The service aims to simplify a workplace by reducing the volume of devices and cables, and aiding the consolidation, automation and virtualisation of a dynamic datacentre.

VMware's validation of Cisco datacentre switches and NetApp storage FCoE to support its virtualised environments will also help customers in their moves to cloud computing, the companies said.

By supporting FCoE, network attached storage and iSCSI on a single unified network with lossless 10Gb Ethernet, the firms aim to help customers improve the agility, performance and efficiency of their infrastructures, helping to reduce operational costs.

Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst firm Quocirca, described the announcement as a "sign of the times".

"Pure Fibre Channel seems to have had its day, and FCoE is beginning to be seen as the future for ease of maintenance and for available skills," he said.

"FCoE does what Cisco claims: it lowers the number of different connectors and cables in a datacentre, which has to be a good thing.

"But is it as big a problem as Cisco would like us all to believe? Probably not. The main drive here will be based on whether users believe that pure Fibre Channel has a future or not."

The jointly certified product includes FCoE initiators, such as converged network adaptors, and FCoE storage targets, and is now listed on the VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide, with support offered by all three companies.

In other news, HP has released HP Flexible Data Center to offer a modular approach to designing and building datacentres.

The product allows design flexibility so that a company's data storage can be expanded to suit future needs, while conserving resources in the present.

HP believes that its new product has the potential to cut datacentre capital investment requirements in half, in addition to decreasing a company's carbon footprint.

HP Flexible Data Center is available through HP Critical Facilities Services. Pricing varies according to location and implementation.

A new report from CompTIA says that more efficient computer hardware is saving millions of tons of CO2 emissions.

The recent study on the impact of the CompTIA's Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) shows that the IT sector has reduced CO2 emissions associated with IT equipment by more than 32 million metric tons worldwide since 2007.

The report also said that process in CO2 reductions has been hampered by the low market penetration of power management system in laptops and desktops. (If people went back to junking their systems every three years, it would change.

Google has taken another step to reduce its carbon footprint by signing a 20-year power purchase agreement with NetExtra's 150MW Energy Resources Story County II wind farm in Iowa.

This deal will be the first by Google Energy LLC, which was formed last December to acquire large volumes of renewable energy by participating in the wholesale market.

Google will start buying 114MW of energy directly from the wind farm on 30 July this year. The remaining 36MW from Story II are currently being sold to the city of Ames in Iowa.

The deal will see the search giant buy 114MW of wind energy directly from the supplier, rather than purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from third parties. Google insists that this approach will better benefit the renewables industry.

"By obtaining RECs through the purchase of green power, our deal has a greater impact on the renewable industry than simply buying "naked" RECs from third parties; our long-term commitment directly frees up capital for the developer to build more wind projects," it said in a statement.

Google said the 114MW would theoretically be able to supply "several" data centres. However, it cannot use the energy directly, so will sell it back to the grid in the local market.

In May the internet behemoth ploughed nearly $40m into wind energy

The telco, which has joined forces with wireless communications infrastructure company Arqiva and information intelligence firm Detica, says it has spent 18 months analysing the communications options available to meet the needs of the smart metering. Long-range radio has already proved successful in North America for smart metering and offers substantial benefits in Britain, believes BT.

"Smart meters will use telecommunications to deliver important environmental benefits and so BT is determined to be at the heart of the project," said Olivia Garfield, BT group strategy director.

Unlike the mobile phone network, long range radio "can provide nationwide coverage and dependable reception indoors," says BT's statement. "The fact it operates on dedicated licensed spectrum is also important as it is ideal in ensuring the security of supply and protection of consumer data while meeting the needs of the energy industry."

The envisaged solution will create a dedicated network specifically for the smart metering programme and use Detica's information and infrastructure security services and Arqiva's radio spectrum and infrastructure - the latter provides broadcasters with access to Freeview, for example. As national telco, BT will knit the network together.

The trio will use long-range radio technology called FlexNet from Sensus, which is already in use in other countries.

