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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/leanandgreen/0,3800014367,39169858,00.htm

Accenture calculator: How green is your data centre?
Power-hungry-tech tamer unveiled

By Nick Heath

Published: Wednesday 30 January 2008

Using this the calculator recommends the best way to achieve savings ranging from consolidating equipment such as buying more efficient servers, lighting and cooling systems to process optimisation such as energy efficient services, minimising redundancies and virtualisation.

A-Zs…

1. Security from A-Z…

2. Biometrics from A-Z…

3. Broadband from A-Z…

4. Wireless from A-Z…

5. Green IT from A-Z…

Trends can be built into the calculation such as the price of electricity, capacity costs and future carbon costs.

Accenture Technology Labs' Teresa Tung said: "A data centre typically uses up to 10-15 more power per square foot than your average office block and can use up to 100 times more per square foot if they are poorly configured.

"In London commercial power is being capped until the Olympic Games, this is a really big business problem because companies are not able to meet demand in the same way."

She added: "We can spell out a lot of different scenarios using mathematical models to find out the best solution for their data centre, based on company experience."

The total cost of carbon offsetting can also be included in the calculation.

About 20 companies are currently included in the calculator's green savings database but it hopes to expand this number before the full service goes live in about three months.