Going green is getting easier and more popular for data centers and IT in general.  This article about a data center planned in Texas inspired me to do some very interesting research about what's happening in green IT lately.  The company building the new facility, Baryonyx, was founded earlier this year specifica lly to create data center projects powered by renewable energy.  They have been awarded three different sites on which to build wind farms which will power the new facility.  They are not the first to use wind to power a data center, and it will be about three years before it's ready, but one really striking feature of the Baryonyx data center is that the project will pay royalties to Texas schools.  So... what they're trying to say is that they're saving the world and educating the children, all in one.

It seems like perceptions about going green are changing, too.  There are several great reasons it has caught on - as people get used to the idea, it becomes obvious that not only is it a "good" thing to do, in terms of preserving the environment, but it also saves money. Studies show a lot of disturbing evidence about current data center power usage: a lot of energy is going to waste.  This article, on Microsoft's TechNet, talks a bit about that and lists some interesting criteria for defining "green" when it comes to data centers.

Something else interesting about the race to get green is that it's really a contest that benefits everyone.  The harder companies try to outdo each other, as with the amazing sustainability innovations big names like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are developing, the better off we all are.

Considering moving to a more sustainable facility, or reworking your current systems to meet new criteria?  Team Silverback is here to help with any data center engineering and co-location migration needs.

-Elizabeth English

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