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BC Networks, Inc. >
Green IT Computing
Green IT Computing
Green Data Centers
Why Green Datacenters and what are they, anyway?
With rising energy prices, energy use among businesses in the
Energy and Utilities industry is in the spotlight more than
ever. A key source of energy consumption in any organization is
the data center. For this reason many Energy & Utility companies
are now considering building Green Data Centers, both to meet
their own business needs, and to be recognized as responsible
custodians of an ever scarcer resource.
A recently released study shows that Green IT is near the top of
the list of technology decision-makers, ahead of perennially
important concerns such as business continuity. This is one more
indication that 2009 may be the year of Green IT.
Network World reports that that HP commissioned a survey of 600
technology decision-makers in the corporate world, to find out
their plans for their data center in the coming year. Some 60%
of them report that they will implement a Green IT project in
the coming year, and that is most likely a significant
understatement, because 59% also report they will be doing a
virtualization project. One of the key benefits of
virtualization is savings in power and cooling, so
virtualization is a green IT project as well.
Other projects high on the list include automation (64%),
operations management (59%), and business continuity (58%). Only
20% said they will do a full overhaul of their data centers.
Again, though, anyone doing a full overhaul of their data
centers will certainly put a focus on Green IT in it.
According to Gartner, when you include virtualization and total
data center transformation to Green IT projects, at least 75% of
the Fortune 1000 companies will be investing in Green IT
projects this year.
There's been a lot of talk lately about green data centers, and
with good reason. As businesses move away from paper records and
in-person transactions and more towards computer-based
transactions and digital information storage, the amount of
energy that data centers use is growing -- and fast.
According to the EPA, the growth of data center energy use
doubled between 2000 and 2006, and many are worried this figure
may double again in just a few years. With energy prices on the
rise, smart IT and facility managers and even top executives are
looking at ways to build and maintain not only effective, but
efficient data centers.
The good news is that you don't have to spend big money to reap
big energy savings. And while a few high-profile efforts have
been launched recently that require significant capital outlays
to be successful, there are a number of simple yet effective
ways to "green" a data center, techniques that are kind to
budgets and easy to implement.
Some simple ideas work best with new facilities, while others
are better suited to retrofits of existing data centers, but the
truth is, all will work well to cut energy use, and yield
financial savings, while not compromising reliability.
If your company is planning to build a new data center -- and
many companies are -- it pays to build energy efficiency into
your plans. Here are eight fairly easy ideas and
technologies for new data centers that you should think about:
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Here are Ten Simple Ways to Green Your Data Center on
the Cheap |
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1. Practice good airflow management.
Almost everyone knows that servers require cool air at the front
and discharge heated air at the back. And yet ensuring that hot
and cold air don't mix in the wrong places still isn't top of
mind when designing data centers or deploying servers into the
room. Ensuring that cool air goes where you need it (and that
hot air doesn't) is as simple as installing "blanking panels"
within server cabinets to block the short-circuiting of hot air.
You should also put servers back-to-back and front-to-front in a
"hot and cold aisle" arrangement. You can even install hot aisle
barriers (hot aisle containment) -- similar to the plastic
sheeting you see in supermarket cold cases -- to contain heat at
the end of the hot rows and above the cabinets.
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2. Change your supply air temperature.
Most data centers run at temperatures much cooler than
necessary. While typical operating temperatures are usually
about 60 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit, recent tests by Intel, Sun
Microsystems and NetApp have shown that servers can tolerate
much higher temperatures as well as higher humidity. If you are
using good airflow management in your data center, you can stop
worrying about keeping the air conditioned at 66 degrees, and
start saving energy and money.
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3. Build what you need. Building a
modular and scalable infrastructure based upon a logical and
consistent power and cooling module will allow the facility to
purchase only what is required for its initial computing needs
while allowing seamless upgrades and additions as more computing
power or space are needed. |
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4. Ask: What is my carbon footprint?
Nearly all pundits agree there will be some form of carbon
regulation in the future. Knowing your carbon footprint will
allow the data center manager or CIO to make informed decisions
on data center operations and usage looking toward the future.
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5. Keep the hot and cold air separate.
Data center servers generate heat but need cool air to run well.
Yet it's surprising how few data center managers have thought
about keeping the hot air separate from the cold air. Many
facilities are still designed so that the hot air from the back
of a server is blowing into the front of another server. This
creates a need for brute force air conditioning throughout the
data center and often supplemental fans sitting on the floor,
which both use massive amounts of energy very inefficiently. By
configuring servers to prevent hot and cold air from mixing --
either through the use of hot and cold aisle barriers or by
placing servers back- to-back and front-to-front throughout the
data center -- the amount of cool air drops dramatically
throughout the facility.
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6. Manage energy in addition to reliability and uptime.
Data center managers have traditionally monitored only
server reliability and consistency. Yet in today's high-energy
business environment, you don't have to sacrifice energy savings
for reliability. Many local utilities offer incentive programs,
in essence paying business customers for energy saved. For
example, California's PG&E pays its large customers 14 cents per
kilowatt hour saved. |
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7. Make sure equipment is running correctly.
It's common to find separate data center cooling units set so
that one humidifier is providing moist air while the other is
dehumidifying, causing both to work harder than they should. The
solution? Check temperature and humidity controls on HVAC
equipment regularly to ensure that all are working properly and
efficiently.
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8. If you aren't using it, turn it off. Idle
servers often are kept running even if they are not used. Just
like your lights at home, turning idle servers off is easy and
provides an immediate energy and cost savings. Similarly for
cooling units, if the extra capacity isn't needed, then consider
turning the unit off.
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9. It's a virtual world. Grid computing using
current server hardware or blade server technology provides a
tremendous opportunity to "tune" the computing environment to
the computing requirement and as a result can reduce the power
consumption for servers and air conditioners.
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10. Finally, whether you are building a new
data center or trying to 'green' an existing one, there are a
few overall management changes to keep in mind if you really
want to reduce energy use. First, set targets for energy use
company-wide and allocate operating costs based on those
targets. By making internal departments aware of energy use --
and by sharing targets and actual usage figures with the entire
company -- you make saving energy part of the corporate mindset
from top to bottom. |
Most importantly, recognize that energy is an increasingly
expensive part of running your business. And, it's one of the
few costs you can control just by managing energy use
efficiently. Once you recognize that actively managing energy is
as important as any other key business function, you are on your
way to a healthier bottom line.
For a general news source, check out the
Green Power
Network. The site provides green power news as well as a
reference library filled with information on subjects like green
power marketing.
Other power savers:
The use of solid state drives
Rebates available from power utilities, such as
PG&E.
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