![[Infographic] 2013 U.S. Utility Grid Automation Survey (Part 2)](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/infographic2013unitedstatesutilitygridautomationsurveypart2of2schneiderelectric4-131106044612-phpapp02-thumbnail.jpg?width=560&fit=bounds)
Ad
More Related Content
What's hot (20)
Similar to Express Computer (20)
Ad
Express Computer
- 1. TECH VIEWS Approaches for developing energy-efficient Data Centers Aniket Patange writes about how organizations can go about optimizing power consumption in the data center I t's well-known that energy consump- tion has constantly increased over time due to industrialization and the growth of economies. Barring 2008 and 2009. when a majority of the world was affected by the recession and manufactur- ing and consumer demand slowed, the world's energy consumption has in- creased consistently for the last 30 years. Now that's a startling statistic not just for the world's leaders but also for organiza- tions. which collectively account for a large part of energy consumption. There are multiple factors of energy consumption in organizations and one of the most important ones is the data center. Energy consumption by data centers can be significantly huge and surprising. Ac- cording to a Greenpeace report in March 2011, data centers consumed 1.5 to 2% of all global electricity and were growing at a rate of 12% every year! To go with this, as per the International Energy Outlook 2UIO - Highlights, the total world energy use is projected to grow to 739 quadrillion Btu (British thermal units) in 2035 from 495 quadrillion Btu in 2007. As a result, organizations have realized that data cen- ters contribute significantly to the envi- ronmental burden of doing business and are major energy guzzlers to boot. This is the single most important reason why they are resorting to making their data centers more efficient in terms of both en- ergy and business value. An efficient data center is necessary to augment the breakneck speed of business and achieve greater energy efficiency with a view to expand the busi- ness itself. Market forecasts show that data center energy costs would escalate by 18% and customer insights point to a reduction of 2% in electricity bills from an improvement of 1% in data center infra- structure efficiency. Typically, half or less of the energy used in a data center goes towards the IT loads. The remainder is utilized for the center's physical infrastructure including power equipment, cooling equipment and light- ing. It is estimated that every KW saved in a data center saves about $1,000 per year. Let's explore some ways and means to reduce the energy consumption of a data center. A key point for CIOs and IT man- agers to understand is that the main factor of power consumption is the draw from the IT equipment and therefore IT person- nel should be concerned with controlling the power consumption of IT equipment. At an operational level, one can reduce IT equipment power consumption by retir- ing systems, enhancing the operational efficiency of existing systems and migrat- ing to more energy efficient platforms. At a more strategic level, visualization and standardization can greatly contribute to achieving energy efficiency. Let us lake a look at some of these approaches one by one: Operational: Retiring IT systems Many companies still use legacy data centers that are based on old technology platforms. Such centers are typically re- tained for archival or research purposes: or sometimes, just for budgetary reasons. Be- cause they are based on technology plat- forms. which do not leverage the benefits of next-generation software upgrades, these data centers consume much more power than their modern-day counter- parts. Powering down these systems and consolidating old technology platforms onto new servers can free up the server count and help recover some of the power capacity. Operational: Enhancing operational efficiency of existing systems There are almost no new servers m (30) /// EXPRESS COMPUTER , > / WWW E X P H E S S C O H P U T E B O N U N E . C O M , J U L Y 1 1 5 . 2011 C " ^ " V 3 . I Express Computer Friday, 01 Jul 2011 Page# :30 Size : 1157.44 sq.cm.
- 2. today that don't have power management features, unlike before when the power consumption of IT equipment was inde- pendent of the computational load. IT per- sonnel must take advantage of energy effi- ciency technologies (that are lead features in a technology product today) and. wher- ever possible, power management must be enabled on all devices with such capa- bilities to reduce the total electrical usage. Operational: Migration to energy-efficient computing platforms Many data centers continue to operate on 'low density servers' that are a few years old. We recommended that these be replaced by newer generation blade servers, which provide for greater appli- cation consolidation on the servers, vir- tualization and a reduction in the overall server count. Planning: Visualization Virtualization is now a highly recom- mended strategy to dramatically reduce the IT power consumption as it signifi- cantly reduces the number of installed servers. Many IT systems and policies con- tinue a 'one server, one application' as- sumption. which is an archaic way of de- signing IT. Virtualization empowers IT managers to run multiple operating sys- tems and applications on a single com- puter. thereby consolidating multiple physical machines and freeing up server space and lessening the server load. On an average, eliminating a single server can save approximately 200-400 W of power consumption, generating savings more than the cost of the server itself in the long run. Planning: Standardization It is important to understand that even though blade servers are perhaps the most efficient among servers in terms of elec- tricity consumption, their performance can vary based on the blade types for the servers. In a virtualization process, it is usual that the highest performing server is used to minimize the overall power con- sumption. This approach needs to be different in cases where servers are deployed on an , / , EXPRESS COMPUTER IT IS OFTEN IGNORED THAT THERE ARE FIXED LOSSES IN THE POWER AND COOLING SYSTEMS THAT ARE PRESENT WHETHER THE IT LOAD IS PRESENT OR NOT, AND THAT THESE LOSSES ARE PROPORTIONAL TO THE OVERALL POWER RATING OF THE SYSTEM. WHENEVER THE DCPI SYSTEM IS OVERSIZED, THE FIXED LOSSES DECOME A LARGER PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL ELECTRICAL DILL. RIGHT-SIZING CAN POTENTIALLY ELIMINATE UP TO 50a/o OF ELECTRICAL COSTS IN PRACTICAL INSTALLATIONS WWW EXPHBSSCOKPUTEBOHUKE.COM, I-BtY 1 - 1 5 , 2011 application-by-application basis. In such a scenario, it is recommended to match server performance to the application re- quirements to save energy. A good design would be to first deploy applications to the lesser performing blade server, and then move to a higher performing blade if the need exists. Right-size DCPI Another important strategy to reduce the overall electrical consumption is to right-size the DCPI system to the load by using efficient DCPI devices and design- ing an energy-efficient system. It is of- ten ignored that there are fixed losses in the power and cooling systems that are present whether the IT load is present or not, and that these losses are propor- tional to the overall power rating of the system. W h e n e v e r the DCPI system is oversized, the fixed losses become a larger percentage of the total electrical bill. Right-sizing can potentially elimi- nate up to 50% of electrical costs in practical installations. In conclusion, it is important to re- member that the energy cost of data cen- ters is a significant chunk of their operat- ing cost. A well-designed data center reduces power consumption, as well as the capital and operating costs associated with power and cooling systems. Data center energy management is of the utmost importance and an efficient operation will offer a stable information technology platform and boost business competitiveness and operational excel- lence. It is the backbone of the business and should have the capability to help or- ganizations achieve greater overall energy efficiency and profitability. The author is Director - Professional Services, APC by Schneider Electric