For most people buying a laptop, power consumption is an afterthought used only to guesstimate how long the machine can run off its battery.
For people buying the systems feeding information to that laptop, there may be no more important strategic consideration in the immediate future.
That”™s according to Stamford-based Gartner Group Inc., which lists “green” information technology at the top of its annual list of “strategic” technologies over the next three years.
Gartner analysts indicate green IT regulations may soon multiply and could have the potential to seriously constrain companies in building data centers. Some companies are emphasizing their record in socially responsibly practices, affecting not only their IT purchase decisions but also how they use their existing equipment ”“ for instance, using older inefficient servers for peak periods.
Gartner is not the lone voice striving to be heard above the increasing hum of the routers and servers that power corporate America. In May, Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. announced it would spend $1 billion researching ways to make the IT systems it sells more energy efficient.
And in August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delivered a 133-page report requested by Congress on the energy efficiency of servers and data centers.
The takeaway? With a typical server consuming 250 watts of electricity at peak use, energy consumption in the nation”™s data centers amounts to 61 million megawatt hours, roughly equal to 1.5 percent of total U.S. power use or the energy consumed by every household in New England.
Half of that electricity is used to power air conditioners and fans that cool equipment in data centers.
EPA predicts that energy consumption by servers and data centers could double again by 2011, requiring the equivalent of 15 major power plants to keep them running.
The agency recommends that:
n the federal government challenge corporate leaders to conduct energy assessments of their data centers.
n state governments consider requiring large data centers to have separate utility meters.
n electric utilities offer incentives for energy-efficient data centers.
n the government work with industry to develop metrics to help companies assess data center energy consumption.
That latter point is already being tackled by a nonprofit trade group in Portland, Ore., called the Green Grid, whose members include IBM and Fairfield-based General Electric Co. The Green Grid has been researching how best to configure servers, routers and other gear to cut power consumption.
In the near term, the group hopes to release an early prototype for a standard rating system next year, intended to help IT administrators quickly compare their IT equipment”™s power consumption with that of a total facility, including cooling and lighting.
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The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is considering the feasibility of a data-center energy consumption rating system. In September, NYSERDA hosted a seminar at the New York Stock Exchange to discuss energy issues in data centers and their impact on the financial industry.
In the meantime, companies are trying to find their own solutions, including divorcing data centers from the electricity grid entirely. At a Windsor Locks data center, United Technologies Corp. aerospace subsidiary Hamilton Sundstrand uses fuel cells as the primary power source, resorting to the electricity grid only in the event of a failure in its prime power source.
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