Fact Sheet on National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) March 19, 2008 ENERGY H |0W Summary: The voluntary National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program has been initiated. The Program coordinates a wide variety of activities from the DOE Industrial Technologies Program Save Energy Now initiative, the DOE Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), and the EPA ENERGY STAR program. The program is engaging numerous industry stakeholders who are developing and deploying a variety of tools and informational resources to assist data center operators in their efforts to reduce energy consumption in their facilities. These groups include, for example: 7 x 24 Exchange, AFCOM, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Critical Facilities Roundtable, Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), Silicon Valley Leadership Group, The Green Grid Association, and The Uptime Institute. Background: U.S. data centers consume a growing portion of the U.S. energy/electricity supply due to growing demand for the services they provide. Data centers used 61 billion kWh of electricity in 2006, representing 1.5% of all U.S. electricity consumption and double the amount consumed in 2000. Based on current trends, energy consumed by data centers will continue to grow by 12% per year. Opportunity: The existence of best energy management practices and best available technology to process digital information (i.e., energy efficient computer servers and virtualization server software), to deliver and condition electrical power to supply power to computers, and to remove the heat rejected from data center information technology (IT) equipment in an energy efficient manner provides an opportunity to significantly improve a data center's energy efficiency. The EPA report to Congress1 estimated that if state-of-the-art technology were adopted then energy efficiency could be improved by as much as 70 percent (see Figure 1). However, even saving a modest 10 percent of total energy use would amount to energy savings of 10.7 billion kilowatt-hours per year — an amount equivalent to the electricity consumed by one million US households and valued at about $740 million.2 1 Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency, Public Law 109-431, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ENERGY STAR Program, August 2, 2007. 2 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). 2007. Annual Energy Outlook 2007. Energy Information Administration. Report DOE/EIA-0383(2007). Figure 1: Comparison of Projected Electricity Use, 2007 - 20111 140 Future energy use projections Historical energy use Historical trends scenario 120 Current efficiency trends scenario 100 Energy savings goal of 10% 10.7 billion kWh/yr by 2011 Improved operation scenario 80 60 Best practice 40 State of the art 20 0 ------- ¦ Use a methodology similar to that employed for other building types in the ENERGY STAR program, with a rating given on a 1-100 scale. ¦ Make the rating available through EPA's Portfolio Manager on-line energy tracking tool to allow current users to add data centers to the portfolio of buildings they are already managing using the tool. ¦ Provide users with information and links to additional resources to aid in their efforts to determine next steps after receiving an energy performance rating for their data center, such as using the Save Energy Now "DC Pro" software tool suite. Data center owners and operators will use the rating to assess the performance of their buildings relative to each other and to those nationally, as a primary means of identifying those with the largest opportunities for improvement. The rating will explain how their data center infrastructure is performing in terms of energy use, but it will not explain why. To determine next steps to improve the energy efficiency of their data centers, users will be directed to a variety of energy management resources and other technical guidance. They will be encouraged to continually update their data in Portfolio Manager to see new ratings in order to determine the impacts of any energy efficiency projects they are implementing. Those whose energy performance is in the top 25 percent of similar buildings will be eligible to earn the ENERGY STAR label for the building. Key current and planned activities for ENERGY STAR data center buildings include: ¦ Industry stakeholder meetings to discuss data collection needs. ¦ Collection of energy use data from over 100 existing data centers. ¦ Review and analysis of data collected to develop an energy performance model for data center infrastructure. ¦ Making the data center infrastructure rating available in the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. ¦ Awarding the ENERGY STAR label for top-performing stand-alone data centers. For more information visit: ENERGY STAR data center webpage www, energy star, gov/datacenters Portfolio Manager webpage www, energvstar. gov/benchmark ENERGY STAR labeled building webpage www.energvstar. gov/inde\.cfm?c=business.bus bldgs EPA ENERGY STAR IT Equipment Activities and Resources At the core of every data center is the information technology (IT) equipment, which consists of computer servers, data storage, and networking equipment. The use of IT is an increasingly necessary strategic component for organizations around the world to achieve company goals and objectives. A datacenter's site infrastructure is comprised of uninterruptible power supplies, power distribution ------- operation of the IT equipment. This is accomplished in part by delivering consistent power to the IT equipment and removing waste heat from the facility to keep this equipment cool and operating properly. IT equipment that consumes less energy to perform a given computing task will exhaust less waste heat, leaving a smaller cooling burden for the building's air conditioning units, and lessening the demand on the electrical grid from the overall facility operation. For every watt of energy saved in operating the IT equipment, one watt or more will also be saved at the site