Rated
Aug 04 2007
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1 review
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environment, energy efficiency
• informationweek.com
EPA Recommends Curbing Data-Center Energy Consumption -- If left unchecked, the agency warns consumption threatens to cost the public and private sector $7.4 billion in annual electricity costs by 2011.
August 3, 2007.
From the site: "The Environment Protection Agency on Friday unveiled a report that makes recommendations for curbing data-center energy consumption, which if left unchecked, threatens to cost the public and private sector $7.4 billion in annual electricity costs by 2011.
The 133-page report submitted to Congress on Thursday could have a major impact on businesses, if lawmakers decided to take action on the EPA's recommendations.
Based on current growth rates, the agency estimates that by 2011 data centers nationwide would consume almost twice the amount of electricity as they did in 2006. That would amount to 12 gigawatts of electricity during peak loads in the nation's power grid. As a point of reference, data centers currently use about 7 gigawatts during peak hours, which is the equivalent output of 15 power plants. "
FYI: As our economy shifts from paper-based to digital information management, data centers -- facilities that primarily contain electronic equipment used for data processing, data storage, and communications networking -- have become common and essential to the functioning of business, communications, academic, and governmental systems. Data centers are found in nearly every sector of the economy: financial services, media, high-tech, universities, government institutions, and many others use and operate data centers to aid business processes, information management, and communications functions.
The U.S. data center industry is in the midst of a major growth period stimulated by increasing demand for data processing and storage. [1]
