In most companies, data centers are as close to top secret as any space the company owns. For years, Google was no exception. The tech giant considered its data centers to be competitive advantages, and so was very hush-hush about most of its data center strategies.

But recently, the company drew back the curtains to let outsiders get a glimpse of what Google data centers look like. The company created a website called, simply, Google Data Centers in an effort to push the industry forward by sharing what it does and what it has learned. (Click here to visit the Google Data Centers site.)

Adjust the thermostat. Google keeps its data centers at 80 degrees F.
Use free cooling, whether from outside air, evaporative cooling or a large thermal reservoir.
Optimize power distribution.

The advice on the website falls more into the category of what to do, rather than how to do it. Still, those five steps provide a best-practices template for anyone serious about cutting energy use in the data center.

The site has lot of other interesting material. There are lots of pretty pictures of Google’s mission critical portfolio, and you can take a video peek inside one data center. (This isn’t on the Google site, but you can click here to see a CBS newsclip about a Google data center.) The site has other information as well, ranging from Google’s strategy for building energy efficient servers to the company’s renewable energy efforts.