineffective software that uses excessive CPU cycles). More efficient software helps reduce CPU cycles, which enables a platform to generate more real processing output for the same power input.

●Consolidate servers, storage, and data centers.

At the server level, blade servers can really help drive consolidation because they provide higher-density computing for the power consumed (for a given amount of energy input, you get more processing output from a blade server because each blade shares common power supply, fans, networking, and storage with other blades in the same blade chassis).

Even small increases in online UPS efficiency can quickly translate into thousands of dollars. If the new UPS consumed even 10-percent less power than a legacy UPS, a data center with 1,000 servers could save more than $86,000. In addition to dramatic cost savings, high UPS efficiency extends battery run time and produces cooler operating conditions within the UPS. Lower temperatures extend the life of components and increase overall reliability and performance.

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