The Government believes that smart meters will play an important role in improving energy efficiency, reducing consumption and helping to meet environmental targets. Smart meters will also help utility companies improve the efficiency and control of their networks, and provide the ability to offer tailored pricing packages based on customer usage patterns.

Smart meters and a smart grid are also essential to the full operation of micro-generation and feed in tariffs.

As part of the EU's energy market liberalisation, 2020 has been set as the deadline for the deployment of smart energy meters across the majority of European homes and small businesses. Energy watchdog Ofgem is preparing to launch a prospectus outlining its vision for the introduction of smart meters later this month.

The Government is due to publish a prospectus this summer that will provide details about the roll-out of smart meters and the possible commercial opportunities. The BT-led partnership intends to review this and then formally launch their proposal in September.

PUE was developed by The Green Grid as a way for operators to measure the efficiency of their data centres. It compares the total energy consumed by a data centre to the amount of energy that actually reaches the IT equipment, showing how much is lost to other equipment such as cooling systems.

While PUE has won support, there has not been a standard way to measure it, making it difficult for data centres to compare their efficiency. Earlier this year, The Green Grid got together with the US Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Program, the Uptime Institute, the US Building Council and others to define a common way for calculating PUE.

On Thursday they released their recommendations for dedicated data centre facilities. They plan to release a second version in the future for data centres that are part of a mixed-use facility such as an office building. "This guidance is meant to help the industry have a common understanding of energy efficiency metrics that can generate dialogue to improve data center efficiencies and reduce energy consumption," the group said in a white paper.

They defined four ways of measuring PUE in an effort to encompass a wide range of data centres, including those that don't yet have the capability to accurately measure all their energy consumption.

PUE Category 0 is the lowest level, measuring demand based on peak loads during a 12-month period. The measurement is taken at the utility meter. While the metric offers only a snapshot, omitting the potential impact of fluctuating loads, taking consistent Category 0 measurements can still help operators track their energy efficiency, the group said.

The most accurate level, PUE Category 3, measures energy consumption using a 12-month total reading taken at the point of connection of the IT devices to the electrical system. It's the most accurate method, the group says, because it removes any impact from losses related to electrical distribution components and non-IT equipment.

"The goal is to recommend a consistent and repeatable measurement strategy that allows data center operators to monitor and improve the energy efficiency of their facility," according to the white paper. "A consistent measurement approach will also facilitate communication of PUE among data center owners and operators."

The Business & Application Software Developers' Association (BASDA) will next week launch a data exchange standard, dubbed Green-XML, that should make it easier for developers to integrate data on carbon emissions and water use into business software applications.

BASDA's existing eBis XML standard provides developers with a standardised method for handling and transferring data between different online purchasing and invoicing systems, and the new standard will apply the same model to increasingly popular environmental metrics.

As a result, companies should be able to develop software that allows them to obtain the water footprint data associated with a product alongside the electronic invoice for that product, or provide customers with carbon emission data whenever they purchase an item online.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, BASDA marketing manager Libby Tooley said the standard would make it easier for software developers around the world to produce integrated environmental management systems that are capable of sharing green data with software applications operated by partners or other parts of the business.

She added that the standard would initially focus on carbon and water footprint data, but could easily be applied to other environmental metrics.

Jairo Rojas, BASDA's director general, said the standard could also be used to help firms report on their carbon emissions in line with government regulations. "This [standard] supports interoperability between the applications offered by BASDA members and reporting to government and non-government agencies involved in achieving carbon reduction targets," he said.

BASDA said a number of its member organisations were already developing new carbon management systems using the standard.

It added that the group was also working on a similar data standard that would make it easier for firms to share information relating to biodiversity. " BASDA and its members have spent the past two years removing the barriers to universal carbon accounting by developing BASDA Green XML, and so will be able to deliver bio-diversity accounting in a shorter time frame," the group said in a statement.

A research paper released today by the government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found that many customers fail to look at the environmental credibility of electrical goods, such as mobile phones and washing machines, when making purchasing decisions.

The study used a series of focus groups to analyse consumer attitudes to seven electrical and household appliances and found that "participants had a very low level of understanding about eco products in general and a narrow view on what it can mean in an electrical product."

