StorageMojo

Stepping beyond marketing green-washing, the folks at Wikibon have done something. Tomorrow morning they’ll announce, along with California-based PG&E, Conserve IT,

. . . a first-of-its-kind service that accelerates the qualification of storage products for energy rebates and provides independent validation of energy efficiency for storage platforms from a number of leading vendors, spanning emerging Web 2.0 suppliers to the most recognized brands in the business.

Conserve IT was launched on behalf of IT customers in the Wikibon community who wanted to take advantage of the excellent programs PG&E and other utilities have put in place to conserve energy. The community felt that it could help to dramatically increase the participation of storage technologies which are major consumers of power and cooling in data centers. PG&E responded to Wikibon by allocating resources to help qualify additional storage technologies and providing guidance to the storage industry at large.

A watt saved is a watt earned
3PAR, Compellent, DataDirect Networks, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, Nexsan and Xiotech, have signed on to the program. Customers who want PG&E’s incentives must be accepted into the program before buying new equipment.

PG&E has long understood that conservation cuts their marginal cost of power. Since that power is the most expensive they buy - usually natural gas-fired turbines - it is cheaper for them to pay customers to conserve power than building more power plants. Faster and better for the environment too.

The StorageMojo take
Kudos to Wikibon for sheparding this program and to PG&E and the storage companies for their support. Now it is up to the customers to take the next step.

Of course, looking at the companies involved, you are wondering “where are HP, IBM, Sun and NetApp?” I hope they are already in process, but if not, get the lead out. Company reps are invited to comment to update StorageMojo readers on your progress.

Comments welcome, of course.