Do data centres need to waste more efficiently to become socially acceptable? By Simon Campbell-Whyte, DCA Executive Director

As well, we all want to do our bit for the battle against climate change and the environment for future generations, but are we just tinkering around the edges? The “right-hand side” of PUE is mostly regarded as the “bad” side – it’s often seen as the “extravagant” part that makes sure ICT is cooled properly and provides the back-up systems to ensure ICT is available when we want it. It is also the part that protects against fire & flood and the part that provides the security that keeps our data safe.

However, the “one side” of PUE i.e. the IT load is the part that many perceive as the “good” side and is most often beyond question. So perhaps data centres have always been sold short, maybe this stems from the lack of real understanding of the function and useful output of data centres.

I hope we will start to see more widespread use of KPI metrics
that can concurrently provide a better overall view of a data
centre’s useful performance. But I fear we have some way to go before we will see the collective responsibility needed for true energy efficiency. There I must end, I write whilst on holiday, and I need to give up my laptop as my six year old wants to look at something on YouTube. Does energy efficiency start at home?
I rest my case.

Burning e50/£50 notes on the steps
of your data centre!
By John Booth is the Chair of the DCA’s Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Group, the Vice Chair of the BCS Green IT and Treasurer of the Data Centre specialist groups, sits on the BSI IST/46 Sustainability, for and by ICT and runs his own sustainable IT practice Carbon3IT Ltd

THAT’S A CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENT isn’t it! Sadly, all too often our smaller data centre owners and operators are doing precisely that, standing on the steps of their data centre, burning Ä50 or £50 notes.

Why?
Actually they don’t even realise what they are doing, but day in day out, there they are wasting energy, wasting energy because they keep to dated methods of operation, wasting energy because they stick to the same old ways of thinking, wasting energy because they are afraid to try anything new.
Wasting energy because of F.U.D, (Fear, uncertainty, and doubt) but it doesn’t have to be this way, they can change, they can change because the guys that run the larger data centres have changed, they don’t stand on the steps of their data centres burning Ä50/£50 notes, they have adopted the latest thinking in energy efficiency.
They run their data centres hotter, they have contained cold air (or hot air) they keep their equipment optimised, they calculate their PUE’s but also look for the smallest of efficiency savings anywhere they can be found. They use industry guidance, such as the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) and the Green Grid Maturity Model to optimise their facilities, they squeeze the maximum value from every kilowatt that enters their data centres.

Why?
Because, energy costs are rising, and because every kilowatt saved is an addition to the bottom line of profitability.
So, what can the smaller operators do to save energy, thus saving money?

Firstly, get visibility of your energy bill, install the necessary metering to calculate your PUE’s and get your baseline.

Then use the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) best practices to optimise the data centre, you’ll be surprised at just how much you can achieve by adopting the simplest and most basic minimum cost measures.

Later, consider some of the optional best practices, these are more capital intensive but the potential to save even more energy is even greater (these are things like replacing UPS, and Cooling Equipment).

Measure against your baseline and see what savings you have made.
When you are ready, consider becoming a participant in the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres, this demonstrates your organisation’s commitment to energy efficiency and is increasingly being requested in tender documents from both the private and public sectors. If you do not have participation status, you run the very real risk of not even being considered.

Take a look at the Green Grid Maturity Model and measure the data centre against the levels, see where you can gain competitive advantage by adopting some of the higher level best practices, now rather than later!
Once you feel secure and your data centre is as energy efficient as it can be, consider getting certified to the BCS CEEDA programme, this award looks at 70+ of the EUCoC best practices and Green Grid metrics and assigns a Bronze, Silver or Gold award level.

Having a BCS CEEDA award really demonstrates a commitment to energy efficiency, insofar as an external assessor will visit your facility and performs an assessment against the published criteria and will provide an action plan of how you can get to the next level.

From April 2015, many organisations will be required by law under the “Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)” to conduct a mandatory energy audit in all areas of their business, this is the UK’s interpretation of Article 8 of the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive, signed into EU law in October 2013.

It is likely that certification to BCS CEEDA, or DCA Certification, and participation in the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) and perhaps ISO 50001 for the organisation will exempt you from the provisions of the ESOS.

