Corporations to Hire Talent to Design, Manage Energy Efficiency
Corporations are waking up to the vital importance of energy efficiency as “green initiatives” promise to make a significant and positive impact on the bottom line….as well as the environment. A number of leading companies with large data centers have experts on their boards to strategize and develop energy saving measures. Many more corporations, including IBM and Microsoft, have already begun to focus on energy efficiency initiatives. Still, new research shows that a significant number of firms have yet to even measure their energy consumption – a problem that can weighing heavily on the bottom line.
Right now firms have an opportunity to reduce energy costs, increase data center capacity and efficiency and increase reliability in mission critical environments. Executive search firm, A.E. Feldman, is one step ahead of this growing trend. The firm has a team of industry veterans already working with a number of corporations with large date centers to create the strategic role of “Energy Czar” within their organization and also identify and place qualified professionals who can design and implement initiatives for maximizing energy efficiency.
A.E. Feldman says demand is intensifying for operations professionals with the expertise to address energy concerns. At the governance level, organizations must also implement energy audits, put in the metrics and hire and train the staff to monitor energy efficiency.
“In the current world as we sit today, there is no doubt that energy efficiency is a profitability initiative with shareholder implications,” says Fred Palmer, Founder and Head of the Palmer Group, an organization comprised of 60 executives from Fortune 1000 companies in the U.S. and Canada that focuses on best practices in technology. “Audits that have been done have shown a return on investment that is nothing less than extraordinary,” note Palmer.
Leading the Pack
IBM has created and expanded its initiatives to improve energy efficiency at data centers, according to GreenerComputing. The report states that new software at the company is designed to measure power consumption throughout all parts of a data center, allowing managers to monitor and make adjustments to reduce demand. The software tracks energy used by all parts of a data center, breaking down usage among servers, storage, networking, air conditioning and power.
GreenerComputing also says that IBM is forming an alliance of hardware and software vendors to support standards for new enterprise data centers. Among the main issues the program plans to address are virtualization and green computing concerns such as energy efficiency for power and cooling.
Microsoft is also actively addressing data center efficiency, stating that finding ways to lessen humankind’s impact on the environment is critical.
The company announced in April it will invest $500,000 in four academic research projects focused on energy efficiency in computing in the areas of datacenter power efficiency, power management and the creation of parallel computing architecture with decreased power demands.
“We want to open new avenues of research and raise the awareness of power as a critical resource that needs to be managed,” said Sailesh Chutani, Senior Director of Microsoft External Research. “Through this program, we are encouraging novel thinking about how to reduce that power consumption and how to make technology more environmentally friendly into the future.”
A Growing Trend
As energy costs escalate, a growing number of data centers are jumping on the bandwagon and actively addressing significant energy efficiency concerns, according to a survey conducted by Cassatt Corporation, a provider of software to improve data center efficiency. The “Cassatt 2008 Data Center Energy Efficiency Survey,” which polled 215 IT and facilities personnel, show that many data centers are on the verge of running out of the power they need to operate. In fact, 42% of respondents have a data center within 25% of its maximum power capacity. The survey also finds that the problem is getting worse - of the 69% who track their power bill, 62% report their bill is going up.
The Cassatt survey finds that nearly two-thirds of IT and facilities personnel consider their data center energy efficiency “average” or worse. In response to the problem, 62% of those polled are working on a data center energy-efficiency project now or expect to do so within the next 12 months.
The study concludes that most firms are looking to complement their long-term energy-efficiency initiatives with innovative techniques designed to deliver short-term benefits. Nearly half of respondents, 46%, say they require a payback on energy efficiency projects within two years.
Top Motivation: Saving Money
The Cassatt survey finds that cost (68% of respondents) and capacity constraints (57% of respondents), are the primary motivating factors behind the push for data center efficiency. Concerns about the environment also weigh heavily in the decision to maximize data center efficiency – 39% of those polled say they are motivated by environmental responsibilities.
Lagging Behind
Despite mounting concerns and rising energy costs, a significant number of corporations are still in the dark about exactly how acute their power problem, according to the Cassatt survey. A startling 28% of respondents say they do not measure power consumption in their server environments.
“Very problematic for the industry, are the findings that show that many companies simply don’t measure their power consumption at all, or do so at a very superficial level. If you can’t measure it, as they say, you can’t manage it. And it may be that companies are fixing only part of the problem with initiatives based on incomplete information. While organizations are showing a willingness to try some new ideas, many are still ignoring simpler solutions that could help them with energy efficiency almost immediately,” says Bill Coleman, Chairman and CEO of Cassatt Corp.
The Cassatt survey also shows that IT and facilities still aren’t communicating. Nearly half of respondents (46%) say their facilities and IT teams touched based infrequently, not at all, or they weren’t sure how often.
”Within the IT industry, there are a number of professionals who are responsible for data center functionality — from CIOs and IT managers, to heating and cooling experts. It is imperative that we look at the energy efficiency issue from a single, united point of view. Together we can leverage each other’s core expertise and areas of focus to deliver a holistic and complete approach for an energy-efficient data center,” says Mark Monroe, Director of The Green Grid - a global consortium of companies dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems.
Importance of Corporate Real Estate Execs Rising
Reducing a corporation’s carbon footprint is also a new reality for corporate real estate executives. That’s according to a recent report issued by CoreNet Global, an organization of corporate real estate executives. The report contends that corporate real estate managers have become major players in helping businesses reduce their carbon footprint.
The report states that the “velocity, impact, awareness associated with energy costs and carbon reduction, as well as the brand stigma for wasting energy resources” is among the global business forces that have “catapulted corporate real estate executives from tacticians to increased importance to the corporate C-suite.”
“The real work of corporate real estate professionals today, and in the future, is locating offices and factories near qualified workers and lowering their companies’ carbon footprints,” says CoreNet Global CEO, Prentice Knight. “Corporate real estate executives today wear many hats, are no longer order takers, but are corporate decision makers influencing how business is done in companies the world over,” Knight adds.
More information on data center efficiency:
Need for Data Center Efficiency Driving Demand for Talent
IT Projects Undeterred by Slowing Economy, Experts in Data Center Efficiency in Demand
Firms Hiring Execs to Reduce Carbon Footprint
Energy is a Bottom Line Issue, Growing Demand for Experts in Data Center Efficiency
