Information about http://www.biggerthinking.com/docs/en/Green%20Data%20Centres.pdf
Bringing it…
Tags: al gore, calamity, champion al, climate change, climate crisis, collective responsibility, conscious choices, current energy, economic consequences, energy efficiency solutions, new engineering, new inventions, newsweek, newsweek article, optimistic world, pessimist, realist, relentless drive, robert j samuelson, william arthur ward,Pages: 8
Language: english
Created: Tue Oct 2 17:00:20 2007
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Bringing it all together
A Realist's Guide to
Green Data Centres
"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist
expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails"
William Arthur Ward
The benefits of centuries of progress in developed countries are
obvious: people are living longer, earning more money and enjoying
extra leisure time. It's no surprise the rest of the world wants a piece
of the action.
Yet there's always a danger that we will fall victim of the relentless
drive for progress for two related reasons. First, we enjoy the benefits
first and think about downsides later. Second, when we do finally
acknowledge a problem we expect future breakthroughs to provide
the answer. It's an optimistic world.
A number of surveys have shown that most people apply this attitude
to climate change. Only a minority deny it's a problem, but a problem
that will, somehow, be sorted out without any need for a change in
daily behaviour.
It's this attitude that inspired heavyweight environment champion Al
Gore's message of collective responsibility. He asks everyone to take
the initiative.
"I encourage people to make environmentally conscious choices
because we all have to solve this climate crisis." (1)
Yet some critics, such as influential journalist Robert J. Samuelson,
have openly opposed Gore's view. In a recent Newsweek article he
argued that only major new engineering can save the day and he
questions the drive for current energy efficiency solutions as
"intuitively" tough.
"The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential
calamity, the only solution is new technology." (2)
Samuelson, unlike Gore, but in line with the wider population, is
pessimistic in the world's ability to change but optimistic that new
inventions can provide the answer.
But can we simply wait on a new generation of breakthroughs to solve
our problems? There are major environmental and economic
consequences to consider.
2
Business Power Data Explosion Business Responsibility Data Management
Enterprises, like the rest of society, have been guilty of building up Nobody doubts that data centres' thirst for power has not peaked.
benefits while failing to identity, measure and tackle the downsides. Unchecked, the problem promises to produce arguably the biggest
single sustainable energy challenge facing the business world. A
For example, very latest information technology (IT) is helping
recent survey found that just one UK data centre, from a total of over
organisations of all sizes to become more economically and
1500, uses more power in one year than a city with a population of
environmentally sustainable. There is a very compelling story focused
over 280,000 people. (4)
on how unified communications and video conferencing will help with
geographic regeneration and tackle pollution. Such advances are Another US survey found that even a 30,000 square foot data centre,
crucial to a flexible world where, amongst other benefits, virtual by no means a monster, will now support 1,000 server racks.
meetings eliminate millions of miles of travel. Depending on their power density, typically 150 to 200 watts per
square foot, this translates into a site with a 12 mega watt power
Yet beneath the surface such benefits come with a cost as they stretch
demand when cooling power is factored.
supporting infrastructures to their limit. Analyst firm IDC estimates
2006 revenue for the worldwide storage services market to grow from In the US, with maintenance and amortisation charges added, such a
$28.8 billion last year to $35.3 billion by 2011 (3) as more files are data centre would generate an operational bill of as much as $4.2
created and kept. Email boxes, creaking with audio, video and million. Europe's higher electricity prices could add a further 30 per
enormous PowerPoints, are often at their limit. CFOs and their teams cent to the total. (5)
make financial statements available via live audiocasts and
Yet the initial response to the data explosion focused exclusively on the
downloadable podcasts.
emergence of faster equipment at lower prices. The honest truth is
The downside can no longer be ignored. The fact is that enterprises that the environmental impact of the investment was not, perceived to
have no choice but to improve energy efficiency as increased usage be, a huge issue.
