As the UK and the rest of the world plunges into recession, businesses may be excused for thinking there are more important things to worry about than the environment. In the economic crisis, everyone is looking for ways to cut expenses to make organisations as slim and trim as possible. Efficiency is key! But when you think about it, efficiency policies are often green ones as well. Take energy consumption as an example – not only is it a major expense for businesses, it’s also a major contributor to carbon emissions. So cutting down on the electricity bill makes good business sense, on both fronts.
Is IT draining your resources?
One of the biggest power users in business is IT and the data centre. Energy costs are on the rise and within a few years leading analysts believe that expenditure on power could leap from about 10 per cent of the average IT budget to approximately 50 per cent. This is alarming when you consider the annual energy cost of an average UK data centre is around €5.3 million. So the arguments for ‘greening’ the data centre and reducing its power consumption have real teeth in the Boardroom.
The amount of power data centres use is immense. Talk of power in the world of data centres is never in Watts and rarely in Kilowatts; it’s measured in Megawatts. So, consider this – one Megawatt of power will cost around £788,400 per year, based on today’s rate of approximately 9 pence per Kilowatt hour. If the cost of power rises by a mere 20% (the lower end of the predicted rises) then this cost will rise to £946,080 per year, a rise of £157,680. Thankfully, the good news is that there are lots of ways to cut down on data centre energy consumption, both in the short and long term, to help decrease current energy bills and offset future price increases.
The simple solutions are often the most effective
The most simple, quick and inexpensive way of reducing costs is to carry out an audit on the data centre. Looking at every aspect of the it, from the construction to power, cooling, protection, operation and policy, amongst other things, is going to give a data centre manager a true picture of the energy and environmental efficiency of the data centre. This then helps identify pragmatic opportunities for ‘quick wins’ for saving energy and operating a ‘greener’ facility. These fast solutions can make an immediate difference to the data centre’s energy consumption, as well as change the culture in which it operates by establishing a foundation for more strategic, longer-term, power reducing and cost saving initiatives for the future.
Migration Solutions’ ‘ERA’ is a good example of how an audit can help identify these opportunities. ERA is a holistic Environmental Report and Audit which looks at over 150 data points across ten key sections of a data centre’s infrastructure that contributes to its overall energy consumption and environmental impact.
By looking at all these data points, data centre managers can formulate an action plan for the business to take meaningful steps and implement a cost effective change programme. While some actions may take a little time and investment to achieve, there will always be things that can acted on immediately, with little to no cost. It is amazing how much impact even the smallest things can have.
For example – cardboard boxes – they can wreak havoc on a data centre. Cardboard creates dust which clogs the fans in data centre equipment and makes them work harder. When they work harder they use more power while also creating more heat, which uses even more power for cooling. One university that carried out an ERA had a pile of old cardboard boxes in the corner of their data centre, unawares of the issues that this was causing. By simply taking the cardboard boxes out and recycling them (for the sake of the environment), they immediately saved 3% of their power bill.
A change for the better
There are many practical ways, almost as easy as this, which can help businesses save both money and the environment. Sometimes it’s not just about making a physical change. Changes in process and company culture are just as important as the latest generation equipment. Adjustments in working practices and operations can make a huge difference. For example, most data centres are lit 24/7. By turning off the lights when they are not needed will see an immediate saving of around 5% on the annual power bill. Many PCs and servers are also left switched on when they are not in use. An average PC switched on for 24 hours a day, 220 days a year will be responsible for up to a tonne of CO2 over a 3 year period and cost £53 per year in electricity. This shows how massive savings can be made literally at the flick of a switch.
Another common company process historical imbedded in business has been the fact that electrical bills are sent out long after charges are incurred. No clear link exists between particular decisions, like the installation of new equipment or the introduction of greener operational practices and the increased cost of the electricity. In fact, the electric bill is often viewed as an inevitable event that most managers do not even consider trying to influence. Because billed IT electrical costs do not usually come within the responsibility or budget of the data centre manager, there is no incentive for them to actively work to decrease it. Clearly addressing organisational barriers to managing efficiency has to be on the agenda and ensuring that accountability for the power costs of running the data centre resides with the managers who have the ability to reduce energy consumption makes good sense. While a change in behaviour may never be as ‘sexy’ as a next generation server, it will probably take more carbon out of your footprint.
Good for you and good for the environment
Implementing these types of efficient practices will have a positive impact on the triple bottom line. By actively reducing power consumption, businesses can tick a box on its Corporate Social Responsibility agenda and ensure it stays ahead of increasing environmental regulation. As the green debate continues to gather strength, more businesses and governments are aligning themselves with the international agenda to reduce the carbon emissions. This will inevitably result in more stringent regulation being handed down to businesses in the coming years, us all to improve our carbon footprint. By auditing the data centre and implementing the short-term actions while formulating a plan to achieve the long-term ones, businesses can be assured they will be well prepared when regulation hits.
Cutting costs is not just a numbers game – especially when it comes to the data centre. It is undeniable that IT is a massive contributor to carbon emissions around the globe. If every business did its bit and looked at simple but effective ways to reduce the power in the data centre, the world would be healthier place. It shouldn’t stop just with IT – efficiency and green policies can be applied to all parts of the business, and even the extended business chain. People shouldn’t be afraid to ask their colleagues and business partners, “What are you doing to help the environment?” After all, it pays to be green.
| 5 environmental ‘Quick Wins’ in the data centre
1. Use your Purchasing Power
Adopting green criteria as part of the energy purchasing policy is an easy step - wind, wave or solar power does not need to be on site, it can be fed into the grid from anywhere from a ‘green’ energy supplier. Furthermore, if enough companies move their business to green energy suppliers, the traditional energy companies will take notice and adopt more renewables. As an organisation you could look to becoming carbon neutral through the purchase of Carbon Offsets. A typical tree planting or wind farm project could save up 30,000 tonnes of carbon and these can be bought as carbon credits to match and neutralise your data centre’s own carbon emissions.
2. Use the ‘off switch’
Most of us have grown up with habits based around plentiful, cheap energy. Changing these habits and getting used to turning off devices not in use will make a significant impact on data centre power consumption. Keeping data centres lit up 24/7 is unnecessary. Manage lighting with the use of low energy bulbs within controlled zones. Furthermore, many servers and PCs remain switched on when they are not in use. Encourage people to change their behaviour and switch off their PC when they are not using it.
3. Recycle
The average data centre produces in excess of five tonnes of cardboard and paper rubbish each year, so recycling can be a ‘quick win’. Also, take positive steps to reduce the problem at source by encouraging suppliers to reduce unnecessary packaging. Think about ways of recycling IT equipment. An estimated 1.5 million computers are buried in landfill sites every year. Question whether memory can be re-deployed, and whether printer cartridges, hard disks, cables, and racks be re-used or recycled.
4. Rethink
Challenge long established assumptions. For example, application developers tend to specify new equipment to support their software. However, an examination of the actual, rather than perceived, load may reveal a processor utilisation of around 10-20%. If this is the case, consider combining non-critical applications on a single server. There is a major opportunity with test/development servers which could be switched off when they are not in use.
5. Just do it
A few well executed actions are worth more than any number of well intentioned plans. Involve your people, develop a strategy with them, and get started with the simple stuff. The greening of the data centre can start now by implementing a few easily achievable actions - encourage your staff and your management along this road and the impact could be very surprising. |
