The “green data centre” is at the heart of
the whole movement towards more
sustainable computing.
So how’s the whole project progressing?
2008 was a big year in green data centres, with many new The problem that the green data centre addresses has been
products, and initiatives. Does this mean that the green well enough understood since a series of reports in 2006
data centre project is succeeding? Is awareness, and 2007: data centres account for somewhere around
investment and innovation yielding results? Is there now an 1.5% of national electricity use, a steadily increasing figure,
understanding of what can be achieved? and this demand has been concentrated in areas where
there are capacity constraints.
The answer to each of these three questions is much the
same: some progress has been made, there is a great deal Furthermore, most of this energy is not renewable, so data
of activity, but successes are patchy, sometimes illusory, centres are responsible for a lot of C0
2
; and finally, but
and there is a long, long way to go. Although economic perhaps most importantly for business managers, all this
conditions could have a big impact, there is little evidence power is becoming very expensive, both relative to other
to suggest that all the virtualisation, server consolidation expenditure in IT and in absolute terms. Energy is now the
and green data centre initiatives have halted the long term second biggest Opex item in IT (after payroll), annually
trend towards greater energy consumption in the data accounts for half to a third of hardware expenditure, and is
centre. rising relentlessly.
In the meantime, the fear of legislation around data centre So what has happened over the past year? There are three
power use lurks in the background: the nearly completed clearly discernible trends. These are: better measurement
European Commission Code of Conduct, intended to and metrics; an understanding of key technologies that
encourage energy efficiency in data centres, is not work; and outstanding proofs of concept;
particularly stringent, but it is viewed as blueprint for
forthcoming data centre energy legislation. Measurement and metrics
First, there is a clear movement towards a better
Andy Lawrence
understanding of the problem, not just in terms of wider
Research Director,
awareness, but in terms of measurement, metrics and
Eco-Efficient IT
reporting.
There are several good examples of this: first, in early 2007,
Andy is the Research Director for Eco-Efficient IT at
studies repeatedly showed the most CIOs and data centre
The 451 Group, an independent
managers never got to see IT related electricity bills –
IT analyst company based in
consequently they were not motivated to save energy. Now,
New York. He has a particular
studies are starting to suggest that as many as half of CIOs
interest in how the energy use
are getting to see the power bills. Another example is the
and carbon footprint of IT can
increasing use of metering tools in the data centre. It is
be reduced: how IT can become
becoming more common – although still rare – to measure
more sustainable; the role of IT in
IT power use, either at the UPS or PDU level, or even down
improving energy distribution and
to the device level. Several companies are now offering
management; and the role of
software to consolidate this data into data centre wide
markets and governments in
energy reporting tools.
enforcing or encouraging sustainable practices.
14
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