Chime In on EPA Server Efficiency Standard
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 04.16.07
The EPA has recently released several draft task reports on data center and server energy efficiency. The reports are posted on the Energy Star Web site and make for some fine, if technical, reading. The neat thing is that you can comment on these reports.
The consumption of energy in data centers is a growing concern among industry and government officials; it's a regular black hole. In 2005, for example, U.S.-based data centers consumed 4.5 billion kilowatts hours, using over $3 billion in energy. This is according to a study funded by Advanced Micro Devices that was released earlier this year.
This is real democracy in action; if you are knowledgeable about these issues, EPA welcomes you to help populate this report. You can contribute data or information to this effort by contacting Eric Masanet at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The commenting period is relatively short (under two weeks) as the final report is due to Congress in June 2007, and according to Andrew Fanara, the program manager for EPA Energy Star, the team is not looking for a line-by-line critique of the draft. They want to know “if we missed anything significant, or caught or appreciated [all] the dynamics inside data centers that need special attention,” he said. Check it out, and see if they did.
Black Hole? How many car trips are saved by online shopping? How many stamps envelopes, and pieces of paper are saved by online content? Of course it is important to increase server efficiencies, but referring to data centers as a black hole infers that nothing of value emanates from them.