puts a strain on corporate data centres and their finite and expensive
Things have changed dramatically in a relatively short space of time.
power supplies. Failure to manage the impact of the data explosion
Twenty years ago chips consumed no more than eight watts of power
could, before long, even stem the ability of organisations to compete
but today 110 watts is far from unusual. This phenomenon, christened
and innovate effectively.
the "underbelly of Moore's Law", along with new developments like
Slowly the negative impact of the data explosion has been understood blade servers which can increase the concentration of processing
and moves to reduce carbon emissions - without sacrificing availability power, and therefore power demand, eight times per square foot, are
for users, optimum operational continuity of services or cost control - conspiring to accelerate the problems.
are well underway. The fact is that it's unrealistic for enterprises to rip
The latest high density servers, working with inefficient infrastructures,
out their existing IT infrastructure and start over, both in terms of cost
are literally threatening to go into meltdown. A report by the
and practicality. The only realistic option is creating a more energy
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning
efficient infrastructure.
Engineers (ASHRAE) has revealed that between 43 and 65 per cent of
data centre energy is used to power hardware equipment, between 20
and 25 per cent is used to power cooling systems and between one
and three per cent devoted to lighting. (6)
Another IDC report found that US companies spent approximately $5.8
billion powering servers in 2005 and another $3.5 billion keeping
them cool. The authors estimated the total cost of the equipment at
$20.5 billion. (7)
The spiralling costs are compounded by a reliance on old fashioned and
inefficient infrastructure. The Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory
believes that for every watt consumed by a server is matched by
supporting infrastructure that includes, but is not restricted to, cooling
(8). The combination amounts to a dizzying level of energy
consumption that, given the current state of the energy market, has
the potential to bring businesses to their knees.
3
It's no exaggeration. Power suppliers are now refusing to sanction Business Pressure External Forces
data expansion and are ready, with full government and regulatory
support, to create a two tier price offering with rebates for enterprises The EU energy commissioner announced in October last year the goal
with effective efficiency programmes. of a 20 per cent energy saving by 2020. The plans are backed by a raft
of new regulations, including measures aimed at cutting carbon
The problems are not restricted to supply. The escalating cost of dioxide emissions that would help Europe meet its obligations under
electricity, estimated at 30 per cent a year, combined with analyst the Kyoto treaty. A further series of directives are coming downstream
warnings that energy budgets will rise from 10 per cent to 50 per cent and setting down minimum energy performance requirements for 14
of the typical IT budget in five years, are genuine board room priority products, which unsurprisingly include computing power.
concerns. The economic argument for efficiency is becoming just as
compelling as its environmental equivalent. In a recent Shortly afterwards the US Senate approved a bill and accepted that it is
announcement, leading analyst house Gartner captured the extent of "in the best interest of the US for purchasers of computer servers to
the problem. give high priority to energy efficiency as a factor in determining best
value and performance for purchases of computer servers". (10)
"Power and cooling is a pandemic in the world of the data center," said
Michael Bell, research vice president at Gartner Inc. "By next year, The law instructs the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate
about half the world's data centers will be functionally obsolete due to the use of energy-efficient products and recommend new ways to
insufficient power and cooling capacity to meet the demands of high- attract interest in energy-efficient products, which has been the goal
density equipment." (9) for years of the government's Energy Star initiative.
Under the weight of such internal and external demands the concept
of waiting until something comes along is hollow. It's neither realistic
nor sustainable from an environmental or economic perspective to rely
on an alternative. So what can be done? Even in the absence of a
ready made substitute for data centres there are simple changes that
can ensure the boiling frog syndrome, where nothing happens until it's
too late, does not become a truism.
There are a number of options available to enterprises who want to
sustain their business.
Excerpt from International Energy Agency's "World Energy
Outlook 2006" Report (11)
"Policies that encourage the most efficient production and use
of energy contribute almost 80% of the avoided CO2
emissions. The remainder comes from switching to low and
zero carbon fuels.
