Does LEED certification mean a data center is Green? Time Warner's Charlotte Data Center observed

I found this headline on Time Warner's new Charlotte, NC data center.

Time Warner Cable to Build Two Green Data Centers in Charlotte

• By Justin Lee, July 11, 2011

An illustration of Time Warner Cable's planned data center in Charlotte

Related Topics: Green Hosting, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Leed, Time Warner

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Media and telecommunications giant Time Warner Cable (www.timewarner.com) announced on Monday it will invest more than $101 million dollars to construct two new data centers in North Carolina over the next three years.

The statement is made the LEED certification supports TWC's green initiative.

The new data centers will support TWC's green initiative, with both buildings seeking LEED certification.

You look at DataCenterKnowledge's reporting of the TWC data center there is no mention of LEED as it is not news that a data center gets LEED certification.  Most likely some one in Time Warner's PR department chose to highlight that LEED certification means Time Warner has a green data center.

For you experienced data center people you know LEED certification is for the construction of the data center, not the operation or carbon source of energy.  And in general LEED certification does not necessarily mean your data center is green.

Consider these thoughts from ZDNET's blogger David Chernicoff.

Too many datacenter certifications?

By David Chernicoff | July 8, 2011, 11:49am PDT

Summary

Do we really need another player certifying green datacenters?

David Chernicoff

When the press release announcing that Internap network Services datacenter crossed my desk announcing that the facility was the first datacenter to achieve Green Globes certification, the first thing I had to do was figure out what that meant. What I found was an assessment and rating system developed in Canada and beginning to make an appearance in the US. According to the Green Globes website, the Green Building Initiative is the US group backing the Green Globes rating system.

...

Now certification for specialty facilities that can’t be certified using the LEED guidelines is a good idea. But competing head-to-head with LEED in certifying buildings that are notorious energy hogs, such as data centers, seems counterproductive. Especially when the prime selling point on the web site seems to be that GG certification is cheaper to obtain.  Selecting service providers is a complex enough process; having to then filter through a list of competing certifications seems simply to ad work to the process.  Time, and the marketplace, will have to be the judge.

Will miss DatacenterDynamics SF this year, three years of attendance

I have gone to DatacenterDynamics SF for three straight years and was planning on attending this year, but  I will not be there this time.

After spending the past two weeks visiting the SJ/SF bay area, I promised my kids I would stay home this week.

My kids have been having sleep overs, pizza parties and swimming in the Lake is a regular activity.

I am going to miss the DatacenteDynamics gang, but my kids and their friends want me at home.  Someone has to man the pizza oven.

First task if you are building your first data center, fire the executives

I am spoiled spending a bunch of time with executives who have built many data centers which also means we spend time in bars and talk about all kinds of stuff.  What is one of the most hilarious observations is watching what occurs when companies build their first data centers.  The mistakes are funny, but expensive.  Chatting with a guy who has built more than many would build in a lifetime, it hit me.  "How about if the CFO/CEO fired the IT data center staff as the first step after the data center project is approved?  Then went out to the data center community to hire a free agent, experienced data center expert who knows how to design, build, and operate data centers."

Why would you do this?  Because, as soon as the data center project is approved, the #1 goal of the DC project team, composed of the real estate, facilities, and IT staff is not to lose their job in one of the biggest projects they have ever done.  As opposed to the #1 goal of an experienced executive is to design a data center which aligns with the business model of the company.  They have worked on many different version of data centers and know the trade-offs made in design that affect performance, cost and operations.  They have the confidence of experience and are not scared of losing their jobs as they know there is a long line of people who would hired them.

Morale could be bad when you fire the top guys, but don't get rid of the people who do the work.

The rank and file at Patni must have grown nervous seeing you fire so many executives. How are you handling employee morale?

First, I've done a lot of town halls. Second, I've made it very clear that beyond the executive level, I'm not letting anyone else go. Third, we've shown a huge difference in transparency between the way we do things and the way Patni did. That's gone a long way with people. Things are quite positive right now, but it will take a few quarters to work everything out. If we grow revenues quickly enough, people will trust us.

