Data centres are 'greener than you think'

As the popularity of web hosting services, managed hosting and cloud computing grows data centres are getting larger.

And as they grow they require more energy to keep them running, making their impact on the environment and contribution to climate change a hot topic.

However, according to one industry expert, modern data centres are a lot greener than many people expect.

Writing for Silicon.com, Quocirca's Bob Tarzey claimed that co-location services can help mitigate the effects of power-hungry in-house data centres.

"If the computer equipment from within a single co-location facility was disaggregated back into many small inefficient datacentres, the total power use would be far greater," he said.

"And if you factor in the impact IT can have on making working practices more efficient and reducing the need for business travel, it is even harder to make the environmental charge against co-location providers stick," Mr Tarzey added.

Google recently offered data centre managers hints and tips on IT sustainability at its Data Centre Efficiency Summit.
Written by Tim Dutton