Energy Efficiency Metrics Going Global

Business News

Thursday, 08 April 2010 21:51

Written by Jeffrey Clark

In an April 5, 2010, press release, The Green Grid announced an important agreement between various government entities and industry groups concerning energy efficiency metrics for data centers. Parties to the agreement include segments of the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Energy Star program, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, the European Union Code of Conduct, and various industry groups, such as the before-mentioned Green Grid and the Green IT Promotion Council of Japan. The agreement specifies power usage effectiveness (PUE) as the industry standard for energy efficiency measurement.

The Green Grid is a consortium of companies that promotes energy efficiency improvement in data centers. Members of the consortium include technology giants such as AMD, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Oracle, as well as other critical companies such as Cisco, Google, and Texas Instruments. According to its website (http://www.thegreengrid.org/), The Green Grid’s stated goal is to define, develop, and promote the adoption of energy efficiency standards for data centers. To this end, the recent agreement among The Green Grid, various industry groups, and government agencies around the world represents a significant step toward accomplishing the consortium’s mission.

The agreement makes steps toward ensuring a more uniform system for evaluating data center efficiency as well as data centers’ impact on power consumption and, therefore, on local utilities. A standard metric provides a basis for reliable comparison of the energy efficiency of data centers (as, for instance, through the EPA’s recently announced Energy Star ratings program for data centers). In addition, a standard energy efficiency metric gives companies and customers a simpler way to evaluate both the environmental and financial impact of specific data centers.

According to The Green Grid’s press release (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/in-collaboration-with-worldwide-government-and-industry-organizations-the-green-grid-advances-global-harmonization-of-data-center-energy-efficiency-metrics-2010-04-05?reflink=MW_news_stmp), Secretary of The Green Grid Tom Brey stated that the goal of global standards for energy efficiency is to “[drive] behavioral changes in the industry.” To be sure, improving energy efficiency is important, both in improving data center operators’ public image as they decrease their environmental impact and in decreasing operating expenses. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned goal likely includes government regulations (perhaps the surest way to drive behavioral changes), as the inclusion of various government agencies in the agreement would tend to indicate, in addition to more-voluntary industry standards.

Of course, government regulations are not always evil, especially when environmental conditions are being considered. But any cautious observer must be somewhat suspicious when groups of extremely large companies join to call (even implicitly) for regulation of an industry in which they have a significant interest. Large companies often have significant political sway, and certain unscrupulous examples can use that influence to crush competition through the imposition of excessive or otherwise expensive regulations that only large companies can afford. (Ironically, the companies calling most loudly for regulation are often the worst offenders in such cases.) Although global standards for energy efficiency metrics in data centers can serve a good purpose, they can also be used for more nefarious ends; thus, the agreement announced by The Green Grid should be treated in a balanced manner. Ideally, the agreement on energy efficiency metrics should drive behavioral change through voluntary economic means—business incentives should be sufficient to convince companies that reasonable steps toward evaluating and improving energy efficiency in the data center are warranted.

The applicability and effects of the agreement on data centers in less developed countries is also of interest. Highly efficient use of energy is one of the hallmarks of a developed country that has gained extensive experience with technology. In developing countries, expectations of the same level of energy efficiency as in developed countries are unreasonable, short of some sort of wealth transfer (usually at the expense of taxpayers in the developed countries). Alternatively, energy efficiency standards that are too strict could impede progress in developing countries. Again, these considerations do not mean that a global standard energy efficiency metric is wrong-headed; they simply indicate the need to proceed with careful consideration (mainly where government regulation and intervention is concerned).

The Green Grid’s goal of improved energy efficiency in data centers is commendable; energy use is a crucial concern in light of its limited supply and ever-increasing demand. Data center operators, no less than any other group or industry, must carefully consider their facilities’ energy consumption and make appropriate investments to increase efficiency and reduce usage, if possible. Standard metrics for measuring energy efficiency can be helpful to this end, but they are not necessarily unadulterated blessings.

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