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Server and data center energy consumption both in the U.S. and worldwide doubled from 2000 to 2006. In the U.S. it is expected to double again by 2011 to more than 100 billion kWh, equating to $7.4 billion in annual electricity costs.

According to the EPA, the total electricity cost for powering U.S. servers and data centers today represents about 1.5 percent of all electricity use across the nation. For perspective, that is more than the electricity consumed by all color televisions in the U.S.

The Reasons
The primary reason energy needs are increasing so dramatically is simply demand. An increased dependence on IT forces a growth in infrastructure, which ultimately increases power and cooling needs for data centers. Examples of increased IT service demand include:

• Increased use of electronic transactions in financial services
• Shift to electronic medical records for healthcare
• Growth in global commerce and services
• Adoption of satellite navigation and electronic shipment tracking in transportation
• Popularity of music downloads, videos-on-demand and Internet telephony

As a safety measure against the risk of lost sales due to poor performance, IT organizations have traditionally over-provisioned, purchasing far more capacity than was required to meet demand. While this practice has come under fire in recent times, it has unnecessarily inflated energy consumption.

The number of servers housed in U.S. data centers has grown from nearly 5.6 million in 2000 to 10.3 million in 2005. While this number is now starting to trend downward as data centers consolidate onto fewer but larger servers, power and cooling needs remain high.

According to an InformationWeek article, power consumption per computational unit has dropped in the last six years by 80 percent, but at-the-plug consumption has still risen by a factor of 3.4. The same article says processor manufacturers have packed an increasing number of power-hungry chips into the same-size hardware, which generates more heat and requires more cooling.

Next Steps
The EPA is spearheading a group chartered with establishing standards for a new “Energy Star” certification for data servers. The group believes data centers can save up to 80 percent in energy costs using more efficient technology.

Some of the EPA’s recommendations for the next steps include:

• Standardized performance measurement for data centers
• Federal leadership
• Private-sector challenge
• Information on best practices
• Standardized performance measurement for data center equipment
• Research and development
• Public/private partnership for energy efficiency in data centers