As oil prices begin to inch up once again –- and the summer cooling season starts to heat up –- organizations may want to take another look at their “green options” for data center management.

Experts from outfits like Forrester are warning that many companies are ignoring the green movement because there’s little capital for the kinds of changes that would need to be made.

But if energy costs skyrocket again, the savings could be worth the investment.

How’s that? As the economy rebounds, the costs of going green are also bound to rise with the tide.

That could mean that companies get hit with a double whammy: Soaring energy and equipment costs.

The big problem: Most companies have assigned power consumption costs to their facilities budget, not their IT budget. That means IT managers care little about the price of running the equipment they purchase.

It’s not their job.

Forrester Research estimates that only 13% of large and mid-sized enterprises have a PC power management system in place.

Only another 18% have launched limited programs. That leaves more than two-thirds of organizations with no power management at all, with many managers arguing that power conservation outside of the data center is not IT’s function, according to Forrester.

The EPA’s hoping to promote greater data center efficiency by extending its Energy Star rating system, most commonly seen in consumer goods like refrigerators and washing machines, into server technology.

The agency will offer ES ratings on non-blade x86 servers with up to four processor sockets and at least one hard drive, with the estimate that nearly 25% of current server shipments will qualify for a logo and will possibly be eligible for rebates from local utilities.

The bottom line for most companies will be snagging energy efficient servers before their cost goes up – which will surely be the case once oil prices hit the roof once again.

Tags: Energy Star rating system, Environmental Protection Agency, Forrester Research Inc., oil prices