But, from April 2015, your data centre may be looked at for “energy saving opportunities” by your energy/facilities manager.
I can guarantee that energy savings abound in your data centre!
The way that the world uses technology is changing, the internet of things will attach more and more devices into the digital infrastructure that has as its backbone, data centres.

Consumers are getting more savvy and they will gravitate towards those companies that can verify that they are sustainable throughout all of their operations, NGO’s and environmental pressures groups have already forced global social media and internet companies to procure renewable energy (Google, Facebook etc) and these global organisations operate extremely efficient data centre operations.

Some consider these organisations to be freaks, exceptions to the norm, “they don’t have to run and maintain the same types of applications that we do” but they are like you, the only difference is scale of operations.

If you rethink the way that you provide IT services to your clients in the same way that these global players have, then you can realise the same types of optimisation and savings.
Our world is changing, energy costs are on the rise and expected to double in the next 5 years, regulation from the EU (If we stay in!) will seek to slap an “energy efficient” label on your data centre in the same manner as other electrical appliances (fridges, washing machines, etc).

Do you really want your facility to have a “D” OR “E” rating for the want of a few days of your time or a few pounds?

Don’t stand on the steps of your data centre burning Ä50 or £50’s.

John Booth is the Chair of the DCA’s Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Group, the Vice Chair of the BCS Green IT and Treasurer of the Data Centre specialist groups, sits on the BSI IST/46 Sustainability, for and by ICT and runs his own sustainable IT practice Carbon3IT Ltd.

He also is the lead assessor for the BCS CEEDA programme and provides review services to the EU-JRC, the owner of the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency).

Energy Management:
No longer just a “Green” issue

Rowdy Van Rijn, Hosting and Colocation Solution Manager, Colt Data Centre Services, explains why energy management, once considered a concern mostly for ‘green’ businesses, is increasing in importance for all businesses, especially enterprise organisations.

ENERGY is becoming more expensive in all forms, with electricity price growth a truly pressing concern. Figures published by Eurostat show an average year-on-year increase for industrial electricity unit cost of 5.2%. Moreover, exponential data consumption by the enterprise increases energy use. (Source: Eurostat EUR IND per kWh 2007-2012). With this in mind, energy management has become a top priority for IT and the wider business strategy, impacting reputation, regulatory compliance, and crucially the bottom line.

In a recent report1 by Colt Technology Services, a member of the Data Centre Alliance, energy management was identified as one of four significant forces impacting decision making, planning and responsiveness in the data centre. The other three forces include: business transformation, data location and risk & compliance. Each of the four forces represents an opportunity to innovate or deliver benefits to the business but they also add complexity and uncertainty to future data needs. CIOs are urged to balance these four forces to minimise disruption.

Energy meets IT
Traditionally, energy management was deemed the responsibility of the facility manager, however businesses are now realising that it’s no longer just a tick box for corporate social responsibility, but a strategic enabler for both facilities and IT teams. Both teams must now take energy use and energy costs into account when planning IT investment not least in its data centre strategy. While energy alternatives remain the domain of high energy consuming businesses, the data centre industry is now starting to take notice and the issue is now a top priority for IT strategy. Changes in the energy economy are clearly influencing strategic decision-making, and technology teams are on the leading-edge of these changes. For example, 51% of IT decision makers that have experienced capacity planning in the data centre suggest energy efficiency is shaping the data strategy within the organisation.

To learn more about the pressures technology decision-makers are feeling, Colt, a member of the Data Centre Alliance, commissioned independent research amongst 503 technology decision makers in large firms (over 500 employees and over £/e1M) in four European countries. The findings – published in full in the report ‘The Four Forces of Data Centre Disruption’2 indicated that energy management was second only to network efficiency as a strategic cost saving goal for IT.

67% of respondents see energy management as either important or very important in achieving IT cost benchmarks. The figure rises to 83% in businesses with more than £50m IT spend per annum, however commitment to energy management should be a priority for all businesses, regardless of their size and budget. Luckily, the rising costs are mirrored by rising options for energy risk mitigation and savings.