infrastructure level. Improved energy performance in IT equipment may also aid data center managers in overcoming power- ceiling budgets at the facility or the server rack level, while complementing, or improving, site reliability and uptime. Moreover, in addition to lower utility bills, more efficient IT may also delay costly capital expenditures and alleviate the need for expansion of existing facilities or the construction of new ones. EPA has identified computer servers as its top data center IT priority at this time, and believes that helping organizations to identify the most efficient servers through the use of the ENERGY STAR label represents a major energy savings opportunity. EPA is currently in the process of developing ENERGY STAR specifications for enterprise servers, and released the first draft server specification on February 14, 2008. EPA will follow its well established process for product specification development, and plans to work with industry throughout 2008 to finalize the specification. The process being used is the same as that used for other types of products.3 In the first draft, EPA stated the need to work with all stakeholders to: ¦ Define key specification framework elements including explicit technical product definitions. ¦ Broadly address as many key market segments as possible without defining a one-size-fits-all specification for servers. ¦ Develop a combination of energy efficiency performance criteria and other requirements that marry technical merit, current business practice, and market realities to recognize the most efficient products currently available. ¦ Complete the specification as quickly as feasible while ensuring a systematic and transparent process. Key planned activities for ENERGY STAR IT equipment include: ¦ Releasing 2 or more additional draft specifications for enterprise servers. ¦ Holding on-line and/or in-person meetings to discuss comments on each draft. ¦ Developing and publishing a final specification for enterprise servers. ¦ Consideration of the opportunity to develop specifications for additional products, including possibly data storage and networking equipment. For more information visit: ENERGY STAR data center webpage www, energy star, gov/datacenters ENERGY STAR Enterprise Servers webpage www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new specs.enterprise servers 3 The process for the development of ENERGY STAR product specifications can be found at ------- Save ENERGY Now DOE SAVE ENERGY NOW The DOE Industrial Technologies Program is spearheading a broad initiative that harnesses public and private sector resources to drive a 25% reduction in industrial energy intensity over the next 10 years. ITP is engaging other federal agencies, leading corporations, states, utilities, universities, and other organizations to accelerate industry adoption of the technologies and practices that will enable increased production with reduced energy requirements. The Save Energy Now initiative reinforces energy efficiency as a profitable business model and paves the way for free enterprise to affirm America's global leadership in energy technology. The Save Energy Now initiative provides the resources industry needs to identify and implement the most cost-effective options for energy savings, including a Pledge program, plant assessments, standards development, tools and training, and recognition programs within ITP and its partner organizations. To date, more than 16,000 manufacturing plants have used these resources to reduce the energy intensity of their operations. As an all-inclusive initiative, Save Energy Now seeks to help all 200,000 US industrial facilities, wherever they currently stand along the energy efficiency continuum, to reduce their energy intensity and carbon footprint to the greatest extent practical. Save Energy Now has now targeted data centers as a high-growth and energy intensive sector of the US economy as an important area to improve energy efficiency. Save Energy Now is developing a tool suite backed with a training curriculum, energy assessment protocols, best-in-class guidelines, a process to certify data center energy experts, and is considering working with industry on a voluntary certification process that will validate any data center's continual improvement in energy efficiency (similar to the ANSI-accredited plant energy certification program being developed by Save Energy Now, EPA, NIST, Texas Industries of the Future, industry and ANSI). Figure 2: Data Center Energy Efficiency Areas Load management Server innovation Better air management Move to liquid cooling Optimized chilled-water plants Use of free cooling Power Conversion & Distribution t V Server Load/ Computing Operations High voltage distribution Use of DC power Highly efficient UPS systems Efficient redundancy strategies t Alternative Power Generation V n On-site generation CHP applications Waste heat for cooling Use of renewable energy ------- FEMP is currently developing plans to deliver the Save Energy Now data center energy efficiency tools and resources to a variety of Federal data centers. FEMP is also embarking on a survey of Federal data centers to better understand the energy characteristics, loads, expected growth and the overall facilities infrastructure. DOE Federal Energy Management Program Activities and Resources The Federal Energy Management Program is assisting Federal agencies to make their datacenters more energy efficient by: ¦ Raising awareness for data center energy efficiency opportunities through workshops and technical sessions with GSA, and at GovEnergy and Labs21 conferences, and other forums as appropriate. ¦ Conducting a DOE data center facility survey ¦ Facilitating the testing of the DC Pro tool suite at DOE data centers. ¦ Forming strategic alliances with other Federal agencies to coordinate Federal datacenter activities, when needed, and to disseminate use of the DC Pro tool suite. ¦ Providing the opportunity to Federal sites for recognition of "Best in Class" data centers at Federal Energy Management Program award ceremonies. ¦ Raising the awareness of and