There are many things to think about when planning for the creation, staffing, management, and supply of a Data Center ..... Consider how your company or products may impact the environment ...., and what that might mean for your customers.
It will depend on the user and the data center. In the past, service providers didn't have much incentive to improve efficiency or reduce environmental impact. This is still true in today's highly competitive market. Even modest improvements can have marketing benefits. Single-tenant sites can reap the benefits of greater efficiency and corporate benefits by minimizing environmental impact (noise etc.). The benefits of higher efficiency, and the corporate benefits of minimizing environmental impact (noise, etc.) can be significant for single-tenant sites.
According to the latest report to Congress, servers and data centres accounted for about 1% of total US electrical consumption between 2000 and 2005. This number is expected to increase by at least 2% by 2011. In that time, server and data center consumption was higher than the color TV's consumed in the US. The economy and businesses increasingly rely on data centers as business operations tools ..... It is important to perform a critical review of the current state of affairs and develop new ideas in order to improve availability, security, and efficiency. Nearly 10% of the value is represented by federal data centers.
EPA is currently evaluating EnergyStar servers and data centers. There are many industry groups involved in the efficiency of data centers and servers. These include The GreenGrid and Climate Savers Computing Initiative. SPECpower is another example. The EU and EPA are also focusing on efficiency in operations and data center servers. Utilities have taken part in improving data center efficiency and have encouraged these improvements in areas with low energy resources. Austin Energy, PG&E and NSTAR are the leaders in this field.
There are strong peer pressures in Europe to be more energy efficient. BT has developed a strategy and 21st Century Data Center design which uses 60% less energy than traditional data centers. This gives them both a competitive advantage and a marketing advantage in the green space.
There is a renewed push in Europe and the UK for greener technologies. This is especially true where they are converged on one, small footprint, overcrowded site called the Datacenter.
Businesses are required to comply with environmental legislations and regulations, such as the RoHS** directive or WEEE* directive. These compliance issues are compounded by the increased power requirements and business costs associated with engineering more processing power into a smaller footprint (think BladeServers or 1U appliances).
The "carbon footprint" is another concept that has not been incorporated into legislation, but it is being used in marketing-speak as a measurement of an organization's environmental profile. This will include factors such as power consumption, heat dissipation and lighting. Not only that, but also the cost of support and maintenance for employee travel to and fro site, DR overheads and resilience, redundancy and so forth.
This area is of high sensitivity for corporations. The availability and security of data centers is critical to the protection of sensitive data as well as the revenue streams. As standards are being established, there are several key points. 1) Energy consumption must be reduced across the board. 2) The focus should be on components of the data centre. 3) A holistic top-down review of efficiency in data centers and servers is necessary. 4) This is not a one-time event. It is a continuous process of server and data center evolution.
These issues are being understood by distributors, resellers, vendors, and end customers. Datacenters are now designed with these criteria in mind. We are now seeing the adoption of previously obscure ideas such as:
- Servers and racks with a smaller footprint, more space-efficient design, and comms racks (nifty sliding/folding doors, easier equipment access, narrower aisles).
- Water-cooled rack cabinets (a 3,500-fold efficiency improvement over traditional aircon)
- Remote, centralised, converged, and consolidated management of all Datacenter elements (carbon footprint reductions in terms of reduced callouts, employee travel subsistence fuel etc.
Next generation, high-efficiency (0.96+), Power Management (extended-runtime UPS/battery backup/DC-AC rectifification and power distribution) - lower power consumption and greater output. This will also reduce carbon footprint in terms of calls, employee travel, fuel costs, lighting, heating, etc.
This is just a small taste, there are many more "joined up" technologies being developed every month.
Additionally to the need for "green" (using less power, cooling, and new processors consume more), .... professionals in data centers are working on server virtualization. Many people feel that virtualization is more a dream than a reality. It is becoming increasingly difficult for data centers that use mainframes to find support staff, as many of the experts have retired or are no longer available. As security and infrastructure requirements increase, data center outsourcing is on the rise (studies show that 8 to 13% of data centers outsource).
Data centers also have environmental issues. These include the fact that they are able to house a high volume of computing equipment.
1. Due to the high density of computers (e.g. - CPUs, memory, and large arrays of disk drive.
There are some advantages to "economies" if equipment is used at high levels. The problem is that High Availability can often lead to hardware being doubled, or even tripled in size, without the possibility of ensuring high usage.
