Data Centers are Going Green but are Wary of Greenwashing, Survey Finds

A survey of more than 100 data center professionals has shown that green initiatives are gaining traction in the data center, but data center management does not trust the environmental claims that vendors attach to products and services.

The survey, conducted by the Aperture Research Institute (ARI), found that 70 percent of organizations are adopting green initiatives. However, 19 percent of those with a green initiative admitted it did not include the data center, and 13 percent of those with an initiative did not know whether it did, according to the survey.

Numerous opportunities were suggested for cutting energy use in the data center, with 44 percent naming cooling and 24 percent naming power efficiency. Twenty-seven percent proposed virtualization or consolidation as a strategy, but only one person suggested powering off unused CPUs, according to the survey.

The minority of managers appear willing to adopt strategies that will help them to use existing assets more effectively, the survey finds. Most are calling for more energy efficient equipment to be invented, bought by their organizations and then installed in their data centers.

The survey found that data center management is unconvinced by vendors' claims to be marketing more environmentally friendly equipment. Twenty-six percent dismissed such claims as hype, and 42 percent said they had no way to validate the claims. It seems that even those organizations that are committed to reducing their environmental footprint do not trust vendors to help them do so, according to ARI.

ARI is dedicated to researching data centers, their challenges, and best practice management. It was established by Aperture Technologies Inc., a global provider of software for managing the physical infrastructure of data centers.

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