More efficient use of fuels, mainly through more efficient cars
and trucks, accounts for almost 36% of emissions saved. More
efficient use of electricity in a wide range of applications,
including lighting, air-conditioning, appliances and industrial
motors accounts for another 30%.
More efficient energy production contributes 13%.
Renewables and biofuels together yield another 12% and
nuclear the remaining 10%."
4
Seven Realistic Steps To Greener Data Centres Using fresh air instead of air conditioning to cool hardware is becoming
a real option, even for high end data centres. It's highly energy
A whole wave of actions can deliver genuine efficiencies some efficient, but it does mean that data centre equipment has to tolerate
already making a difference, others soon to gain a foothold in the a wider range of operating temperatures - 5 to 50 degrees Celsius,
market and re-assert data control. In line with the International rather than 20 to 24 degree standard of today.
Energy Agency's recommendations (boxed) such actions make an
impact in stemming rising power demands. An increase in equipment that can work at high temperatures has
become a key goal. The fact is that refrigeration costs are higher than
1) Audit and learn heat losses. BT is now engaging suppliers, as part of the 21st Century
Know your infrastructure. A data centre audit is the right place to Network programme, to deliver products that operate effectively up to
begin. A full audit should look into a number of different business 50 degrees.
issues, such as server status and power sourcing, to drive data centre
efficiencies. While the main focus must be on major infrastructure 4) Move from AC to DC
projects tied in with future business plans and goals, effective asset Think efficiently. Computers operate over a range of DC voltages, yet
management demands real attention to detail. power is delivered from utilities in the form of AC voltages, and at
higher voltage levels than required within the computer. Avoiding the
A simple, yet often overlooked, objective involves checking all electric power switch results in a 30 per cent power saving.
assets to ensure that redundant items are switched off. Equipment
must always be available but not always on. And the problem is not just the processors themselves. The rectifiers
and power supplies that change the AC power from the wall to the DC
With an understanding of systems, demands and external drives, the that computers need also generate a lot of heat.
drive for improvements becomes more tangible. As part of its
investigations, firms can conduct a full audit of all backups across the Often, these are mounted directly on the system boards, concentrating
company and now ensures only the right data is stored for the right the heat generation further. This also increases operating costs for the
length of time. data centre. If the data centre spends £1 million a year on power but
the power supplies are only 70 percent efficient on average, then the
The discovery contributed to BT's consolidation of 3000 services and company is wasting £300,000 a year.
reduce electricity consumption by 23GWh a year while reducing CO2
emissions by 3,300 tonnes. The knowledge helped BT reduce the 5) Turn to multi-core processors
energy bill of its data centres by £3.8 million over six months. Consolidate systems. One of the new-wave of solutions to the green
data centre issue. Multicore processors combine two or more
2) Power your data centre with renewable energy processors into a single package. This means companies can
Consider alternative energy sources. Just as it is in the domestic consolidate many small servers on to fewer, more powerful systems
market, so-called `green' energy contracts are available in the business and thus cut power consumption and energy spend.
world. Today costs of renewable energy are becoming far more
competitive as suppliers emerge with government endorsed rebates on 6) Begin virtualisation
offer. Perhaps the most exciting of all the emerging technologies is
virtualisation, a technique that uses idle network power to use
Renewable energy is an integral part of government policies across the
resources more effectively and efficiently. Take the example of ten
world. The UK government has a longer-term aim of reducing CO2
servers being used at just 10 per cent of their individual capacities.
emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 with a shorter term target of
Virtualisation can focus usage onto a single server, so that one server is
achieving 10 per cent of electricity supply from renewable energy by
being used to its full potential, while the others are not used, saving
2010.
power and money.
BT has signed one of the largest of these deals in the world and will be
BT has made some headway in this field. Its main project in this area to
saving the equivalent amount of carbon that is generated by 300,000
date reduced a 1500-server data centre down to just over 100, saving
households in the UK. The move has the added bonus of reducing a
£600,000 per year.
company's overall carbon footprint.
