MANHASSET, N.Y. — Taking a cue from the automotive industry, Sun Microsystems and other electronics companies are working with the Environmental Protection Agency to define a standard metric to measure energy efficiency in server technology.

Similar to the miles per gallon metric used by many in their decision to purchase a car, this metric would enable those purchasing servers to evaluate energy consumption in a standard way, according to proponents of the standard.

Sun hosted a recent working group comprising AMD, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Lawrence Berkeley Labs to begin hammering out a standard. Such a standard is considered critical as the move to more powerful servers raises concerns about rising heat and cooling expenses associated with these products.

Following the recent working group, Andrew Fanara, team lead for Energy Star Products at the EPA said, "The EPA is extremely happy to promote a dialogue around this topic with a broader array of stakeholders. The meeting went very well and was an important step toward the creation of an industry consensus benchmark for server energy efficiency. Furthermore, we're hearing a lot of positive interest on this topic from our counterparts in Europe where this issue is a growing concern."

The standard's proponents believe an energy metric would promote equitable equipment comparisons and enable businesses to make better informed decisions about total cost of ownership.

Edward Hunter, director for Sun's Eco Responsibility Initiative, added, "This is the right time for the industry to act on this important issue, and the impact will be felt for years to come. These critical issues of power and cooling in the data center are at the top of the agenda for our customers and other companies spanning multiple industries."