I got a very interesting email today - The Green Data Center Alliance is developing a framework which will provide comprehensive guidance on data center power reduction techniques, and it will be available to the public once it is completed.

If your company has any examples of best practices, here is the link to enter your story:
http://www.greendca.org/framework/framework.aspx.

Here's what they are looking for (verbatim):
Process
- Service Level management practices that define service availability and match supply with demand
- Power monitoring/management practices
- Best practices in Continuous Service Improvement (e.g., annual thermal assessments)
- Processes to identify and remove orphaned applications/zombie servers
Information Technologies
- Virtual servers & virtual server system management
- Power efficient servers and components/asset replacement programs
- Technologies which lower idle power consumption
- Rack/Chassis/Server cooling technologies
- Energy Monitoring and Management Technologies (both software & sensor systems)
Facility Design & Engineering
- Natural Cooling & Air-side/Water-side Economizers
- Hot Isle/Cold Aisle Containment
- Floor Tile, Blanking Panels, and Cable Management
- Generation or thermal reuse technologies
- Heat Exchange & Cooling Technologies such as Kyoto/Heat wheels
Governance
- Effective DC consolidation (especially ongoing rationalization programs)
- Central roles/team to deal with power issues; facilitation to encourage communication between stakeholders
Finance
- Procurement practices that consider power consumption during equipment life time
- Charge back of ongoing costs to the user
- Ongoing accumulation/ analysis of costs
- Ongoing tracking of data center assets, purchase expense, accumulated depreciation, and remaining book value. This should drive capital hardware refresh decisions.


Cheryl G.