Competing for Top Data Center Talent - energy efficient vs. Green/Sustainable

Green Data Center is a topic that gets discounted by many.  But, talking to a good friend who is passionate about green data centers, he made the point how often being environmentally responsible comes up in his hiring.

If you are hiring someone who is in their 20s.  (Note: I am turning 50, so I am twice as old as the people you are hiring)  If all things are equal between companies are they going to pick your company because you are passionate about energy efficiency or passionate about the environment?

Here is an Google post were efficiency is discussed.

Google is looking for highly motivated individuals to provide leadership and oversight of our state-of-the-art datacenter facilities. Our datacenters are industry-leading examples of innovative capital- and energy-efficient designs in action.

Mike Manos posts on his Uptime Symposium presentation on CO2K.

This year my talk was about the coming energy regulation and its impact on data centers, and more specifically what data center managers and mission critical facilities professionals could and should be doing to get their companies ready for what I call CO2K.   I know I will get a lot of pushback on the CO2K title, but I think my analogy makes sense.  First companies are generally not aware of the impact that their data centers and energy consumption have, Second most companies are dramatically unprepared and do not have the appropriate tools in place to collect the information, which will of course lead to the third item, lots of reactionary spending to get this technology and software in place.  While Y2K was generally a flop and a lot of noise, if legislation is passed (and lets be clear about the very direct statements the Obama administration has made on this topic) this work will lead to a significant change in reporting and management responsibilities for our industry.

Think we are ready for this legislation?

If you are young and idealistic, realizing the past ignorance of environmental impact is making the world worse, who would you pick?  Working for Google or Mike Manos?

It is hard to find passionate intelligent data center staff who want to do the right thing.  But, it is much easier if you make a Green Data Center part of your recruiting.

Some have stumbled on the green data center recruiting benefits, and they feel good.

Do you?

Comments

[Mark Matejik]

I enjoyed your blog. Good observations on comparing and contrasting energy efficiency vs. Green/Sustainable. Interesting how Google characterizes their Data Centers: "Industry -leading examples of innovative capital and energy efficient designs in action." Is that their high bar or reality now? Good vision in any case to engage and stimulate the awareness in IT circles. Thanks for the post.