IDC estimated that nearly 500,000 server boxes equipped with
3) Switch to fresh air cooling virtualisation software were due to be shipped in 2006, up from just
Evolve your technology. Data centres have enormous cooling above zero in 2003. By 2009, the number of units shipped is expected
requirements, which can amount to an enormous energy drain. to reach 1.2 billion (12).
However, new data centres are now able to channel the air that
circulates outside the building into the data centre to help keep
temperatures at an optimal level.
5
As the technology develops in years to come, it is anticipated that
rather than just being used in limited clusters, these techniques will be
applied across entire data centres, multiplying the economic and
environmental benefits. Ultimately data centre managers will have an
at-a-glance understanding of all of the processing power available to
them across an entire data centre.
Similarly, in the future, virtualisation will be automated. The
automation that is happening in many other IT-led processes in the
business world will be mirrored in the data centre. Much of today's
scheduling is done by administrators. But by removing the need for
high levels of hands-on human management and monitoring, data
centres could be relocated offshore where power is cheaper.
7) Reduce infrastructure
Another key area of development for data centres is in their ability to
interact with the technology they house. By building resilience and
disaster recovery functions into the applications that manage server
hardware, the need for separate hardware to take care of these
functions is removed.
In turn, this removes the need for power and cooling for those
systems. It is also possible to replace systems that handle physical
protection of server hardware, such as cleaning systems, with more
environmentally friendly options. For example, rather than have
dedicated cleaning systems to reduce contamination from dust and
diesel particles, cooling air can be blown over a 'dead zone' to achieve
the same effect.
The only approach
In making his arguments Samuelson stops short of saying energy
efficiency or a shift in energy sources will fail. He is simply pessimistic
that governments, businesses and society will ever be prepared to
focus beyond immediate economic progress.
In many ways he is challenging his audience and looking to be proved
wrong. Yet, as the issues surrounding data centres prove, the only
option for enterprises, from an environmental and economic
perspective, is to seek and deliver efficiencies.
A pessimist thinks nothing can be done. An optimist will wait on
something to come along and solve the problem. But the only real
option for businesses is to act now and do everything, within their ever
so precious power, to create the most sustainable response possible.
Let's not wait and see what happens to data centres let's get to work
instead.
6
References:
1 Al Gore interviewed by Larry King on CNN Live, June 2006. For a
full transcript of the interview visit
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/18/lkl.01.html
2 Robert J Samuelson, Newsweek column. For access to this full
column and opinion on the issues please visit
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13723897/site/newsweek/
3 IDC Report, May 2007, "Worldwide Storage Services 20072011
Forecast". Please visit
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=206982
4 Broadgroup's "2006 Power and Cooling Survey". For the full
report please visit the following site -
http://www.broad-group.com/publications/pacsurvey06.asp
5 Statistics drawn from Information Age Report on Green Data
Centres - http://www.information-
age.com/report/2007/eit_2007/the_green_data_centre
6 Report of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-
Conditioning Engineers can be found at -
http://www.ashrae.org/pressroom/
7 IDC analyst Michelle Bailey, quoted in "IT confronts the datacenter
power crisis,"
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A
=/article/06/10/06/41FEgreen_1.html InfoWorld, 6 Oct 2006
8 Report taken from Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory report.
Please visit the following website -
http://www.lbl.gov/publicinfo/pressroom/
9 Michael Bell, "Gartner in 2006 Data Center Polling Results: Power
and Cooling" Please visit www.gartner.com for full details.
10 Environment Protection Authority Press Release. Please see the
following website for details -
http://www.epa.gov/newsroom/newsreleases.htm
11 International Energy Agency Report. "World Energy Outlook
2006". See full details at
http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/summaries2006/index.htm
12 IDC Report, April 2007, "European Server Virtualisation Trends in
2006". For the full report please visit:
http://www.idc.com/prodserv/emea_server_virtualization.jsp
7
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