WSJ reports on the trend toward cost-saving green technology, especially in data centers.

How mainstream has Green IT become? Notice the explanation for neophytes in the following quote of that exotic term, "data centers." This is now business news, not just tech news.

Rising electricity prices, coupled with new computer servers that run hotter and require more power, has corporate technology buyers looking for ways to cut back. Power use in data centers -- the large, climate-controlled rooms that house a company's computer servers, storage devices and communications switches -- doubled from 2000 to 2006 and now accounts for about 1.5% of U.S. electricity consumption, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. A recent McKinsey & Co. report says that world-wide, the centers' carbon emissions exceed those of Argentina.

The Journal notes that IBM sold $300 million worth of its "Green Data-Center Services" in Q4 '07. I guess that explains the incessant ads for IBM's green tech program during the recent US Open tennis championships (see clip at the bottom of this post), which, again, were aimed at general business customers, not just techies.

Quite a change from just two years ago, when green IT was far from the mainstream, and, as I wrote at the time, "Nobody seems less clued-in than the average CIO."