Lee Technologies sent over their Top 9 data center mistakes paper, and I liked it right from the start as they made the point people don't calculate an ROI for PUE performance. PUE is closest to telling an efficiency of a data center which to a layman is the closest we have for data centers for a MPG, but who specifies a high MPG number and doesn't think about how much it costs for the extra MPG above the norm.

The Top 9 Mistakes in Data Center Planning: The Total Cost of Ownership Approach to Building or Expanding Data Centers

Why do so many data center builds and expansions fail? This white paper answers the question by revealing the top 9 mistakes organizations make when designing and building new data center space, and examines an effective way to achieve success through the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) approach.

I spend too much time writing for other people, and I could go on how I would rewrite the paper, but overall an excellent job bringing up issues few think about.

The top three points that I think would get people's attention are ironically the last 3 of 9 tips.

# 7

Big Mistake #7:

Misunderstanding PUE

Many times, organizations set a PUE goal with all the proper intentions
but the calculation does not take into account all factors that should be
considered.

You need to fully understand what the ROI is on capital expenses to
reach your goals. You need to ask yourself, what is the TC O relative to
the target PUE?

#8 has three parts, and I like this one best as this hidden cost of LEED is why builders and consultants push LEED. People think they are getting LEED for free, because they are not counting the cost of certification.

Big Mistake #8:
Misunderstanding LEED certification
To date, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has not set specific
criteria for data center LEED criteria.

There will be costs related to receiving certification. Failure to take
these related expenses into account will impact your TCO and
business decision planning processes.

And #9, an overall problem with data center design.

Big Mistake #9:
Overcomplicated designs
As stated earlier, simple is better. Regardless of the target tier rating
you have chosen, there are dozens of ways to design an effective
system. Too often, redundancy goals drive too much complexity. Add
in the multiple approaches to building a modular system and things get
complicated fast.