The pressure is set to continue, figures published by the UK government state that price rises are likely to continue into the medium term at least. “Oil prices are projected to remain high or increase as world demand recovers post-economic crisis, impacts of temporary supply cuts are magnified in a ‘tight’ market, the fuel duty escalator has been re-introduced, energy companies need to invest very large sums in the network, a power supply squeeze is expected before the end of the decade and costs of measures to cut carbon emissions are set to increase.” – UK Parliament (Source: www.parliament.uk). The 2008 Climate Change Act already requires that the UK needs to cut its carbon emissions by 34% by 2020, however with 9 nuclear power stations set to reach the end of their operational lives in the next 10 years, supply will only tighten, driving prices up even further.

Minimising this disruptive force
How can businesses mitigate this potentially huge drain on corporate finances while preserving their strategic focus? The keys seem to be flexible decision-making and an awareness of the options. This can be achieved if a wide range of decision-makers – within finance, CSR, technology, and the C-suite work together.

Decisions about data infrastructure can also have major impacts on energy costs and usage: virtualisation, cloud computing, and even supplier choices can have a major impact on the costs of running machines and who bears the risks associated with changes in that cost. With increasing network virtualisation (71%) and cloud hosting delivery models (65%) also seen as important strategic IT goals, it’s clear that the IT needs to think about the wider picture when it comes to energy management.

The good news is that holistic thinking about energy management is on the rise, with 64% of survey respondents seeing energy consumption as an increasingly important factor influencing IT strategy. The challenge for business is now to move this issue beyond the IT function, and see IT as a key part of an energy strategy that effects, and has potential benefits for, the whole organisation. Regular flows of information are particularly important because business decision-making cycles are expanding rapidly. In order to make the changes that are needed to reach energy efficiency, businesses will need to plan and deliver in stages, coordinating the process over a longer timeframe than in the past.

Energy strategy
A successful 2014 energy management strategy involves a comprehensive understanding of overall corporate risk, from locational and regulatory though basic financial considerations such as currency risk. Efficiency and good choices for tools and location can mitigate many of these and meet the growing energy demands in the modern business.

For example, 91% of respondents in the Four Forces report would consider changing data location in order to access natural power resources (such as wind or geothermal), which can be major cost-savers and are also more “green” than many alternatives. In this case, financial and reputational risks are both reduced by the same strategic move, and thinking outside the energy box can have benefits across the company.

There are many ways to manage energy use, and solutions such as good end user policies are steps forward, particularly where user efficiency is concerned. Technological advances that fundamentally lower the amount of power needed through state-of-the-art data centre infrastructure can offer more complete solutions, and a successful business will keep itself informed and flexible enough to quickly adopt new technologies.

Good information, in the form of regular briefings to all decision-makers on technological developments, can aid in this process. The circle of stakeholders is wide, and CIOs need to communicate with all of the business, defining the value of technology in terms of finance, reputation, risk reduction, and reputation. The days when the energy used by high-consumption services like the data centre were an issue only of interest to CSR and technology management are long over.

Flexibility, big-picture thinking, and the long view are the keys to success in energy management. Putting energy pressures at the centre of strategic planning will help CIOs and other stakeholders to mitigate the pressures on the data centre.

Holistic energy thinking isn’t just “Green” thinking, it’s a central part of sound strategic thinking in 2014.

1. Colt, The Four Forces of Data Centre Disruption: http://www.colt.net/uk/en/premium-content/index.htm?contentId=FOUR_FORCES_OF_DATA_CENTRE

2. Colt, The Four Forces of Data Centre Disruption: http://www.colt.net/uk/en/premium-content/index.htm?contentId=FOUR_FORCES_OF_DATA_CENTRE

On data centre energy efficiency

Recent initiatives and activities in the broader Amsterdam area revealing a landscape in perpetual motion. By Maikel Bouricius and Vasiliki Georgiadou.

LET’S FACE IT, data centres are here to stay... and as many profound changes they’ve started humble: server rooms with enough equipment to support the core business of their mother-enterprise.

Fast forward a couple of decades later and data centres have been evolved to an industry on their own. Field experts even go as far as arguing that data centres may very well be characterized as a critical infrastructure at the crossroads of both energy and IT, sustaining and at the same time transforming the economy and society as we know it. It comes to no surprise that the sector is in fact one of the fastest growing industries; a TechNavio 2013 analysis claims that the “global data centre market is expected to post a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10.71 percent during the period 2012-2016”. Bearing in mind trends such as cloud computing and mobile networking boosting up data centres market share, such a number is likely not to be far from the truth.

