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Cost of ElectricityMarch 2009 ITCJay Hall

NEA-SEA ITC 2009

Data Center Power Usage

• In 2005, Data Center power, including cooling, accounted for 1.2% of the total power used in the United States.– This is equivalent to having 5 1000 MegaWatt

power plants to just power data centers.– The United States houses between 30% and 40%

of the world's servers.

• Power use by Data Centers was expected to increase up to 76% during 2008.

Power Costs

• Electricity use in servers doubled from 2000 to 2005.– Annual growth rate of approximately 14%.

• Cooling a data center almost doubles the electricity cost.

• Total cost (2006 dollars) for data centers nationwide was approximately $2.7 billion dollars.– Approximately 23 billion kWh per year.

Reducing Power Costs

• More efficient cooling– Air Conditioning Replacement– Missouri NEA upgraded A/C units installed in the

early 1980s this year.– Efficiency went from 6.0 to 10.3.– Assuming the electricity rate is 9 cents per kWh,

the annual savings is $5,521.– New units paid for themselves in just under six

years.

Reducing Power Costs

• Virtualization– Use virtual servers where possible.– Reduces the number of servers which

• reduces waste and reduces power costs.

• Variable Frequency Drives.– These drives recognize decreased reduced loads

and operate more efficiently.– 1 watt of processor savings = 2.84 watts of overall

savings

Reducing Power Costs

• Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle– Only the front of the rack is cooled.– Racks are arranged so hot air from one rack does

not blow on another.– Racks must not allow hot air to pass through.

• Use a KVM switch so only one monitor is needed.

• Allow desktop computers to hibernate or go into power saving mode when not used.

Newer Savings Ideas

• DC Data Center– Convert AC to DC once resulting in savings due to

a single more efficient conversion to DC.– Estimated savings of 15%.– Proof of Concept completed August 2008 by Sun

Microsystems.– May only be a viable solution for larger data

centers.

Questions

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The End