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I sometimes get the sense that pursuing green data center efforts is a bit like riding a moped - or watching Glee - it feels kinda good, but you’re pretty sure you’re the only one doing it, and you’re not sure you’d want your friends to catch you at it.

Well fear not, friends. I have proof positive that this work is more popular than many of us thought… and perhaps more beneficial than we’d hoped as well. And it turns out the things slowing us down are common across the board, which offers some hope when it comes to surmounting those obstacles as well.

The good word comes courtesy of AFCOM which is due to release results of a survey of 436 data center managers mostly in the United States. Respondents were overwhelmingly from the private sector, though gov and edu were represented as well.

What AFCOM found is that more than 71 percent of data center operators are actively engaged in what they described as “greening.” About 42 percent of the total respondents said they actually had a formal greening initiative in place.

And from that solid majority, impressive gains already. Some 61 percent said they were using less power and 51 percent said they’d achieved greater cooling efficiency.

So what’s slowing down these folks hell bent on making their data centers more efficient and eco-friendly? Turns out 40 percent say they just don’t have enough money in their budgets to buy more energy-stingy equipment. 30 percent say procrastination and the dreaded “lip service” to green efforts is thwarting their efforts while 23 percent say senior management has declined to commit to the concept.

About 20 percent don’t know what that concept is, telling pollsters they need a better definition of “green” before they can buy in.

The AFCOM survey actually went well beyond green initiatives to cover areas such as consolidation, monitoring, emerging tech, storage, growth and even cyber terrorism. Interestingly, there were lessons for power watchers throughout the report.

A solid 62 percent of data center managers said they were in the process of consolidating one or more data centers. And 67 percent of those said the availability of sufficient power was the #1 consideration in their plans.

When it comes to performance monitoring, by the most monitored element in the data center is power consumption. More than 68 percent of respondents said they were watching the juice as opposed to just 66 percent for network traffic, 62 percent for server utilization and 54 percent for Web security.

Not surprising that power garners all that scrutiny since power elements do seem to take up more than their fair share maintenance and testing time. UPS systems are by far the most regularly tested critical systems in the data center, with 86 percent reporting routine maintenance efforts there, followed closely by generators at 78 percent. Compare that to the 43 percent who say they regularly test and maintain storage systems.

It’s clear that power issues do get the attention they deserve even if it doesn’t generate the buzz and sexy headlines other IT areas garner. The numbers are on the side of those taking a hard look at how they use power and finding ways to bolster efficiency and environmental responsibility.

So if you are NOT involved in a greening initiative in your data center, it turns out you’re actually missing a guilty pleasure already common among the majority. More like watching Dancing with the Stars.