ContactThe term “green data center ” can be attributed to data centers that are extremely energy efficient and environmentally friendly. This means that green data centers should be maintained by monitoring their electrical, mechanical, electronic, and computer systems to reducing power consumption and to lessen the ecological impact. Turning a data center completely green is not as far-fetched today as it was several years ago, but it is not something that can be achieved easily. Creating a greener data center environment can be costly, difficult, and time consuming. Most existing data center facilities are taking initiatives towards greener practices by restructuring the way they utilize their power and run their power dependent infrastructure. While newly built data centers are being constructed with their environmental impact in mind, various data center operators are also taking steps to become more environmentally responsible.
According to a study done by the US Department of Energy, energy costs are the second largest expense in a data center, only to be overshadowed by labor costs. Energy costs for data centers total roughly 1.5% of all electricity costs in the US, which is an estimated $4.5 billion annually. These high costs of power are on the rise with an estimated increase of 12% each year due to the advancement in SMB’s online presences and dependence on technology. It is hard to get the exact numbers but nearly 15% of data centers are energy efficient, leaving plenty of room for an industry-wide adoption of green initiatives and practices. So how do we go about reducing the size of our carbon footprint? There is no standard answer and one solution in one data center may not work in another data center.
Can a data center be 100% green? The short answer is yes, but in the majority of cases it will not be financial feasible to do so. Additionally, if a data center offers colocation services they cannot reject their customers who have for older less energy efficient servers . That being said, data center operators can take several steps to become more environmentally responsible, increase their energy efficiency, and lower their power consumption. Several helpful ideas are summarized below:
Redesigning the Cooling System of the Data Center
Cooling the data center can be a major energy consumption process and various steps can be taken to help increase efficiency. Sometimes all it takes is redesigning the layout of the data center. This can enable the facility to better handle the “hot rows” and use less energy to cool the “cold rows”. Another method which could help alleviate the great need for powering HVAC units is the use of chilled water cooling. Additionally, data centers that are built with high ceilings generally have more room to dissipate the heat.
Utilizing equipment to Full Capacity
Only 5 to 15 percent of the total capacity of a servers is typically utilized at a data center at a given time. In utilizing servers to full capacity there would be less equipment to cool and hence require less power. Virtualized servers are a new trend that allows multiple servers to be accessible from one piece of hardware, running individual machines within one central device. With virtualization of equipment, power consumption could be cut in half. In addition to virtualization, decommissioning dead or “ghost servers”, which serves no recognizable purpose, could also help with savings of roughly $560 annually if just one dead server were decommissioned. It doesn’t seem like much, but if a data center with a server farm of 100,000 servers decommissioned 10% of dead and ghost servers that would be an annual savings of $560,000.00 a year. We all know that there are quite a few servers out there that can be decommissioned - imagine if 100 data center operators did that! That’s HUGE!
Use Optimized equipment
Careful selection of your server is also key in the fight to lower power costs. Ensuring that the main components of your servers, i.e. the power supplies, fan, memory, CPUs, I/O cards and ports, hard drives and other motherboard components are running at optimal levels for power consumption. These levels can vary based upon the OS and the server manufacturer. Data center operators can also make a big push towards utilizing DC power which can help save significant power vs AC Power. Business clients have been slow to adopt DC power, since the server costs associated with DC power are much higher than traditional AC powered servers. A great resource for learning about your mother board components and the energy that they draw can be found at the SustainableITBlog in an article entitled, “How to optimize the energy efficiency of your server infrastructure ”.
Opting for Greener Power
Using alternative technology is probably the best way to make a data center green and eco-friendly. However, the initial cost of using alternative sources of power can be cost prohibitive. There are options available to businesses to utilize greener energy, for instance, solar power can be a viable option but only if enough space to install the solar panels is available. Atlantic.Net looked at solar as an option a while back but we could only power 2% of our infrastructure even if we installed solar panels throughout the rooftop of our building. Wind turbines can be an alternative but most data centers are situated far away from the turbines. In a recent article about data centers, procuring wind energy credits adds about 2% premium to the total power cost of the data center operator. Even if wind turbine is an option, reliability may be one of the major concerns with either option mentioned.
Greener Building Materials and Operating Standards
Using environmentally friendly construction materials, such as non-toxic insulation, low-emission carpets, etc can also help a data center reduce its energy consumption to a certain extent. A commonsense approach to daily activities can also help add up. Ensuring a “lights off” policy (turning off lights when not in use), encouraging staff members to recycle (Atlantic.Net recycles various materials), urging employees to think before they print, and the use of more energy efficient workstations are also a steps in going green.
All of the recommendations mentioned are merely a starting point for reducing the energy consumption of a data center . With new technology comes new energy efficient machines on the market. As manufacturers become more aware of their responsibility for minimizing the ecological impact, more businesses will find it easier to jump on the bandwagon. Making small, yet powerful, changes across the board in the IT industry will hopefully be the push our industry needs to become more aware of our environmental impact. Given the nature of the beast, the majority, if not all data centers cannot be 100% green - however with a few simple changes, 100% of data centers can be more eco-friendly and reduce the ecological impact of our industry.
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