How Pandora, Alibris slashed their data-center power needs

Its no secret that data centers consume large amounts of energy. Between powering and cooling all the equipment found in a data center, including servers, networking gear, and storage, a lot of electricity and money goes into maintaining our digital world. With so much budget focused on keeping datacenters running at top speed finding a green solution is a lofty goal, particularly since few companies will go green if it means sacrificing responsiveness to customers.

The call for greening the world’s data centers is not new. In 2006, a congressional study released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy each year. This usage accounted for about 1.5 percent of the total electricity consumed in the U.S. in 2006. The report also said data centers cooling infrastructure accounts for about half of that electricity consumption.

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