Powering and cooling data centers has always been one of the main challenges associated with data center operations. Businesses must have clean, reliable, steady, cost effective, and increasingly more “green” power solutions. New on-site generation systems such as microturbine technology may be the answer to the upcoming energy crisis we will soon be facing.

IBM has unveiled a new supercomputer called Hydro-Cluster that uses water to cool down the device and reduce energy consumption. IBM claims that data centers using Hydro-Cluster supercomputers can reduce their energy consumption by 40 percent and use 80 percent less cooling. They estimate that water can be up to 4,000-times more effective in cooling computer systems than air.

Voltaic Systems Inc. will be releasing a solar-powered laptop bag that will charge laptops carried inside. The company already sells solar-powered bags that carry and charge cell phones, MP3 players and PDAs. This new bag called the "Generator" and will be the first bag designed to charge laptops.