To achieve the 'green' Data Centre, a radical change of attitude is required. It is not quite as simple as buying our way out of this problem with 'green' equipment. We must value energy as the scarce resource it has become and look beyond just the technology to examine the bigger picture if any real change is to be achieved.
The latest generation chips and servers are certainly more efficient than their predecessors, but that's not the full story. New chips and new servers in actual fact require more, not less, power. So the idea that these are somehow 'more green' is somewhat flawed.
What is needed is a much more holistic approach that requires not just more efficient technology but a whole cultural change that may not be as simple or as attractive a proposition.
The requirement for this change is particularly acute in the Data Centre as these are the heart of IT and are home to the servers that run computing and storage systems. The power and cooling required to process and store the world's data is typically 50 times as much as the equivalent office space. Therefore it shouldn't be much of a shock to discover that the annual energy cost for an average UK Data Centre is €5.3m.
The demand for computing power and Data Centre space has been growing at an exponential rate and the relentless consumption means the IT industry has a responsibility to find a solution to this drain on resources. With plans to build more Data Centres to meet the demand, it is hard to see how the IT industry can become 'green' however this does not mean it cannot become 'greener'.
The answer is to make better use of the Data Centres that already exist before building any new ones. The problem with many of today's co-location and hosting facilities, which house several companies' servers, is their current condition. With investment in maintaining Data Centres shrinking but a huge rise in demand has created a situation where all Data Centres, whether efficient or not , are at full capacity. If improved efficiency will not increase profits then there is little incentive to improve efficiencies as the additional costs of inefficiency can simply be passed onto clients.
So does the answer lie in building new Data Centres and filling them with the newest 'green' technologies? No because the deployment of new, more efficient technologies such as advanced cooling systems and better servers will not make IT 'green' and will have little impact on making it 'greener'.
Environmental and efficiency change begins and ends at the operation of the Data Centre. To be 'greener' we need to start at the beginning.
- Application developers need to be looking at more efficient software that uses less powerful processors while delivering the same functionality.
- Data Centre owners need to consider the frequency of IT refresh cycles. Do they really need latest, greatest probably more efficient server? They need to take into consideration the environmental impact of disposal of the old one.
- Consider ho your energy is purchased. Wind, wave or solar power does not have to be generated on-site and can be fed into the grid elsewhere.
- Review the test and development environment. Are there servers not being used regularly? Could they be switched off?
- Most Data Centres are lit 24/7 unnecessarily. An immediate saving of 5% on the annual power bill could be achieved by simply switching off the lights.
- Packaging - suppliers and manufacturers need to be encouraged to use less packaging, in particular fewer plastics and polymers.
- The average Data Centre in the UK generates about 5 tonnes of waste in a year. Is this recycled? Does it go to landfill? Can servers be recycled? According to Gartner, UK companies pour 1.5m PCs, equal to 125,000 tonnes of IT equipment into landfill sites every year.
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