10/16/2012 -- The Green IT certification from CompTIA continues to find recognition in the marketplace among HR and IT professionals alike. Originally one of the three tests available beneath the Strata certification, this one stood out from the others in that it is not aimed at certifying entry-level knowledge below the A+ level, but rather upper-level knowledge (managers and implementers) and recommends that candidates have A+ and Server+ under their belt beforehand.

Consisting of 30 questions, exam FC0-GR1 costs $100 and is available at VUE testing centers. Sixty minutes are allowed for the exam and the passing score is 705 (on a 100-900 scale). There are two domains, with 80 percent of the weighting being on the first and only 20 percent on the second. Those domains and the top-level objectives beneath them are: 

How well would you do on the exam? The following seven questions, excerpted from the CompTIA Green IT Certification Fast Track (available only for Kindle), are on the topics the exam tests on. Test your knowledge -- the answers appear at the end of this column:

1. Your calculations show that if you invest $210,000 in new cooling systems, you will save $300,000 over current expenses. What is the Return On Investment (ROI) of the project?

a) 90%
b) 27%
c) 43%
d) 120%

2. If the rate being charged for electricity is $0.135 per kWh, then what is the cost of using a 100-watt light bulb for ten hours?

a) $0.0135
b) $0.135
c) $1.35
d) $13.5

3. Which power state can be awakened by a signal from Wake on LAN?

a) S0
b) S1
c) S3
d) S5

4. Which direction from the European Union prohibits the sale of electronic equipment containing six hazardous materials?

a) SIC
b) RoHS
c) MSDS
d) NAIC

5. Which ISO standard provides its own framework for assessing and comparing green building construction?

a) 21931
b) 14001
c) 811
d) 7

6. DCiE is calculated as:

a) The inverse of PUE
b) one third of PUE
c) PUE/ROI
d) PUE multiplied by 1.5

7. What utility can be used with most SATA drives to erase the data on them?

a) hdderase
b) wipe
c) clean
d) gsa

More information on the Green IT certification from CompTIA can be found at here.

Microsoft To Retire 9 Exams in January
There are currently nine certification exams from Microsoft scheduled for retirement on Jan. 31, 2013. All are on technologies that have been out for a while (SharePoint 2007, Project 2007, and Microsoft Dynamics 5.0). In numeric order, those scheduled to go away are: 

For more information on retiring exams, go here.

Answers: 1. C; 2. B; 3. D; 4. B; 5. A; 6. A; 7. A