Data centers -- and specifically, the energy they consume in such huge quantities -- are at the front and center of this week's news, at an almost unprecedented level.

First and foremost comes news about green certifications and standards for compute facilities: Two members of the Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps program present a solid report on "Three Ways to Improve Energy Star for Data Centers," and get the brand new certification to smoothe out some of its wrinkles. We also report on NetApp's RTP data center in North Carolina, which has become the first to earn the Energy Star label.

The other data center standard in the news this week, one more widely known in the IT world, is Power Usage Effectiveness, which industry coalition The Green Grid has recently upgraded for greater accuracy by creating four new flavors of measurements.

Be sure to check out Joe Polastre's article, "Five Benefits of Data Center Energy Management" as well; Joe runs down the easy ways to turn your energy-sucking data center into a leaner, greener computing machine.

This report lays out the details of a new, more detailed version of the Green Grid's Power Usage Effectiveness ratio for measuring data center energy efficiency.

Join Waste Management’s Jim Hall and Caterpillar’s Jim Blass in conversation with Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com, in an exploration of how companies are achieving zero waste. You’ll hear a first-hand account of Caterpillar’s pursuit of zero waste at its facility in Aurora, Illinois, and insight into the bottom-line impacts of a typical zero-waste program.