Promoting Energy Responsibility

Why is it important for companies to address efficiency concerns as well as performance and reliability considerations? Is there any conflict between energy efficiency and energy reliability? And how can the two be reconciled?

VA. Pursuing the lowest energy efficiency attainable with no regard to the impact on performance and reliability is not a viable long-term strategy for any company. The main concern for a company is to remain competitive which, among many other things, requires a company to keep its energy costs low while using that energy to produce the most output per dollar spent in the most reliable way. The laws of physics dictate that there is always a ‘conflict’ between energy efficiency and energy reliability. The more redundancy or fault tolerance, the more energy losses systems experience. However, new technologies, thoughtful design, and component selection allow us to design physical infrastructure systems that maintain a relatively flat efficiency curve well below 50 percent load. This means that highly reliable systems can be specified that result in a minor energy cost penalty compared to traditional designs.

BW. When resources such as power, cooling and space were inexpensive and abundant, efficiency was certainly a consideration, but not a major issue. With the convergence of an increased demand for data center space, rising heat density and escalating energy costs, these resources are becoming increasingly costly and scarce. Operational efficiency is now an important consideration for reducing energy consumption, enabling proper equipment cooling and freeing up precious space in the data center. Achieving increased energy efficiency does not have to come at the expense of reliability or performance. For instance, a more efficient cooling system can save money, perform better and be more reliable all at the same time. When implementing efficiency measures, care must be taken to evaluate the impact on reliability to ensure that the minimum operating standards are maintained.

JG. Reliability can impact energy efficiency depending on how it is conceived and configured. Data centers are expected to be reliable by their users and customers. Efficiency is never a justification for reducing reliability or performance standards. Shifts in the methods of providing reliability, even if considered more efficient, can be perceived as risky. However, data centers are heavy energy users and the sector is growing fast. A great deal of investment is being made to improve energy efficiency through developments in IT equipment, power generation and distribution equipment, cooling, pumping and air handling equipment, reusing ‘waste’ energy and water, targeted cooling etc. Generally, designers are using improved building construction methods using sustainable design principles and are much more focused than before on energy conservation. Some typical examples include co-generation (on-site power generation and capturing waste heat for other uses), flywheel technologies, energy storage devices, passive cooling and many others.

DN. In my opinion this comes down to money. Datacenters with inefficient power and cooling solutions cost companies millions every year. The perception from many is that you need large investments in new technologies to gain the efficiencies in the datacenter. This is not true. There are many simple and inexpensive things that can be done to increase the efficiencies in your datacenters and save you money. Hot aisle / cold aisle, blanking panels, equipment decommissioning, and raising set points, to name a few, are changes that can increase energy efficiency and decrease operating costs. I do not think there is a conflict between energy efficiency and reliability. As long as you deploy efficient ups systems, transformers and power distribution systems you are decreasing the losses down the chain. The reliability of power delivery to your site is usually out of your control anyway. You build to the tier level you need to achieve for your business requirements.

BC. The main driver for energy efficiency is price. Dramatically rising electricity prices in the datacenter often outweigh the costs of the IT hardware itself. There needn’t be a conflict between energy efficiency and energy reliability. Consuming less power puts less stress on the physical infrastructure, reducing the likelihood of failure. However, just because a company is drawing less power, this doesn’t mean it can do away with back up generators or failover systems. Increasingly we are even witnessing new-build datacenters going up across the road from power stations, ensuring reliability of supply thanks to a lack of competition with large cities and no peak draw from households.

A recent EPA study suggests that energy efficient technologies and practices could improve efficiency of servers and datacenters considerably (somewhere between 20-55 percent). Do you think these figures are realistic, and what are the technologies and best practices that will get us there?

BW. Any serious effort to accomplish this must begin with energy benchmarking in order to quantify the results. Once completed, some of the easiest gains can be made by tuning the air delivery system to eliminate bypass air by sealing floor penetrations, proper placement of perforated tiles and the use of blanking plates. Further improvements can be made in this area by balancing the system and tuning the under floor airflow with diffusers and baffles. Employing efficient power system components is also worthwhile, but these components are usually cost effective when installing new or replacing end-of-life equipment. UPS systems, transformers and power supplies are available in high efficiency versions that can have a significant impact on reducing energy costs. Server consolidation and virtualization are proven methods for eliminating large numbers of underutilized equipment, which both saves energy and increases cooling capacity.

