If you run a data center and the energy bill is somewhat higher than you want, you are definitely not alone. The nature of the data center is to consume a large amount of energy and there is no reason to expect this demand to do anything but continue to increase. While there is no universal blueprint to create an energy efficient data center, there are a number of steps that will help you address a majority of the energy waste in your data center. These steps are detailed here, and will help you to save energy and money. Consolidate and Virtualize When you consolidate your various applications onto fewer servers it will have a major impact on the energy efficiency, helping to reduce the cooling requirements and server energy consumption. This can save you between 10 and 40 percent. Virtualization will also lower the energy usage, but it may cause an increase in the Power Usage Effectiveness. You will need to optimize the power and cooling system in order to get them in line with the new, lighter load and to keep the PUE from increasing. Utilize a Containment Center There are a number of data centers that mix cold and hot air on a regular basis, which will limit the effectiveness and capacity of the cooling system. This can be fixed by placing air tiles in cold aisles or locating the supply vents in the cold aisle and the return vents in the hot aisles, as well as a hard enclosure or curtain to contain the hot or cool aisle. This will make cooling much more productive and raise the return temperatures which will allow the CRAC units to operate in a more efficient manner. Reconsider the Humidity and Temperature Set Points...