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White Papers and Case Studies
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Written by CEIL Staff
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Thursday, 17 March 2011 04:31 |
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 With the rapid expansion of computer processing power and data storage requirements over the past two decades, data centers have been forced to keep pace. Until recently, energy efficiency of data centers has taken a back seat to functionality and reliability, but with the seemingly constant increasing cost of energy and environmental considerations, efficiency of data centers has become a focus of many engineers, facility managers, and governmental institutions.
Federal Data Center Consolidaation Initiative
The United States Government has not been immune to this rapid growth either. According to the US Office of Management and Budget, the number of federal data centers increased from 432 to more than 1,100 between 1998 and 2009 and it is anticipated that electricity consumption could top 12 billion kWh by 2011 (Kundra, 2010).
As a result, the Office of Management and Budget issued the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative in February of 2010. The goal of this initiative is four-fold:
- Promote the use of Green IT by reducing the overall energy and real estate footprint of government data centers,
- Reduce the cost of data center hardware, software and operation,
- Increase the overall IT security posture of the government, and
- Shift IT investments to more efficient computing platforms and techhnologies.
 To read the entire white paper, click here to download.
About the author
David Cosaboon is a staff engineer at Facility Engineering Associates, P.C. in Fairfax, He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in the Thermal and Fluid Sciences from Drexel University. Mr. Cosaboon has performed energy consulting services for clients such as Jones Lang LaSalle and the National Association. In addition, he has authored or co-authored several papers on water and energy conservation in various facility management publications. |
RESEARCH 
Fuel cell-powered forklifts are proving to be a technology that can enhance today's materials handling operations. More than 2,000 fuel cell forklifts are being installed and operated at warehouses across the United States by familiar companies such as Coca-Cola, FedEx, Wal-Mart, Nissan, BMW, Wegmans, Whole Foods, Nestlé Waters, Bridgestone-Firestone and Kimberly-Clark. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is exploring its ability to capitalize on the benefits of fuel cell forklifts in its warehouse operations.