BC. These figures may well be realistic. Industry averages suggest that between five percent and 10 percent of servers are still in racks, fully powered and unused. Aperture believes all companies should begin their environmental projects by identifying and unplugging servers that are not used as an obvious route to saving power and money, while conducting a decommissioning process with customers is a good way to pinpoint such servers. Virtualization will also improve efficiencies. The use of efficient power supplies, and the running of these supplies at consistent loads also has a large impact on power efficiency. As devices get replaced with newer equipment we will see more efficient power use in servers and disk storage devices. Importantly, the ability to understand and control what is in the data center is paramount to making sure the data center is on the proper path to efficiency.

DN. I absolutely agree that these numbers are achievable. Sun surpassed the top end of the EPA estimates in our recent datacenter consolidation in Santa Clara, CA. In July 2007, we compressed 202,000 square feet of datacenter space into 76,000 square feet. Part of this project included a hardware replacement effort that achieved 88 percent square footage compression and 61 percent utility reduction. In parallel we built the next generation datacenter based on our POD concept and increased our efficiencies by more than 50 percent in many cases. 15 buildings down to two, 152 datacenter rooms down to 14, all served from one highly efficient and dynamic central plant. Not only did we save millions in utility and real estate costs, we made Sun more agile. These designs were so efficient that our utility provider, Silicon Valley Power, awarded us $1.2 million in rebates.

JG. Efficiency is improving, although it is difficult to assign a rate or percentage without identifying a timeframe. In the near term, the improvement would be closer to 20 percent, at best. Improved technologies are generally the result of adjustments and improvements to existing technologies, resulting in very small, though desirable increases in efficiency. The semiconductor industry, for instance, is pursuing more energy efficient chips. On the building design front, proper planning and programming of a facility’s expected performance requirements is essential. This allows for the most effective design strategies for immediate deployment and future growth. Components that are optimally scaled provide the greatest efficiency, while technologies that minimize waste would be the most effective at improving efficiency. Examples include cogeneration power system, capturing rejected heat from the primary on-site power source, and converting it to hot water, steam or chilled water, passive heat rejection strategies, and on-site power storage facilities.

VA. 55 percent may even be conservative depending on how inefficient the data center was to begin with. Best practices that improve data center energy efficiency include the use of blanking panels, hot/cold aisle layouts, sealing raised floor cutouts and openings, cleaning air conditioner filters, optimize perforated tile location, removal of underfloor obstructions, use of rack-based cooling for high density racks, use of modular power and cooling systems that rightsize to the load, distribution of 230 volts to IT loads – the list goes on. Several technologies available today are making a big impact on energy efficiency, including virtualization, high frequency power electronics, digital controls, variable speed motors, capacity and change management, and high efficiency IT power supplies. As an example of savings, switching from a traditional UPS to a modular rightsized high efficiency UPS can save 40 percent in energy savings.

How can an energy reduced data center solution impact on overall business performance? How are your clients benefiting from work in this area?

BC. Green initiatives mean different things to different people. To some ‘green’ means reducing power even at the expense of dollars, while others believe it means saving money as well. At Aperture we think it should mean both – a ‘green’ datacenter can be a win in both cost and environmental benefit. There are two parts to energy reduction: firstly, every company should look for ways to save money by reducing their carbon footprint; and secondly, companies should implement changes that can reduce carbon but may cost money. These changes are ultimately dependent on corporate ethics or marketing programs rather than datacenter initiatives – it will be very interesting to see what approach various companies take. Right now our clients are primarily pursuing benefits in the cost savings area, but some do see green initiatives as the basis for a public relations campaign.

DN. When you have a more energy efficient datacenter, you spend less money. But another aspect that can augment this is designing in flexibility. In the past, our datacenters were in fixed environments that did not allow the flexibility to easily capitalize on business opportunities. Our new datacenter design, based on our POD concept, enables us to dynamically increase power and cooling at a rack level and run our datacenters at higher set points. High density, low density, any power receptacle type can be immediately accommodated and efficiently cooled. This flexibility enables us to seize business opportunities as they present themselves. This agility allows us to turn on a dime. Instead of the facility being the barrier, it is an enabler for the business. There is hunger for these types of solutions because everyone is facing the same problem. We have found this agility to be a competitive weapon.

