Green Grid prepping new efficiency estimator, power calculator

So, I'm hoping most people reading this blog on any kind of regular basis know who, actually I should say what, Green Grid is. But just in case you're unfamiliar with the group, it is an organization that focuses on best practices and tools that could help improve the energy efficiency of business computing technologies and, in particular, data centers. The group also is cozying up now officially with Data Center Pulse, in order to beef up its perspective.

The Green Grid's third annual member meeting is this week, and it has been working on some new free online tools it will make available not just to members but to other interested parties in the coming months. Those new resources include:

• A new Power Efficiency Estimator that will take into account addition factors such as workloads, available requirements, space constraints and other real world considerations that might alternate an energy efficiency equation. The new estimator is supposed to go live by the end of the first quarter, according to Green Grid board member Kathrin Winkler, who is the senior director of corporate sustainability for EMC.
• The estimator is NOT to be confused with a new calculator for power usage effectiveness (PUE), a metric that was originally created by the Green Grid to express the relationship between a data center's IT equipment and the equipment needed to keep things cool and otherwise acclimatized. This tool, too, will be available at the end of the first quarter. Two things of particular note here are the fact this the calculator will now account for the container-type data center modules that are being sold by several companies AND it will also be available to the public, not just to Green Grid members.

Here's what it looks like:

If you're looking for some not-so-light reading, the Green Grid has published a white paper discussing the impact of virtualization on physical data center metrics and it also has posted some sample chapters and an outline for the forthcoming data center design guide, for which it is soliciting member comment. The organization has also teamed up with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (aka ASHRAE) to publish a booked called, "Real Time Energy Consumption Measurements in Data Centers." If you're a Green Grid member, you can get the book at this link. Otherwise, it is available for $54.