As global data demand surges, data centers have become the engines of the digital economy—and some of its largest energy consumers. Their continuous operation requires massive amounts of electricity to power servers and maintain optimal temperatures, driving up costs and carbon footprints alike. As a result, data center operators are increasingly looking for ways to improve energy efficiency without compromising performance.
Fortunately, greater efficiency doesn’t always require sweeping overhauls or new capital projects—small, low-cost changes in design and operations can yield significant gains. Below, 20 members of Forbes Technology Council share practical, budget-friendly strategies to help data centers operate more efficiently and sustainably.
1. Use Reflective Paint To Cut Cooling Costs
A surprisingly low-cost hack is reflective paint. Applying white or high-albedo coatings to data center rooftops lowers heat absorption, which significantly cuts indoor cooling loads. It’s cheap, nonintrusive and effective—especially in warm climates. Less heat in means less power out for cooling, extending HVAC life while shrinking energy spend. – Jagadish Gokavarapu, Wissen Infotech
2. Build New Sites In Cooler Locations
One low-cost way to boost data center efficiency is through strategic site selection. Facilities built in cooler climates can utilize free cooling, leveraging ambient air to supplement liquid cooling systems rather than relying heavily on mechanical chillers. This design choice lowers PUE, reduces energy spend and delivers lasting operational savings. – Wes Cummins, Applied Digital Corporation
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3. Orchestrate Workloads Around Renewable Power
Energy efficiency doesn’t require new hardware. By orchestrating workloads around renewable energy availability and using containers to cut idle server draw, data centers can drive double-digit efficiency gains at near-zero cost. Smart software beats brute-force infrastructure. This approach can deliver double-digit efficiency gains while making data centers more resilient to grid volatility. – Michael Koch, HubKonnect
4. Raise Interior Temperatures
Raising data center temperatures is one of the simplest ways to cut energy use. Just a 1°C (1.8°F) increase can reduce cooling costs by 4% to 5%, so moving from 75°F to 80°F can deliver savings of up to 25%—while remaining within ASHRAE’s 64°F to 80°F guidelines. Many of the world’s largest cloud providers already operate this way, showing that impact doesn’t always require big investments. – Giordano Albertazzi, Vertiv
5. Standardize Asset Data
With data centers projected to grow fivefold by 2030, efficiency is now as critical as capacity. Standardized asset data—covering power requirements, heat output, environmental condition tolerances and site attributes—enables smarter configuration and cooling strategies that lower costs and extend equipment life. – Peter Ford, iconectiv
6. Unify Hyperscalers
Use of hyperscalers is common in large datacenters, but they are typically used to scale up fixed resource types. Unifying hyperscalers via custom SmartNICs or intelligent switches could boost datacenter efficiency. This would route varied AI workloads to the most suitable hardware (for example, training GPUs versus inference hardware), increasing hardware utilization and reducing cost and energy consumption. – Lee-Lean Shu, GSI Technology
7. Adopt Aisle Containment
Adopt hot/cold aisle containment to enhance airflow efficiency and reduce cooling energy usage. By isolating hot and cold air streams, data centers maintain optimal temperatures, lower PUE and improve sustainability. It’s a low-cost, high-impact strategy that boosts energy efficiency without requiring major infrastructure changes. – Mehwish Salman Ali, Data Vault
8. Redesign Airflow
Swap out traditional cooling with smarter airflow designs that push hot air exactly where it belongs—out of the room—instead of recirculating it like a bad AC system would do. It’s cheap, often overlooked and can slash energy waste without the need for pricey new hardware. – Mark Vena, SmartTech Research
9. Extend Hardware Lifecycles
True efficiency starts with resisting the pressure to refresh technology before it’s necessary. Extending the usable life of existing software and hardware avoids premature cycles, maximizes current assets and reduces unnecessary energy consumption. It’s often overlooked, but keeping technology running efficiently for longer lowers operational costs and shrinks the environmental footprint. – Tomas O Leary, Origina
10. Deploy Intelligent Monitoring
