ANAHEIM, Calif. — Three industry representatives participating in the Climate Savers Computing Initiative told the Design Automation Conference here Monday (June 9) that "green" technology is good for the economy as well as environment.

Executives from Google, Microsoft and Pacific Gas and Electric agreed that a holistic design is needed for energy-hungry data centers. "As energy costs become a crucial part of data centers' maintenance equation, we have to start thinking how we can better design data centers," said Erik Teetzel, Google's green energy manager.

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative was launched by Google and Intel Corp. in 2007 as a a nonprofit group of consumers, businesses and conservation organizations. The initiative was inspired by the World Wildlife Foundation's Climate Savers program formed in 1999 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

"Our goal is to promote development, deployment and adoption of smart technologies that can both improve the efficiency of a computer's power delivery and reduce the energy consumed when the computer is in an inactive state," Teetzel said.

Computer and component manufacturers participating in the program commit to producing products that meet specified power-efficiency targets; corporate participants also commit to purchasing power-efficient computing products.

"The main thing about our goal is to keep a maniacal attitude toward saving power, added Dileep Bhandarker, a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer for Infrastracture Services.

Bhandarker said one approach is to apply virtualization technology to data servers. "As the the use of virtualization is increased on each server, [fewer] servers are being used, thus saving on power."

Microsoft data centers such as the one recently announced in Dublin, Ireland, will consume less than half the energy of similar-sized data centers built just three years ago.

Pacific Gas and Electric's Mark Bramfitt said energy usage will steadily increase from today's average of 3 to about 20 megawatts per year in the utility's coverage area within five years. "That's why we encourage our customers to follow energy efficiency programs such as those offered by Climate Savers Computing Initiative."