Data Center efficiency, Green IT, ECO IT, Green Computing and Green Tech are just a few buzzwords that are showing up in the news and advertisements more and more often these days. It seems almost every hardware vendor and or service provider is in need of a "green" story. What are the drivers for this? Well, we all use computers on a daily basis, whether in the office or at home. More and more content, services and applications are being provided over the Internet and current research suggests that this trend will grow ever more. Especially new concepts such as "Software as a Service" aiming to provide business applications over the Internet or consumer trends such as streaming video on demand replace the more "traditional" desktop applications. Companies are providing content and applications as a service, utilizing large data centers to host their necessary equipment. This increasing demand for computing power (while facing limited energy supplies) and rising energy costs in combination with a growing environmental consciousness are the key drivers for companies to think about a “green” strategy and how to make their data centers more energy efficient. Just to give you a feeling about the “size” of this challenge I would like to provide some statistical numbers. For example, the number of installed servers has dramatically increased the power consumption over the last years (doubling from 2000 to 2006) and the current state of energy efficiency initiatives indicates no slow down in this growth.
• By 2008, 50% of data centers will have insufficient power and cooling capacity (Gartner, 2006)
• According to a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the IT industry consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006 — about 1.5% of the total consumed in the United States — at a cost of about $4.5 billion. Under current efficiency trends, national energy consumption by servers and data centers could nearly double by 2011 to more than 100 billion kWh, representing a $7.4 billion annual electricity cost. (EPA Data center Report to Congress 2007)
The challenges facing data center managers are quite obvious. However, a recent study showed that 67 % of the interviewed US companies do not have an energy strategy. What are the reasons? How to get it started?
• By 2008, 50% of data centers will have insufficient power and cooling capacity (Gartner, 2006)
• According to a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the IT industry consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006 — about 1.5% of the total consumed in the United States — at a cost of about $4.5 billion. Under current efficiency trends, national energy consumption by servers and data centers could nearly double by 2011 to more than 100 billion kWh, representing a $7.4 billion annual electricity cost. (EPA Data center Report to Congress 2007)
The challenges facing data center managers are quite obvious. However, a recent study showed that 67 % of the interviewed US companies do not have an energy strategy. What are the reasons? How to get it started?
