Scenes from the Google Data Center Summit 2011

Google hosted its second Data Center Efficiency Summit in Zurich, Switzerland Tuesday. Event organizers said the large European data center presence and the need to share information and lessons learned with small and mid-size enterprises spurred them to host the event.

While the total data center footprint on greenhouse gas emissions is 0.31 percent, small server closets make up 41 percent and local, medium-sized set-ups make up 31 percent of that total, said Urs Hoelzle of Google. The day-long event presented multiple ways to address efficiency - methods that result in using less energy and ultimately, saving money.

See Scenes From the Google Data Center Efficiency Summit for photos and highlights of the discussion.