Tips for Building Green Data Center

Since data centers are one of the biggest consumers of electricity and there is enough research showing that energy consumption by data centers can potentially be reduced to 90 percent if the right kind of tools and techniques are used, it is important that organizations to plan their future today. It is important for them to bring in different pieces of technology that can save them money and resources in the long run.

Several times, it is the management of data center that matters most and saves you money. Tata Teleservices CIO tells what they do to minimize energy consumption. According to him, the Cold Air Containment employed by Tata Tele has minimized the mixing of hot and cold air. The company regularly monitors the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) trend.


Even Netmagic has adopted innovative means to save on power. It advises that the data center managers need to segregate the hot air and cold air in a data center. Usually the gaps in the racks caused by missing servers allow the hot air to mix with the cold air. It is not good and results in higher cooling bills. In order to stop the hot air mixing with the cold air, the data center managers should immediately use polythene to segregate the hot and the cold air. These kind of measures will eventually save you the hefty cooling bills.

To minimise the energy consumption further, you can use chillers, chiller pumps, PAHU and rectifiers as per requirements. These are effective measures.

Identifying the dead equipment in your data center is an important exercise. It will not only reduce the clutter but will give extra space and save on your power bills. Unused hardware does not serve any purpose.

As a CIO you’re always cash-strapped but it should not mean that you have to buy just any equipment. Netmagic CIO suggests that IT heads need to be cognizant of the higher ratings assigned to an equipment for power usage. More stars on the equipment means less power consumption. You need to shun the power-hungry equipments.

Warmer data centers do pose a health and safety concern because anyone working in elevated temperatures cannot work for extended periods. Health and safety in warmer data centers can be managed by limiting the need to access the hot aisle, either through use of specific chimney type racks, or arranging all connections and operator works to be located in the cold aisle.


Organizations need to realize that one size does not fit all. Conditions are different at all organizations. They can take examples from the peers and see the possibilities to adopt the measures. 

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