A cost-conscious yet effective way to improve data center energy efficiency is through AI-monitored systems. By intelligently managing workloads, airflow and cooling, AI ensures precision, minimizing waste, lowering costs and enhancing performance. True efficiency comes not just from restraint, but also from applying intelligence to every watt of power used. – Nitesh Sinha, Sacumen
11. Shut Down Servers During Slow Periods
Implement a “forced shutdown” of certain services and associated servers over holidays, weekends or industry-specific low-tide times. While this is not possible with always-on industries or services, with the right deployment architecture, one could save impactful amounts of energy by strategically consolidating and co-locating services, even if temporarily. – Eva Nahari, Vectara
12. Rethink AI Workloads
One strategy is rethinking how AI workloads run. Instead of defaulting to massive large language models, organizations can use smaller, task-specific models that consume less power and are more focused on specific expertise. Leaner architectures can reduce energy demands without compromising performance, making AI more economical and efficient. Small language models are only a piece of the solution; entirely new ideas are needed. – Charles Yeomans, Atombeam
13. Reclaim Server Heat
Think of heat as a resource, not just waste. A low-cost strategy is reclaiming server heat for facility use—like preheating water or supplementing building heating. Even small-scale recovery systems turn a liability into efficiency gains, stretching energy dollars without heavy infrastructure investment. – Ashis Ghosh, Peanut Robotics
14. Leverage Natural Cooling And Government Incentives
Having led global teams across acres of data centers, I’ve seen the biggest efficiency gains come from leveraging nature—building in cold climates for free cooling, having hydropower nearby (but building above flood zones) and leveraging geothermal energy/heat exchange for cooling. Pair that with government incentives like grants and tax breaks and you’ve got a long-term win-win when it comes to cost and sustainability. – John Walsh, III, Red Summit
15. Use AI-Controlled Thermal Zoning
A low-cost yet high-impact strategy is deploying AI-controlled thermal zoning that dynamically reconfigures airflow using microsensors and smart dampers. Instead of uniform cooling, the system continuously redirects cold air only where needed, minimizing overprovisioning. This approach lowers PUE, extends equipment lifespan and reduces wasted energy without costly retrofits. – Nicola Sfondrini, PWC
16. Strategically Shift Workloads
Dynamic workload shifting can help. Data centers can schedule nonurgent compute tasks when renewable energy supply is high or grid carbon intensity is low. This climate-aware strategy reduces emissions without major infrastructure spend, aligning energy use with cleaner sources while keeping operations cost-efficient and resilient. – Tannu Jiwnani, Microsoft
17. Apply Identity-Driven Policies
For identity-driven power hygiene, tie compute resources to access. Use a daily identity graph to find and remove orphaned accounts or service identifiers that keep “zombie” virtual machines and background processes running. Enforce time-boxed administrative access so bastions, lab clusters and VDI automatically hibernate when no authorized user is active. Connect joiner, mover or leaver events to start and stop policies. Less idle equipment means lower kilowatt-hours with near-zero spend. – Craig Davies, Gathid
18. Apply Green Software Engineering Principles
Applying green software engineering principles is the low-cost, high-impact solution for data center energy efficiency. These principles include code refactoring, leveraging more pretrained models, using serverless and stateless architectures, and minimizing Web assets. – Jayashree Arunkumar, Wipro
19. Consolidate Servers And Automate Power-Downs
Many data centers waste power on underutilized hardware. A low-cost fix is implementing server consolidation policies and automated power-down of idle machines. Using existing monitoring tools, teams can identify “zombie” servers and reclaim their energy budget. This approach cuts consumption while improving rack space efficiency. – Dileep Rai, Hachette Book Group
20. Seal Airflow Gaps
Treat air like data. Seal gaps, add blanking panels and enforce hot/cold aisle discipline so airflow only goes where it’s needed. For a few hundred dollars in foam and plastic, you cut fan strain, shrink cooling demand and boost energy efficiency by double digits—proof that design hygiene is cheaper than new hardware. – Akhilesh Sharma, A3Logics Inc.
