IBM Kicks Off Green Certification Program

By Greg McNevin

November 5, 2007: IBM has kicked off a new green initiative, announcing the launch of the industry’s first corporate-led energy efficiency certification program.

The company is aiming to help data centres reduce their environmental impact by cutting day to day energy requirements. The firm says certificates can be earned based on energy use reduction verified by a third-party, and for the first time provide a way for businesses to attain a certified measurement of their energy use reduction.

IBM will be working with Neuwing Energy Ventures, a leading verifier of energy efficiency projects and marketer of energy efficiency certificates, to carry out the program. Neuwing will carry out energy assessments by determining the initial energy draw from the data centre or IT equipment in question and the power and cooling profiles of the data centre, after which it will review energy draws after steps have been taken to reduce consumption.

Certificates will then be issued for the total megawatt-hours no longer needed to power and cool.

IBM says that once gained, the certificates can be traded for cash on the energy efficiency certificate market, or held on to in order to show off a company’s prowess when it comes to energy efficiency and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

IBM claims that as data centres can consume as much as 15 times more energy per square foot than a typical office building, energy efficiency opportunities can be significant.

“Increased energy efficiency allows companies to dramatically reduce costs and improve the overall efficiency of their IT operations while at the same time supporting a corporate responsibility agenda,” said Rich Lechner, IBM's Vice President of IT Optimisation. “A key ingredient for clients to effectively become more environmentally aware and efficient is measuring where they are.”

Comment on this story