Energy is a Bottom Line Issue, Growing Demand for Experts in Data Center Efficiency
Government initiatives are focusing on energy utilization as a national security concern as well an environmental concern. But according to industry experts, energy is primarily a bottom line issue. Today, firms are beginning to take a closer look at their data centers to determine how much energy they consume…and how much they can save by making them operate more efficiently. Fred Palmer is the Founder and Head of the Palmer Group, an invitation only organization comprised of 60 executives from Fortune 1000 companies in the U.S. and Canada that focuses on best practices in technology. According to Palmer, “Energy is an untapped reservoir for corporate profitability. That reservoir is filling and remains virtually unaddressed.”
But things are changing. A number of leading companies with large data centers already have experts on their boards to strategize and execute energy saving initiatives. Right now firms have an opportunity to reduce energy costs, increase data center capacity and efficiency and increase reliability in mission critical environments, according to New York-based consulting firm, Datacenter Efficiency. Executive search firm, A.E. Feldman, is one step ahead of this growing trend. The firm has a team of industry veterans already working with a number of firms to identify and place qualified professionals who can design and implement strategies for maximizing energy efficiency.
Economics of Energy
The largest consumer of energy is the datacenter. Data center usage of energy jumped from 2000-2005 and continues to grow.
Between 2000 and 2005, the average amount of power used to fuel servers within the data center doubled. In the United States that represents a 14% annual growth in electrical use, or a 16% jump worldwide, according to an AMD-sponsored study conducted by Jonathan Koomey, Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Consulting Professor at Stanford University. Looking ahead, Koomey expects the power to run the world’s data center servers to increase by another 40% by 2010 if current trends continue.
Separately, The Planet, the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, just announced the results of a six-month trial to reduce its power consumption and increase its data center operating efficiency. The trial revealed that while critical server loads increased 5%, power used for cooling dropped by a whopping 31%. Overall, the company says it experienced power reductions of up to 13.5% through a broad range of improvements. As for the bottom line…the new “green” initiatives, conducted across The Planet’s six data centers (that house more than 50,000 servers) are expected to deliver cost savings in excess of $1 million in 2008 alone.
According to the EPA, “If state-of-the-art technology were adopted, energy efficiency could be improved by as much as 70%. However, even saving a modest 10% of total energy use would amount to energy savings of 10.7 billion kilowatt-hours per year — an amount equivalent to the electricity consumed by 1 million U.S. households and valued at about $740 million.”
The numbers are startling. “In the current world as we sit today, there is no doubt that energy efficiency is a profitability initiative with shareholder implications,” says Palmer. For example, to relocate a datacenter from an urban environment to an area with lower energy costs is a significant capital expenditure. In contrast, implementing energy efficiency controls provides a significant return on a modest investment. Palmer notes, “Audits that have been done have shown a return on investment that is nothing less than extraordinary.”
The Trend is Growing
A number of leading firms with large data centers already have senior-level experts in place to implement energy efficiency initiatives, including Yahoo! Christina Page is Yahoo!’s Director of Climate and Energy Strategy. In an interview conducted by The Uptime Institute Page says in order to help control the rising energy consumption of the data center industry, carbon footprint benchmarking should become an industry norm over the next two years. “I think it’s especially important because it looks like we’re going to have regulation around greenhouse gases in this country in the next several years,” says Page.
Still, there is a need for more high-level visibility and accountability at the executive level to facilitate what will amount to be significant cost savings, according to Palmer. In short, implementing energy efficiency controls amounts to a cultural change.
“Energy efficiency must be made a priority in the board room for the potential savings alone,” says Palmer. “When it comes to energy efficiency, the CIO must be held accountable. And that has to come from the top,” he adds.
Palmer contends that the facilities function which oversees energy infrastructure must be positioned high enough within an organization to impose the necessary efficiency controls. The audit function, both internal and public, must also gain the expertise to assess the efficient use of energy within the enterprise.
A.E. Feldman reports that demand is already on the rise for operations professionals with the expertise to address energy concerns. At the governance level, organizations must also implement energy audits, put in the metrics and hire and train the staff to monitor energy efficiency.
More information on data center efficiency:
Need for Data Center Efficiency Driving Demand for Talent
IT Projects Undeterred by Slowing Economy, Experts in Data Center Efficiency in Demand
Firms Hiring Execs to Reduce Carbon Footprint