facilitating the transfer of the DC Pro tool suite to energy savings companies and utility companies so that energy efficiency projects can be implemented in the Federal sector. For more information visit: Save Energy Now data center webpage www, eere. energy. gov/datacenters ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON DATA CENTER ENERGY EFFICIENCY In addition to the tools and resources being developed by DOE and EPA, there are a large number of industry associations and other organizations that provide valuable tools and information to assist owners and operators of data centers in their efforts to improve the energy efficiency of their operations. Many also sponsor regular meetings and conferences. Interested owners and operators might consider continuing their research using the following resources.4 Industry Associations and Research Organizations 7x24 Exchange - www.7x24exchange.org - Membership organization, primarily data center owners and operators. From the organization's website: "7x24 Exchange is the leading knowledge exchange for those who design, build, use and maintain mission-critical enterprise information infrastructures. 7x24 Exchange's goal is to improve end-to-end reliability by promoting dialogue among these groups." AFCOM - www.afcom.com- Membership organization of companies serving data centers. From the organization's website: "Since 1981, AFCOM is the only association dedicated to providing education and resources for data center managers. Our mission is to enable data center management professionals 4 Statements "From the organization's website" shown in this section represent how the organization characterizes itself and ------- to share industry best practices by providing a forum for dissemination of critical information; to provide education on key data center management issues; to provide the industry's most comprehensive insight and analysis in key areas affecting all data-intensive organizations; and to be the most comprehensive and effective resource available to the overall data center community." American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) - http://tc99.ashraetcs.org - International organization of 50,000 professionals that pursues research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education. ASHRAE has formed Technical Committee 9.9 to focus on mission critical facilities, technology spaces and electronic equipment. From the TC 9.9 organization's mission statement: "To be recognized amongst all areas of the datacom industry as the unbiased engineering leader in HVAC and an effective provider of technical information for the datacom industry. Critical Facilities Roundtable - www.cfroundtable.org - Membership organization for operators of critical facilities. From the organization's website: "The Critical Facilities Roundtable is dedicated to the discussion and resolution of industry issues regarding mission-critical facilities, their engineering and design, and their maintenance." Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) - www.itic.org - Industry lobbying organization. From the organization's website: "The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) is the premier group of the nation's leading high-tech companies and widely recognized as the tech industry's most effective lobbying organization in Washington, in various foreign capitals, and the WTO." Silicon Valley Leadership Group - http://svlg.net - Membership organization of companies in the Silicon Valley region of California. From the organization's website: "The Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) is organized to involve principal officers and senior managers of member companies in a cooperative effort with local, regional, state, and federal government officials to address major public policy issues affecting the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley." The Green Grid - www.thegreengrid.org - Membership organization, primarily hardware and software manufacturers, but also includes some users. From the organization's website: "The Green Grid is a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems." The Uptime Institute - www.uptimeinstitute.org - Membership organization of data center operators and companies serving the industry. From the organization's website: "The Site Uptime Network's mission is to identify, quantify and improve infrastructure availability. It achieves this by providing the best possible information exchange between members themselves, and between members and industry experts on the staff of The Uptime Institute." Data Center Meetings and Conferences 1105 Government Information Group - www. 1 105govinfo.com - From the organization's website: "1105 Government Information Group is the leading provider of integrated information and media for the government information technology market. Our comprehensive portfolio of print, online, event, custom media and research products distinctively serves the information needs of the government IT buying team—agency executives, program managers, IT managers and systems integrators—across all ------- Data Center Dynamics - www.datacenterdvnamics.com - From the organization's website: "The Datacenter Dynamics Global Conference and Expo Series is the leading source of information and the largest gathering of professionals involved in the design, construction and operation of 24/7 mission critical IT facilities in the worlds top business cities. It is an unrivalled education and networking opportunity." Next Generation Data Center - www.ngdcexpo.com - From the organization's website: Next Generation Data Center (NGDC) is targeted to enterprise IT professionals ranging from IT architects to system administrators all seeking the right products and services to create their end-to-end solutions as they adapt to ever increasing needs for flexibility, scalability and performance. NGDC will focus on new technologies and their impact on the data center, covering mission-critical applications and the technology supporting those applications including storage, servers, databases, networking and ------- |