March 4, 2008 - Following up on a green offensive that began last week with the launch of Windows Server 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer yesterday talked up his company's increased focus on energy-efficient products and practices. Speaking at the CeBIT tradeshow in Hanover, Germany, Ballmer announced the release of a new best practices guide for IT administrators based on Microsoft's efforts to green its own datacenters.

"The notion of sustainability is an important issue really for all of us," Ballmer said. "We're focused on opportunities to reduce power consumption by the IT industry, and to use IT as a tool for core scientific research that will fundamentally change the way energy gets produced and used."

"If you look at non-travel power consumption in the world today...information technology is one of the most rapidly growing power consumers on the planet," said Ballmer. "We think we have a real responsibility...to reduce power consumption by the IT industry."

The best practices guide covers key issues such as selecting datacenter sites, heating and cooling, and power management. Download the guide here (PDF).

New Microsoft datacenters in San Antonio, Texas, and Quincy, Wash., rely on a variety of green technologies to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Read about them here.) On the software side, Microsoft's just-released Windows Server 2008 uses 40% less power than its 2003 version, offering potential for significant energy savings for datacenters.