JG. An energy audit is often a first step towards pursuing energy efficient strategies. Results of audits and comparisons to industry benchmarks often lead to improved distribution systems, upgrading equipment to more efficient models, introducing power saving devices, and taking advantage of stranded assets or passive opportunities. As design consultants, we have an obligation to maintain an understanding of the best options available to be implemented to the benefit of our clients. When we approach these design considerations, we ensure that we are aware of improvements to current technologies, as well as any new technologies. Another result that clients have found beneficial is consolidation. This allows for greater efficiency of the components as identified above, resulting in a more efficient data center overall. Our clients sometimes also realize the benefit of the postponement or avoidance of capital costs, including new infrastructure and the building, or acquisition, of new data center space.

VA. The beauty behind reducing data center energy consumption is that the savings drop directly to the bottom line of a company’s income statement. With measured data to back them up, data center managers now have an easier time justifying data center upgrades.

BW. In addition to energy savings, efficiency improvements give back resources such as power, space and cooling capacity. This allows resource strapped businesses to add IT capacity without costly build-outs of additional data center space. Ultimately, the cost per unit of work is reduced while the volume of production increases, which is good in any business. Benchmarking energy usage and implementing efficiency programs can have the collateral benefit of increasing the level of intelligence about the data center operation in general, and foster closer cooperation between Facilities and IT departments.

Energy costs are generally increasing. Do you think that managing your datacenter in a more efficient way is an effective foundation for a risk management strategy to address concerns over energy costs, security and supply?

BW. There’s no question that energy efficiency is a necessary and effective component of risk avoidance when it comes to concerns about energy supplies. However operational efficiency is not in itself a comprehensive solution. Manufacturers need to design and produce more efficient chips and servers that incorporate heat rejection technology. Software producers need to design programs that are more efficient and that take better advantage of virtualization technology. New data centers will likely need to be located in areas that allow them to take advantage of economizers that provide free cooling, as well as the opportunity to utilize the waste heat generated by the IT equipment. Utilizing renewable energy will have a place in socially responsible organizations that are also seeking a degree of energy independence or security.

BC. Efficiency will help, but only to a point. To ensure continued supplies of electricity at reasonable cost, companies will need to engage with the generating utilities and investigate building their datacenters closer to power stations, negotiating contracts and streamlining usage. Another important factor here could be self-generation. Emerging technologies for generating electricity at the datacenter from solar to hydrogen may become economical options allowing datacenters to partially generate their own power as national grid electricity prices increasing further.

JG. Pursuing efficiency in running data centers is a useful component of any risk management strategy. Again, these comprise a significant part of a data center’s budget. In states like California, energy rates are a major preliminary consideration in any new or improvement project for data centers. Data center owners often pursue a lifecycle cost analysis to assess the long-term value of various concepts and select the most energy efficient design concept, which may or may not require the least initial capital investment. The benefits of improving energy efficiency (or reducing electrical demand) can be realized in immediate savings plus the postponement of capital expenditures associated with increased demand, which require additional infrastructure. Energy security and supply concerns can also be mitigated. This is usually the result of implementing a design solution involving on-site generation and cogeneration. On-site security of energy and cooling components can be provided to the standards and requirements of the data center owner.

DN. Unless you are thinking of generating your own power, you are usually at the mercy of the utility and the volatile costs of energy. Cogeneration is another option to offset some of these costs, but I believe the key is to design the most efficient datacenters possible, so you only use the energy you need. On top of this, design a robust DC/DR strategy that not only allows you to failover during an emergency, but also shift your load to optimize capacity and energy costs in real-time. This helps minimize your risk and lower your costs. As the loads per rack continue to increase, we will see people get creative. I believe areas like New York City, Tokyo and London that have very high costs and limits to how much power they can receive, will require a distributed data center DR strategy.

VA. Investing in high efficiency technologies and implementing energy-saving best practices should be a given and not an option if costs are to be contained. However, managing the data center in a more efficient way doesn’t strike me as an effective foundation for a risk management strategy. An energy risk management strategy to address cost, security and supply should be based on a risk assessment of the data center, with those risks weighed against the business objectives.

How have you seen energy efficiency rise up the corporate agenda in recent years? Is enough being done, and what areas need to be addressed in order to ensure efficiency and energy reduction strategies remain top of mind?

VA. With the amount of press coverage devoted to energy efficiency and other green themes, it’s hard for corporations to ignore it. Over the last year the uptake on this topic is significant. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the momentum has resulted in enough action that is directly impacting the electric bill. It will take more action like Sun’s eco-friendly data center and more evidence of energy savings to turn the buzz into a measurable impact on aggregate data center power consumption.

