Looking for a simple way to save plenty of money and electricity, and begin greening your data center without spending a penny? Turn down the thermostat. An Intel server expert claims that most data centers are kept unnecessarily cold, by as much as 15 percent. In "Your Data Center is Much too Cold," Matthew Wheeland explains that data centers today are often kept in the high 60s and low 70s, even though 80 is an ideal temperature. So if you're looking to become a green champion, just turn down the thermostat; you'll start saving money right away.

Billions of dollars in public and private money are being poured into the Smart Grid, but security researchers warn that it remains too vulnerable to attack. That's bad news not just for the grid, but for your enterprise as well, because the Smart Grid could be used as an attack vector to get into your data center. In "Four Ways to Hack the Smart Grid," I warn that hacking into the Smart Grid may easier than people think. I'm not alone -- security researchers are saying the same thing. For more details, check out "Four Ways to Hack the Smart Grid."

Also, be sure to check out our upcoming webinar, Profiting from Power Savings. On September 10, join GreenBiz.com's John Davies in conversation with Brett Goodwin, VP Marketing for Verdiem, in a fast-paced and engaging free webinar on cost-effective strategies for IT management. You'll learn how to reduce PC energy costs by up to 60% with zero impact on productivity. For more information, or to register, click here.

This survey of IT professionals finds that companies could save millions every year by implementing energy efficient procurement policies, power management solutions and virtualization technologies.

This report from Rebecca L. Grant of the Lexington Institute explores how the power of national policy and commercial ingenuity can smooth the way for smart grid, which will not just transmit power, it will distribute it from many sources and allow expanded supply and demand from the grid.

In these tough economic times, sustainability leaders and CIOs are looking for projects that deliver a fast payback and lower their environmental impact. In this session, IT executives and a PC power management expert will discuss their approach to greening IT operations and delivering rapid paybacks for the investment.