Del.icio.us
Email
Posted: September 4, 2007 - 9:00 am (EST) Files, photos, databases…all these things end up stored in the country's data centers. And these technological beasts of burden never stop storing, managing and disseminating information. But for data centers to keep that kind of momentum, it takes a lot of energy. In fact, these centralized repositories suck down 1.5 percent of the United States' total electricity consumption. And it's expected to get worse.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates data centers, along with servers, will double their energy appetite to 100 billion kilowatt-hours by 2012. At that rate, that means it will cost data-center owners $7.4 billion annually to power these energy guzzlers. And the country will need to add the equivalent of 10 new power plants to support them.
"Within the next three to five years, all data centers are going to run out of either space, power or cooling, and face some sort of resource crisis," said Mark Monroe, director of sustainable computing at Sun Microsystems.
But all this pain could translate into good news for energy-efficient data-center technologies..
Already, 2007 has been a banner year for the IT industry's energy-efficiency efforts. Companies have shifted into high gear, making eco-savvy promises as they announce new technologies about energy-efficient chips, servers and storage equipment.
Among the first to make a splash was Hewlett-Packard. In March, HP said it would reduce the combined energy consumption of its operations and products 20 percent by 2010.
Not to be undone, Big Blue showed its new brand is green. In May, IBM said it was redirecting $1 billion per year to up the ante for energy efficiency. The plan includes new products and services to reduce data-center energy consumption. The company said the rollout holds the potential for an average, 25,000-square-foot data center to pocket a 42-percent energy savings.
These types of reductions can really add up - for every dollar spent on computer hardware, 50 cents is spent on energy. This amount is expected to increase by 54 percent, to 71 cents, over the next four years, according to analyst firm IDC.
In August, the EPA released a draft study that found the United States has the potential to save up to $4 billion in annual electricity costs with the help of energy-efficient equipment, design and management practices.
