Sustainable ICT Applications Winner: Braintree District Council

1
Energy Efficient Data Centres AN
overview Professor Peter James

2
BACKGROUND

• Higher Education Environmental Performance
  Improvement- Green Gown Awards -
  www.heepi.org.uk
• Sustainable IT in Tertiary Education- Strategic
  review of IT in universities- Identifying
  disseminating good practice- www.susteit.org.uk

3
ICT LIFE CYCLE IMPACTS
Transport
Manufacture
Materials
Use
Disposal
4
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

• High power consumption- ICT 10 UK electricity-
  Data centres 1.5 (8GW)- 46 TWH 2006 to 93
  2020 aviation/refrigeration
• High summer load- system reliability

5
WHY IT MATTERS TO HE

• Cost- 50 to 100 rise in electricity prices?
• Carbon- growing regulation- Carbon Reduction
  Commitment
• Capacity

6
The Coal-Powered Computer
7
DATA CENTRE END USE
Power Conversions Distribution
100 Units
Cooling Equipment
35 Units
Server Load/ComputingOperations
33 UnitsDelivered
Source US EPA
8
GREEN DATA CENTRE OBJECTIVE
Cooling Power Conversions
Cooling Power Conversions
Server Load/ComputingOperations
Server Load/ComputingOperations
Typical Practice
Better Practice
Source US EPA
9
ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES
Adapted from US EPA original
Better air management Free/efficient
cooling Efficient liquid cooling Flexibility and
control
Power efficiency management Load
management Consolidation/Virtualisation
Power Conversion Distribution
Server Load/ComputingOperations
Cooling Equipment
On-site renewables Waste heat for cooling Fuel
cells Thermal storage
High voltage distribution Use of DC power Highly
efficient UPS systems Efficient redundancy
strategies
AlternativeEnergy Supply
10
BARRIERS

• Lack of awareness and information
• Low prioritisation of sustainable ICT issues
• Unsupportive financial frameworks
• Lack of capacity
• Limited connection of key stakeholders- IT and
  facilities/building

11
Life Cycle Energy Use of PCs
Source European Commission EuP Studies