BW. There is an ongoing convergence of environmental, legislative, social and economic factors that are driving corporations along with their suppliers and service providers towards more environmentally sustainable (greener) practices. The highly publicized issue of global warming has created a sense of urgency that has spurred business leaders into action. The situation has received considerable government attention, with studies, guidelines and legislation in the works. What is really putting green initiatives in the forefront of corporate agendas however is the financial incentive to conserve energy and eliminate waste. This has placed energy efficiency near the top of the list of strategic initiatives, and given that the forces of change are diverse and unrelenting, there’s little risk that the topic of energy efficiency will fall off the radar screen anytime soon. Formal regulatory guidance will, at some stage, motivate the indecisive, but economic reality and corporate social responsibility will continue to move efficiency and energy reduction strategies forward.

JG. As data centers have matured in company portfolios, there is a strong, clear awareness on the part of data center owners of the financial impact of the data center’s operation. However, in order to perform their often-primary function of providing reliable service to customers and end-users, some of our clients will not pursue energy efficient strategies that are perceived to include potential risks to that reliability. One of the best ways to keep clients and customers thinking about energy efficiency is by continuing to educate them on what solutions are available. Pursuing first and early-adopters of new technologies and concepts creates the opportunity to cite examples of successful applications of these technologies and concepts. In a way it is fortunate that some data center infrastructures are at the end of their planned, useful life. This provides an opportunity to incrementally improve energy efficiency of the system by replacing that equipment or those components.

BC. Recently we have seen energy costs rising up the corporate agenda. The key to improving energy efficiency is an understanding of where power is being used, and this is one of the reasons why not enough is being done to increase efficiency. Although it’s useful to know the total power consumed by your datacenter on a superficial level, to genuinely reduce energy consumption, engineers need to peel back the layers to see exactly where power is being consumed and why. For example, how much power is consumed by servers and how much by cooling? What is the ratio of IT to facilities power use? It is necessary to monitor and address the micro as well as the macro level of power consumption. Only once the more granular usage is understood is it possible to address efficiency effectively.

DN. The prediction is that utility costs will surpass the cost of equipment by 2012, and at Sun we tackled this problem head on. We were tasked with exiting multiple campuses and consolidating over 200,000 square feet of data center space to help the company achieve a four percent operating margin in 2007. It was extremely successful on numerous fronts. We exited the excess real estate, shed millions in operations costs, avoided $9 million in construction costs by decreasing the DC square footage by 20,000 square feet, increased the performance of the equipment, and built a more stable environment that decreased support costs and lowered our utility bill by 61 percent. Along the way, we also educated our users that just because equipment has depreciated and is zero book value, it is not free; the company pays a lot in utilities to run it. Changing the culture is an important aspect to maintaining your efficiency.

I think government regulations are the only way that we are going to ensure that we get consistent efficiency levels in datacenters and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There are many companies with the corporate responsibility to put a plan into action, but there are many others that will not. We can change this as long as the government works with the technology industry to define and enact realistic energy efficiency standards, like energy star for datacenters. Eco means ecology and economics.

Storage: the fact

• The amount of worldwide information is projected to grow from 161 exabytes in 2006 to 988 exabytes in 2010. An Exabyte is a million terabytes
• By 2010, the total amount of data will overwhelm the total amount of digital storage by a factor of nearly two to one. 2007 is the year that our ability to stuff bits into the digital universe will outstrip our ability to store them
  
• Research shows that in large-scale IT installations, the annual disk replacement rates typically exceed one percent, with 2-4 percent common and up to 13 percent observed on some systems
  

About the contributors:

Dean Nelson is Director of Global Lab & Datacenter Design Services (GDS) at Sun Microsystems, Inc. GDS bridges the gap between IT, engineering and facilities and is currently managing over $200 million in datacenter design activity.

Victor Avelar is a Senior Research Analyst at APC-MGE. He is responsible for data center design and operations research, and consults with clients on risk assessment and design practices to optimize the availability of their data center environments.

Bill Clifford joined Aperture as Chairman and CEO in 2005 after serving on the Board of Directors since 2003. Clifford previously served as a General Partner of The FieldsGroup, a venture capital and management services firm, and President and CEO of Gartner Group, Inc.

Juan Garrahan has been involved in the design and management of mission critical facilities for nearly 25 years. He is currently responsible for the operational management and day-to-day production of Morrison Hershfield’s California offices.

Bob Woolley, Director of Technical Quality Management at Lee Technologies, has 25 years of experience with mission-critical facilities. Previously, Bob served as VP of Data Center Operations for Navsite, as well as VP of Engineering for COLO.COM.