6. But Don't Expect Perfect Data

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IT leaders are finding that their green IT impact is going to be a hard number to nail down too precisely. "One of the difficult things is getting to the truth to what these efforts are worth," says Buckholtz, of Sony Pictures.

Companies can collect a lot of data, it's just not always clear what to make of that data--are we green yet? Commonly used metrics praised by groups such as the Green Grid and used by Microsoft and other companies include Power Usage Effectiveness and Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency, while others, like McKinsey's Corporate Average Data Efficiency, also have made appearances. The EPA in August started a research initiative collecting monthly energy-consumption information from about 240 data centers with the aim of possibly creating Energy Star specifications for energy-efficient data centers. There's a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building certification that a few companies, including Highmark, have achieved for their data centers, though it's more than most companies will want to swallow.

For most companies, the best benchmark will be the past, using that to set aggressive improvement goals. Highmark, for example, initially wanted to increase CPU utilization by 10% and cut power use by 5%. When it reached that first 5%, the next goal was 10%.

7. Alternative Energy Isn't Cheap

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When Highmark designed its new data center almost seven years ago, alternative energy sources weren't part of the plan. Going forward, VP of infrastructure management Mark O'Gara says, they will be, though the decision will be driven as much by environmental responsibility reasons and practical considerations as cost-saving ones. Alternative energy sources don't come cheap, and for many companies it won't be practical to locate data centers where wind or hydro power is widely accessible, and the payback is a long time coming from solar. Highmark is looking into solar for energy and propane rather than diesel for backup.

In some parts of the United States, companies can choose alternative energy; customers of Baltimore Gas & Electric in Maryland, for example, can choose to have their power generated by green sources if they pay a bit more. Monsanto participates in a partnership with its energy supplier, Ameren UE, called Pure Power that brings Monsanto 10% of its energy from renewable sources.

Hosting company AISO.net has 120 solar panels on its California data center. Installation cost nearly $100,000, which has been paid back in energy savings over the past seven years, says CTO Phil Nail, who considers the panels a hedge against energy prices. Microsoft didn't include solar in a soon-to-open mega data center in sunny San Antonio, deciding the technology is several years away from being a fit for an operation of this scale. Still, it's built to hold the weight of and use power from solar panels, if the technology matures.

8. Buddy Up To Facilities

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IT typically consumes only about 10% of an organization's energy costs, says Living Life Green's Scott. So the biggest opportunity is for IT to help companies tackle that other 90%. To do that, IT needs to build a closer partnership with the facilities management team, to implement sensors and automated facilities management software that can go as far as monitoring and controlling everything from lights to air conditioning remotely.

Florida's Ave Maria University is doing just that. The school of more than 600 undergraduates uses off-the-shelf hardware and software from Johnson Controls and Eaton to monitor and manage water, power, lights, and air conditioning throughout its campus. Every system on campus is accessible via Web browser, so staff can monitor those systems and remotely control areas that might yield a high expense. IT managers like Brian Mehaffey, Ave Maria's VP of technology systems and engineering, can do things such as turn down the airflow in the church on campus if it's inefficient.

For example, Mehaffey found electric bills just for the school's church were running at as much as $22,000 a month, so he used the system to view the airflow, quality, temperature, humidity, and power use. He found the air conditioning systems were running at full blast to handle the church's maximum capacity, even though most of the time the church was empty. During downtime, Mehaffey and his team turned off systems one by one, watching in real time how temperature, humidity, air quality, and power use changed with each adjustment and turning the next system off if the environment inside the church found a comfortable equilibrium. Mehaffey now has the church running on monthly energy costs of only $5,000, while remaining comfortable. "Over a year, we're talking about $150,000 in savings in energy alone," he says.