I was having this feeling for ages, but finally Doug Mohney (the main writer for Green Data Center News) has put a great analysis that words almost exactly how I feel.

Personally, I call this the problem of the 'Green Tea'. Because every vendor is trying to put 'green' in their PR efforts as much as possible, it is getting extremely diluted. The bag holding PR green is only so large that it serves a set amount of cups. That amount has long been crossed many times over. I, for example, am getting blind to the word green in press releases and announcements.

Doug has a similar story, but where I can only helplessly rant as the journalist I am, he actually analyses it pretty neatly. For example:

"Practices in the Post-Green Era will revolve around the themes of rightsizing, sustainability, and carbon-footprint. Too many companies are happy about
bragging about how they are building more green data centers rather than
consolidating operations through virtualization and eliminating excessive data
storage, outsourcing when they can, and building from scratch only as a last
and final resort."

That hits it on the head pretty well. I am still a bit more sceptical when it comes to that Bloom Energy Server than Mohney though...