Microsoft will release a set of best practices for administrators running data centers, focusing on energy-saving strategies the company is implementing in its own operations, CEO Steve Ballmer said Monday.
Those tips will covers issues such as how to pick a good site for a data center, how to deal with heat and manage power consumption, Ballmer said during a keynote presentation at the Cebit trade show in Hanover, Germany. The move is in response to growing concern over the release of carbon dioxide, one of the byproducts of burning fossil fuels to create electricity. In addition, power demands are ever-increasing, Ballmer said.
"If you look at non-travel power consumption in the world today ... information technology is one of the most rapidly growing power consumers on the planet," Ballmer said. "We think we have a real responsibility ... to reduce power consumption by the IT industry."