Reducing power consumption in data centers

In response to the increasing energy consumption in data centers, the European Commission launched a Code of Conduct initiative for the information and communication technology sector. A key objective is for each participant to benchmark their efficiency overtime in order to provide evidence of improvement.

Ashok Bindra; Source: TMCnet.com

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With rapid proliferation of data centers to meet the soaring demand of consumers for data, video and voice, the information and communication technology (ICT) sector’s energy consumption has been rising. Consequently, data centers with associated broadband equipments used for communications and networking are a big contributor to this power consumption. In Europe alone, data centers account for about 18 percent of the ICT sector's energy consumption and they are expected to grow faster than any other ICT technology. Consequently, across Europe, they consume about 56 TWh of electricity per year. Hence, there is tremendous pressure on data centers to improve efficiency and substantially cut power consumption.

In response to this increasing energy consumption in data centers around the world, the European Commission launched a Code of Conduct initiative for ICT over two years ago. Aiming to reduce energy consumption in data centers in Europe by up to 20 percent, the EU Code of Conduct for ICT has come up with guidelines, recommendations and examples of best practice. One of the key objectives of the Code of Conduct is that each participant benchmark their efficiency overtime, using the Code of Conduct metric (or more sophisticated metrics of available). And, thereby, provide evidence of continuous improvements in efficiency.

Since the launch, the list of members endorsing this EU initiative has been growing impressively. Some big names include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and the Green Grid administration. Few weeks ago, power distribution, measurement and monitoring solutions provider Server Technology was accepted and became an endorser of the European Code of Conduct for ICT.

Brandon Siri, senior marketing representative for Server Technology, explained that Server Technology helps data center customers achieve their green initiatives by maximizing their available power with continuous device-level power monitoring and management using an intelligent Power Distribution Unit (PDU) in an effort to reduce the number of kilowatts wasted daily.