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Forward thinking can deliver quick ROI
OGY Green data centres are an oxymoron. Eco-friendly data centres aren’t.
By Alec Selvon Bruce, eco solutions champion for Hitachi Data Systems UK.
TECHNOL
Recently, two of America’s
largest online businesses Department for Environment, fact, it’s fair to say that all
relocated their data centres Food and Rural Affairs new data centre builds,
close to a hydroelectric dam. (DEFRA), has already whether in China, France,
After employees, their largest acknowledged the deleterious Holland or anywhere else are
GREEN IT
operating cost was electricity. impact of surging power now being built to high eco-
The move towards what are consumption. It currently friendly standards such as
eco-friendly data centres that estimates that the IT industry Leadership in Environmental
draw on renewable energy accounts for 4 per cent of UK Energy and Design (LEED) and
resources is expected to CO2 emissions. In the next the Building Research
dramatically reduce power two years, this is set to grow Establishment Environmental
consumption and save by a staggering 180 per cent. Assessment Method
considerable sums of money. In a bid to head off the (BREEAM) and incorporating a
damaging consequences a raft wide range of energy-efficient
In the UK, the average cost of of new standards are technologies.
running a data centre is emerging to inform best
approximately £5.3 million a practice energy-efficient data The measures that can be
year. This is predicted to centre design. taken vary from region to
double to £11m within the region. For example, Hitachi
next five years1. One of the However, company CIOs can data centres in Yokoyama
main reasons is the spiralling set the agenda too by have incorporated simple roof
cost of power. providing quotas to their gardens that reflect the sun’s
departments for energy- heat, lowering the internal
IT industry analysts Gartner efficiency or carbon limits. heat by several degrees. This
have already pointed out that This particular dynamic, when in turn substantially reduces
IT managers are running out harnessed to investor driven the amount of power required
of the power required to run carbon reduction targets, can to cool the data centre
their data centres. Illustrating be extremely powerful in internally.
this, new data centres and creating a climate for the
expansion of existing facilities development of eco-friendly Power usage efficiency (PUE)
in the City of London has data centres. Another route is a metric used to measure
been blocked. Companies are rapidly gaining popularity is the energy efficiency of a data
restricted from adding more awarding bonuses for meeting centre. Most data centres are
computing equipment energy-efficiency targets. currently running at a PUE of
because the required power is 3.0 which means if a server
not immediately available. However, as evinced by the demands 500 watts then the
Energy suppliers are two US companies, the drive power for the utility grid
attributing this to the need to towards eco-friendly data needed to deliver the 500
prepare for the surge in centres is already well watts to the server is three
demand that the 2012 underway informed by an times that amount, or 1500
Olympics will bring. acute sense of the benefits of watts. This figure alone
The UK government’s energy-efficient operations. In illustrates the enormous
JUNE 09 WWW.SNS-UK.CO.UK
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