In the last few weeks, in particular, we’ve covered a flood of new news about Web hosts and data center operators taking steps to make their facilities, or their operations, more environmentally friendly.
The volume of coverage is not a product of any particular agenda of ours (personally, of course, I’m certainly for any widespread effort to instill environmentally friendly business and technology practices in our industry).
In fact, the sudden flood of green hosting stories is simply the product of a sudden flood of green hosting news. That is, the idea of operating Web hosting businesses to consume less energy and create fewer emissions – and to compensate for the energy consumed and emissions created – has quickly become ubiquitous, for ethical reasons, financial reasons and for basic reasons of energy availability.
For any one of those reasons, or for any of countless other reasons, you may be beginning to wonder what you can do to make your business more environmentally friendly.
Last week, amid the announcements of environmental efforts undertaken by specific Web hosting businesses, we covered the launch of a new organization, The Green Grid, formed with the specific intent of promoting energy efficiency in data centers and IT equipment. The group hopes to accomplish that, in part, by developing metrics for measuring the energy efficiency of data center implementations and industry standards for efficiency.
With a list of participants that includes Microsoft, IBM, AMD, Dell, HP, Intel and several others, it would be difficult to argue, at the very least, against the seriousness of the effort.
The organization offers paid membership, which provides access to intellectual property and the right to participate in policy- and decision-making.
But membership aside, there is plenty of information available (in PDF format) on the group’s Web site, including:
An overview of the incentive for energy efficient data center operations
Guidelines for energy-efficient data centers
Metrics for describing data center power efficiency
Of course, at this stage you may not be at a point where you can budget $25,000 annually to become a voting member of any committee formed by some upstart organization. But it’s certainly worth your while to start reading the information that’s out there.
Energy efficiency standards for data centers are going to begin rolling out rapidly, and soon. And form there, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that before long, certain of those standards may become officially enforced regulations.
Besides, it would be difficult to find a really sound argument against making your business more environmentally friendly.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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