Data centers -- those large, nondescript, windowless rooms full of humming black boxes -- are a critical component for nearly every sector of the U.S. economy, from financial services to manufacturing. They also use an enormous amount of energy.

How much is a lot? According to an EPA report released last summer, data centers used 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006, putting a peak load on the power grid of about 7 gigawatts -- or roughly the equivalent of 15 power plants. That's twice as much energy usage as 2000, a pace that would require an additional 10 power plants by 2011 solely to support data center operations.

Who knew keeping track of your credit card balance could be so inefficient?

Given the enormous strain on electricity grids and increasing operating costs for industry and government -- not too mention the greenhouse gas emissions from power plants -- we're glad the EPA and the Energy Department have made this an issue, announcing plans this week to work on greening data centers.

As part of the National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program, the two agencies will coordinate a variety of initiatives from the DOE Industrial Technologies Program’s Save Energy Now initiative, the DOE Federal Energy Management Program and EPA’s Energy Star program.

Among other things, the program will work with the centers on energy saving tools, the certification of data center energy-efficiency experts and equipment performance specification and labeling.

Data center owner and operator 365 Main said yesterday that it has become the first data center operator to join Energy Star as a partner

The new program also will institute data center standards and benchmarks, the lack of which, has, in the past, made some companies reluctant to green their facilities.