Is installing new, more efficient equipment good for the environment? Well, actually no! Installing new plant and IT is good for the environment when it is needed – but throwing out perfectly good equipment which will almost certainly go to landfill just because there is something more efficient out there, is not.
What then, can a data centre operator do to reduce cost if installing new plant and IT is not necessarily good?
The answer is really quite simple. Data centre operators will be looking to save money, with the
sensible ones looking at all aspects of their data centre.
Many data centre owners and operators simply won't be able to afford the investment to replace equipment anyway. But there are things that can be done.
The most simple, quick and inexpensive way of reducing costs is to carry out an environmental audit on your data centre.
Looking at every aspect of the data centre, from the construction to power, cooling, protection, operation and policy amongst other things is going to give an operator a true picture of the environmental efficiency of the data centre.
Once the efficiency is measured, it is possible to take steps to improve it. It can be amazing how taking small steps that one might never have considered, can increase the efficiency of the data centre and therefore reduce the cost of running it.
