Article Title: EPA to scrutinize computer servers' growing power needs

Excerpt: A growing collaboration of the tech industry and the federal government is targeting energy-hungry, ever-multiplying computer data centers in an effort to make the Internet boom more energy-efficient. One important goal: Set standards for the energy consumption of network servers, much like the big stickers on washing machines and air conditioners, that would encourage the purchase and use of more efficient equipment.

Excerpt: ``The possibility of computer power consumption spiraling out of control could have serious consequences for the overall affordability of computing, not to mention the overall health of the planet,'' Barroso wrote in a widely circulated paper. The EPA and the Department of Energy have been working with industry officials to seek and promote more energy-efficient equipment. In May, several competitors -- Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems -- set up a non-profit organization to develop energy efficiency standards for servers. The Energy Department sat down with technology executives in Silicon Valley last month to discuss ways to improve efficiency. Sun has developed chips and servers that consume less power, and the company says its UltraSPARC processor has such performance efficiency that it eventually could reduce the need for servers worldwide by half.