The report's authors urged electronics manufacturers to step up efforts to challenge the myth that environmental features such as increased repairability, energy efficiency and recycled content compromise quality.

A spokeswoman for WRAP told BusinessGreen.com that firms need to clearly state how the green credentials of many products can benefit the customer, for example through lower energy bills or improved durability.

She added that green electronics manufacturers also had to work to push environmental issues higher up the list of priorities for customers. "A product with a clear [environmental] benefit but low brand recognition may need to work harder to convince the consumer how they will benefit," she said.

WRAP is working with a number of leading manufacturers, such as electronics giant Samsung, to bolster consumer awareness of green goods. High-tech products such as mobile phones, televisions and laptops are of particular concern as they are bought in large quantities and have a high material impact, the advisory group said.

The Cambridge-based company said the improved display technologies had been developed using a new software platform, known as an application programming interface (API), which will allow external partners and developers to build additional applications based on AlertMe's energy monitoring functionality.

The new user interface can be accessed through a web site or smartphone and contains five new applications which the company said would make it easier for customers to track their real-time energy use.

In particular, a new cost prediction application lets users know how much they have spent on energy over a range of different time frames, while a swingometer display shows how each day's energy consumption compares with the average regional and national performance.

Meanwhile, a more detailed display will show which appliances and devices in the home are using the most energy.

The company said the first wave of applications will be followed later this year by additional functionality that allows users to analyse their carbon footprint in real time, measure how much money the household could save by installing solar panels, and set targets for energy and carbon savings.

"We believe consumers should have access to information about their energy use and understand how much they are spending on energy in real time," said Mary Turner, chief executive of AlertMe. "This empowers them to make informed decisions on a day-by-day basis rather than waiting for a shockingly large bill, by which time it's too late."

She added that studies have shown that providing people with greater visibility over their energy use and cost can help them reduce their energy bills by between 15 and 25 per cent, while many AlertMe customers had shown savings of more than 30 per cent.

AlertMe's new applications enter an increasingly competitive market that has seen a growing number of technology firms launch smart meters where energy use data can be accessed through a web portal.

However, the company has secured a number of high-profile endorsements, most notably when Google made AlertMe one of the first European partners for its PowerMeter initiative, allowing AlertMe customers to access energy data through their iGoogle home page.

The environmental awards organisation has been assessing the green credentials of supercomputers globally for several years, and IBM has often dominated the list.

The list shows that 17 of the top 20 most energy efficient supercomputers in the world are built on IBM high-performance computing technology.

IBM systems which have been featured on the list include Blue Gene, Power servers, System x iDataPlex, BladeCenter and hybrid clusters.

Mississippi's State University (MSU) now officially operates the most energy efficient x86-only cluster on the list, ranking ninth overall on the Green500.

According to IBM, their new iDataPlex-based cluster provides five times the performance of the university's previous, non-IBM cluster and consumes only half the power.

Trey Breckenridge, high-performance computing resources and operations administrator for MSU's High Performance Computing Collaboratory commented, "Our IBM iDataPlex cluster will allow us to accelerate the university's important research - including collaborations with government agencies and corporate entities - while minimising our power and cooling costs and taking up less space.

"This fits with MSU's environmentally conscious mission and ensures we are making the most of the university's resources."

The Commons is an eco-initiative managed by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development to encourage firms to share any innovations that have environmental benefits.

HP have added the following three patents: A self-contained battery recycling station that will allow users to exchange their old batteries for new ones or credit, a monitoring system that will reduce the energy consumption associated with bad welds on assembly lines; and a process that eliminates the need for anti-oxidant metal coatings (such as gold) during some stages of microchip and circuit board assembly.

Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD, has today released a statement saying, "we are very pleased that HP has joined this initiative and made multiple patents available. The premise of the Commons is that the free sharing of these patents leads to new collaborations and innovation aimed at helping others become more eco-efficient and/or operate in a more sustainable way."

The Commons were launched in January 2008 and since then have received green patents from a variety of large blue chip technology companies including IBM, Nokia, Xerox and Fuji amongst others.