Assuming a 1:1 ratio, a 3mw data center will require 6mw of power to operate. At 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, that adds up to $3.15 million annually. However, in some areas of the country, average costs are closer to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, which would double the cost. With those numbers, even a modest 10 percent improvement in efficiency can yield big savings.

With average per-rack power consumption tripling over the past three years, skyrocketing power bills are turning the heads of chief financial officers, particularly in companies with large data centers. Such scrutiny is less prevalent at financial institutions, where reliability is still the most important factor. But other industries, such as e-commerce, are much more sensitive to the cost of electricity, says Peter Gross, CEO of EYP Mission Critical Facilities.

How many servers does it take to hit 3mw? Assuming today's average of 5kw per rack, you would need 600 cabinets with 15 servers per enclosure, or 9,000 servers total. A new data center designed for 100 watts per square foot would require 30,000 square feet of raised-floor space to accommodate the load.

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Eight tips for a more efficient data center