Pierre Olivier Carles gave a talk at the it@cork Green IT conference where he discussed two case studies on how virtual worlds can reduce your carbon footprint (and costs). One of the case studies involved Europe’s 2nd largest bank, Credit Agricole.

Sun announced, the other day, the completion of their new data center at Broomfield in Colorado. The data center has a number of notable features including: Greater space efficiency: A scalable, modular datacenter based on the Sun Pod Architecture led to a 66 percent footprint compression, by reducing 496,000 square feet from the former StorageTek campus in Louisville, Colo. to 126,000 square feet; · Reduced electrical consumption: By 1 million kWh per month, enough to power 1,000 homes in Colorado; · Reduced raised floor datacenter space: From 165,000 square feet to less than 700 square feet of raised floor datacenter space, representing a $4M cost avoidance; · Greener architecture: Including flywheel UPS that eliminates lead and chemicals waste by removing the need for batteries, and non-chemical · water treatment system, saving water and reducing chemical pollution; · Enhanced scalability: Incorporated 7 MW of capacity that scales up to 40% higher without major construction; · Innovative cooling: The world’s first and largest installation of Liebert advanced XD cooling system with dynamic cooling controls capable of supporting rack loads up to 30kW and a chiller system 24% more efficient than ASHRAE standards; · Overall excellence: Recognized with two Ace awards for Project of the Year from the Associated Contractors of Colorado, presented for excellence in design, execution, complexity and environmental application. With this in mind I decided to have a chat with Mark Monroe, Sun’s Director of Sustainable Computing to find out more about the data center.