However, one should not let these prosperous times fool them. For every up there is a down; escalating demand and rising energy prices are pushing data centre operators and managers to seriously consider efficiency aspects. And with the growing attention from the public, sustainability has become more than just a buzz word. Within the data centre industry, energy efficiency is often perceived as the forerunner to sustainability efforts and in combination with efforts to reducing their energy consumption, is an essential step towards reducing their carbon footprint while maximising their consumption share on renewable energy sources.

Energy efficiency efforts and initiatives are especially evident within areas considered as data centre hubs. The municipality of Amsterdam, recognizing the city’s broader region as such a hub and the positive impact of the latter to the local economy, have engaged to a long term collaboration with all relevant stakeholders so as to promote innovation on data centres energy efficiency and hence setting the foundations for a sustainable and prosperous data centre industry in the area.

Collaborative platforms, such as Green IT Amsterdam, are enabling the industry to become truly involved in ambitious R&D initiatives and take full advantage of the synergistic effects arising, while benefits are diffused across the local society.

From early on, we have witnessed the rising of technological developments, innovation and market ready solutions focused on the facilities and infrastructure side of data centres, such as cooling, UPS, airflow and so on. Especially colocation data centres, recognizing from early on the issue since it affects their core business, have embarked on the journey towards achieving higher energy efficiency.
They have implemented and to a certain extent perfected energy efficient solutions while growing their expertise on the field. It has been argued that the traditional architecture of data centres originates from the financial industry and research institutes; nevertheless, strides on energy efficient improvements have been made by the colocation industry and its satellite partners. Perhaps now it is time to transfer this expertise to enterprise and government run computing and data centre facilities.
The first step towards this direction is recognising that there are actually different types of data centres along with different needs, resources and set ups. A Green IT Amsterdam commissioned publication on “Reorganising computer rooms and data centers in an energy efficient way” aspires to take on this first step by showcasing different business cases for different data centres types along with possible solutions for each of them. These business cases are based on both research and real examples. Hopefully, such work will raise awareness in a segment of the broader data centre industry traditionally less concerned or aware of the energy consumption of their facility - as it is often a small part of their overall usage as energy consumers - like universities, hospitals and other publicly managed environments.

Facilities are though only part of the equation; to take full advantage of the energy savings and efficiency potential one must also leverage on the other part, namely the IT infrastructure. A recent publication (in Dutch), produced by Cerios Green and commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam, “Zervers” is brilliantly demonstrating compelling opportunities to reducing energy consumption by utilizing new, well managed hardware and fully exploiting ICT capacity by virtualisation.
The latter is almost perfectly echoed within another initiative in Amsterdam, namely Cluster Green Software (CGS), a project supported by the regional developmental fund. Data centres, software specialists, and research institutes comprising the cluster have been sharing their R&D expertise on studying and mapping the energy footprint of software, networks and cloud services.

The CGS project, being one of a kind, supports developing expertise on this research field and stimulating local innovation and sustainable, collaborative IT initiatives. The most recent being a collaboration between the Software Improvement Group, VMWare, Equinix and Logius (e-government services department) on measuring the energy footprint of applications on virtualised servers through VMWare. It has also set the foundation for a specialised master track on Green IT and Software Engineering at the VU University of Amsterdam.

Taking an even further step towards energy efficiency and sustainability, a recent publication (in Dutch) released by consortium member EnergyGO and commissioned by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) explores opportunities for reusing heat generated by data centres. The report discusses business cases where the waste heat of data centres may be reused in various application areas. Recent advancements in recovering useful waste heat along with innovations such as 3M liquid cooling technology strongly indicate that business cases and applications on this area may considerably improve over the coming years.

And so it seems that we find ourselves yet again at a threshold of a paradigm shift. And just on time: a 2013 Uptime survey is suggesting that energy efficiency low-hanging fruits have already been gathered. Being thus far addressed in an optimal, yet isolated to the data centre community way, this comes as no surprise.

