College IT Courses

The issue of energy-efficiency in your computer room is not new, especially right now as the economic crisis continues on, which means this issue is even more important than ever. Its become a more important matter in both public and private organizations, and this year is definitely no exception. So if youre able to decrease the energy use of your organization, youll be saving it a lot of money, as well as lowering the load on the electricity grid, which will cut down on carbon emissions in our environment.

To meet the ever-increasing energy-efficiency demands, equipment producers are inventing new technologies every year and server room operators are therefore able to decrease their energy use in the their buildings. But this is not all that easy ” it takes money, and it seems like no matter what is installed, theres always room for improvement.

As was said above, with the recession in full swing, the financial impact of high energy-consumption in server rooms is becoming an even more important matter for corporations. In light of this, here are five recommended practices that require very little additional expenses, but can help dramatically improve server room energy-efficiency:

1. Implement Hot Aisles and Cold Aisles

2. Improve Under-floor Airflow

3. Install Blanking-Panels

4. Install Blanking Panels

5. Plug Holes in the Raised Floor

Are there any other solutions? Of course there is ” upgrade your equipment. However, a lot of administrators arent able to pay the additional costs associated with upgrading to more energy-efficient server room cooling, airflow designs, or other related equipment. But if you analyze the ROI (return on investment), paying for more expensive yet highly-efficient equipment is a smart investment when you look at the big picture.

If youre like most administrators, you have superiors whom youll also need to convince. So be sure to justify your investment proposal by calculating the ROI that could come from various scenarios. Youll be able to make it easier for your superiors to lean in your favor if you can successfully create an outline that show the costs of ownership for your different scenarios and do a full cost-benefit analysis for a period of many years. Another suggestion is to not purchase everything at once. As you begin the new approach towards energy-efficiency, you should phase in new hardware and equipment as part of the IT departments natural expansion and evolution.