If you hired top data center talent for $500,000 a year salary with a two year contract you will save this big salary cost before you even start operating the data center as an experienced data center executive knows the way the numbers work in data center design, construction, and operations.  You could subscribe to all the consulting, analyst, and vendor advice you want, but very rarely do you find someone who has actually been the end user who has design, build and operate data centers.  There are about 7 guys who come to mind that could be data center free agents which are the same guys I thought of that use good management practices.

Robert Gates's 7 management rules for managing the Pentagon, some good ideas for Data Center Executives

TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2011 AT 10:36AM

I am lucky to spend a lot of time with some really good data center executives.  When I read this WSJ article on Robert Gates's 7 rules for managing the Pentagon it reminded me a lot methods I see these guys using.  I can name about 7 guys who use these methods.  Can you?  One who used these rules is my dear departed friend Olivier Sanche.

The ironic part of using this strategy is the data center team who is looking to build their first data center may rethink how it approaches the data center project if they think they may be fired and replaced by an experienced data center executive.

The funny thing about this idea is I got a bunch of people thinking they would be up for the free agent data center position if became an industry standard practice.  And, the guys who would be most scared is the data center consultants, analysts, and vendors as the free agents shift the negotiating power.

Posting this blog may put at risk my working for a first time data center executive, but the CFO/CEO may contact me to ask who a data center free agent is and what they could do.  And, I actually enjoy having CFO data center discussions as they ask good questions on how to spend their money.

Tough, Mean, Chaos Monkey Logo

Mike Manos presented on the Chaos Monkey and Donkey idea at Uptime.

Chaos Monkeys, Donkeys and the Innovation of Action

May 19, 2011 by mmanos

Last week I once again had the pleasure of speaking at the Uptime Institute’s Symposium.  As one of the premiere events in the Data Center industry it is definitely one of those conferences that is a must attend to get a view into what’s new, what’s changing, and where we are going as an industry.  Having attended the event numerous times in the past, this year I set out on my adventure with a slightly different agenda.

When I caught up with Mike he told me a lot of people said they were guilty of being data center donkeys.

Interestingly after my talk I literally have dozens of people come up and admit they had been donkeys and offered to reconnect next year to demonstrate what they had done to evolve their operations.

Werner Vogel at GigaOm Structure discussed the Chaos Monkey idea used at Netflix and had a slide.  Check out this logo.

The funny thing is the data center executive I was sitting with in Mike's presentation said He is a Chaos Monkey.  I am guilty of being a Chaos Monkey.

Now that you see a graphic.  Are you a donkey or a Chaos Monkey?

Time to upgrade my camera gear, new 24-105 lens

I have had Canon gear for years and have been lucky to work on projects with some awesome digital photographers like Charles Mauzy, Rob Galbraith, and Kevin Gilbert, getting tours of the White House press photographers processes and US aircraft carriers. 

I posted on my past working on digital photography.

Story of Adobe & Apple High-Value Digital Image Applications, Adobe’s angst developing for the iPad, and how Microsoft missed this battle

MONDAY, MAY 17, 2010 AT 3:25AM

This is not a data center post, but one about competition and innovation.

If you are a high-end photographer person you use the RAW imaging format, a higher quality image format vs. JPEG.

After spending more time taking pictures at conferences, I decided its time to upgrade my workhorse lens.  I have a 10-22 lens for ultra-wide angle. and 70-200 lens for telephoto.  And, a 28-75 that is not of the same quality, but I use the most.

My next lens is a 24-105MM F/4L IS USM lens.

EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Standard Zoom

Lugging my Canon 7D and lens to conferences is heavy, but it allows me to get good pictures during presentations and quickly download them to my laptop, and upload them to this blog.

I’ll be at GigaOm Structure on June 22-23 trying my toy, workhorse lens.