Nevertheless, data centres and especially those located within urban agglomerations have a large yet, at least for the most part, unexploited potential to contribute to smart city local energy consumption optimization and smart grid optimized operation. Energy efficiency would then be addressed in a holistic way by also considering the interaction of data centres with all relevant stakeholders within urban contexts, such as DSOs, district heating operators, energy provides, and smart city energy managers. Moreover, data centres can contribute to efforts towards maximizing the usage of (locally produced) renewable energy sources.

The trend is then set at managing and solving locally major city challenges, in an effort to cut down value chain length and costs (local energy supply systems reducing transmission losses, zero waste, circular economy). The long-term goal is to move towards sustainable locally optimized urban contexts.

Such a shift naturally calls for a change in the very mind-set of the industry; perhaps though it’s the best way forward if we seek to mitigate Jevon’s paradox that traditional energy efficient strategies inevitably bring along. The good news is that prominent players of the industry are willing to take the step and participate in innovative and challenging R&D projects such EU FP7 GEYSER, setting up and following through related pilot activities. Data centres may thus be presented with the unique opportunity to transforming themselves into flexible energy players at the crossroads of Smart City and Smart Energy Grids.

Keeping datacentre managers up at night: Energy management in an age of scrutiny

By Anne-Marie Lavelle, Group Marketing Executive at LDeX

OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, there has been increased stakeholder scrutiny on datacentre operators around power and energy consumption levels, shifting the focus from the significant capital investments and infrastructure costs involved in the construction of a colocation facility to that of new standardized energy industry reforms and guidelines. Recent surveys suggest that up until early January of this year, there had been a 19% increase in the amount of energy consumed globally by datacentres, making energy management the number one concern for datacentre managers.

Industry recognition
In order to alleviate this burden, the UK government intervened to put in place a formal agreement called the Climate Change Agreement (CCA). This was to recognise that datacentres are not only vital to society and business operations, but essential in providing employment and enhancing Britain’s reputation as a leading global technology hub. Without this agreement coming into force in early July, high taxes would have made it increasingly difficult for UK datacentres to compete against foreign rivals elsewhere.

By implementing the CCA, the government is giving datacentres CCL tax relief with the knock on effect of a 90% reduction in the data centre operators climate change levy charge. However, the datacentre CCA is only applicable to true datacentres where white space is leased and licensed to third parties rather than in house storage data. White space used for the company’s own use is not eligible.

To earn this, the sector as a whole must achieve a 15 percent improvement in PUE by 2020, compared with 2011 levels, and individual sites have to cut their non-IT electricity use by 30 percent. This is sought to facilitate growth by looking at carbon emissions in different ways and concentrating on energy efficiency and stewardship, using the power usage effectiveness metric as a benchmark.

Not only will the CCA raise standards with operators putting in place the required measures to reduce their impact on the environment, it will enhance the industry’s reputation with managers being able to predict future costs of carbon compliance in advance. This will give the industry increased stability while reducing costs at the same time. It is particularly interesting as it will be essentially be more cost effective to colocate a company’s servers, systems and infrastructure in a datacentre facility as opposed to storing systems in an in-house IT facility. This is due to economies of scale which providers will be able to save on with reduced power and electricity costs.

Passing on industry gains to the customer
This is a significant development for the industry as one would hope that the reductions in costs will be passed on to datacentre customers, helping managers to promote competitiveness in the sector. As this is definitely something which colocation providers stand to gain from and aspire to achieve, savings made from the CCA should not be held back for company gain but to help customer businesses expand their operations in a volatile financial climate attracting a new breed of IT technology companies.

Passing savings on is nothing new to the team at London Data Exchange with LDeX announcing in February that it had secured fixed energy pricing until 2017. This means that power and energy cost guarantees will be given to new and existing customers for the forthcoming three years with savings being passed on to customers on colocation.

A viable solution for the industry
To paraphrase Emma Fryer from TechUK, these industry measures will create much needed stability and predictability meaning it will also enable datacentres and associated businesses to plan their long term investment and growth strategies. It will also drive the market away from a distributed IT model that is less energy efficient towards one in which computing activity is consolidated into purpose-built facilities. The industry should take comfort in the fact that what used to be a business headache for datacentre managers has shifted to become a viable solution for industry stakeholders.