What will that green project cost you? GlassHouse service calculates the environmental tab.

Most IT services companies have figured out how to tell you how much money a given infrastructure project will cost and then, hopefully, save over time. GlassHouse Technologies hopes to differentiate its message by calculating what it calls the Energy Proficiency Impact Analysis for major projects that it undertakes.

Mark Shirman, CEO and president of GlassHouse, says the service also can serve a more proactive agenda by assessing changes that could be made to an organization's IT infrastructure that would enable it to comply with green mandates (such as the proposed Clean Energy and Security Act) without compromising the performance of their IT infrastructure.

To create the spreadsheet and analytics behind the service, Shirman says GlassHouse turned to a MBA students at American University to come up with some of the models. It also is working with Rackwise, which offers data center management solutions, and Fortress International Group, which provides consulting services focused on optimizing physical building infrastructure. The analysis provides two specific reports: the Green Proficiency Analysis and the Cost Proficiency Analysis.