2. Because expensive components and servers are transported to data centers, there is a lot of trash generated. This can be due to the packaging used to transport these items safely.
Note that you must deliver packing materials to redundant servers
3. Between the piles of lead/acid battery and diesel generators, alternative power and battery backup can add more environmental undesirables to the area.
Although fuel cells may be able to replace some environmental nasties, rumors have circulated that many fuel cells contain dangerous components.
4. All the above require cooling. This is why it is necessary to have powerful air conditioners.
This is a multi-faceted requirement. Servers, duplicates, cooling, power, and cooling are all required.
These are the main downsides of Data Center use.
Although it is possible, there may be some environmental benefits. The idea is that you can put most of the computing power in the data center and then you could have really sluggish hardware at your office. This is non-powerful near diskless machines that consume very little power such as the AMD Geode which uses just 5 watts Cisco España
Unfortunately, modern Windows versions must be installed on a desktop computer that is as powerful and large as possible. I don't think we will see any improvements without Microsoft being marginalized and switching to Linux and MacOS.
Here are the key points to remember.
1) Mainframes are often used in data centres that are "green". Why? One mainframe is equivalent to hundreds of standard servers. Standard servers generate more heat, draw more energy, and require more maintenance. From an operational perspective, a mainframe is more cost-effective than distributed platforms. It's also far more stable and secure than distributed platforms.
2) Design is crucial. Buildings should not be more than two stories high, with the data center on the ground floor (first floor) and no windows above that. If you have windows above this level, they should be narrow, high, sealed and cannot be opened. These windows must be placed in a limited space and triple-sealed (filmed for UV and IR blocking, as well a blast shield).
3) Foundation. Multiple reinforced concrete pilings of at least 2m in depth, with the ground floor on a concrete plinth 1.5m above grade.
4) Exterior walls. Concrete poured with rebar in a two-wall structure. Each wall should have a minimum of 8 inches thickness.
5) Walls (interior). Concrete with rebar and an insulated space between the computer rooms (R-20 minimum, also deadens sound). These areas should be load bearing and should be located in the center of the building. The external areas should be used for storage, battery storage, storage, security, or operator bridge. They should also be floor to ceiling for fire safety.
6) Walls (non load bearing). This is conventional construction. However, you should not use 2x4's made of wood. Instead, you can use steel with an anti-rust coating. (Just painting it with Rustoleum will work fine as long as the cut-ends are done).
7) Doors (interior-computer rooms). Airlocks can be used to cool the air in the data centers. Keep in mind that your mainframe rooms should be kept cooler than the areas where Humans live. You can also choose a dark room. The lights will only turn on when the room is occupied. They will turn off after x minutes.
8) Doors (exterior). Airlocks are a must for security and energy conservation.
9) Roof. Do not use a flat roof !!!! Flat roofs are not recommended. The roof should be ventilated and insulate well. R-45 minimum
10) Heating/AC. Heating is essential even in warmer climates. Suggestion: If geology allows, drill deep holes and combine standard A/C with geothermal heat exchange.
11) Emergency power. Have power coming from two directions and two substations. You will also need a diesel generator (or biodiesel if you prefer) that can provide power for at least 120% of your total building capacity for 72 hour minimum. A fuel dump is required. You will need a fuel dump. If you are interested in biodiesel, it is a good idea to make a deal at your local Krispy Kreme. They will be happy to do business with you. Trust me, IT runs on Krispy Krispy Kreme or Folgers as well as data and electricity. Krispy Kreme biodiesel will make your entire neighborhood smell like donuts when it burns. Be aware of lawsuits coming from Weight Watchers offices nearby.
12) Drainage. Your roof spillage should be pumped into underground cisterns to store emergency water. You will need some filtering. Make sure your parking lot slopes from back to front at 2 to 3 degrees. There should be drainage for storm sewers or separate cisterns. It is also important to ensure internal drainage. Each main computer room should have at least two gravity drains under the subfloor with one-way valves.
Another question to consider .....
Q: When will IT companies invest in green technologies for their business?Answer: When money grows on trees.
This cartoon caption was in COMPUTERWORLD about the same topic.
It was hilarious to me. And, oh, so true too. The real point is to make an economic case for any cost. Green or not.
The environmental concerns surrounding data centres are the same regardless of whether you are building a new facility, or renovating an existing one.
