In anticipation of Earth Day, Jeff Schnitzer, general manager of GE's Critical Power division, outlined recent trends in data center energy efficiency.
“In 1970, we were concerned about landfills and paper waste—some 44.31 million tons annually (1). Today, those things that were on paper are
now in digital form, with an estimated 639,800 gigabytes of such digital information (2) passing through data centers every minute. Forty-four years later, Earth Day reminds us to examine the impact data centers have on our natural resources and sustainability, and the steps companies and governments are taking to meet new data center efficiency standards,” Schnitzer said.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, data centers account for up to 2.5 percent of total electricity consumption in the United States. Schnitzer added, “There are a large number of technological innovations that contribute to the overall energy efficiency of data centers.” Some examples include:
Capturing Free Cooling: Approximately 30 percent of all data center energy is used to cool servers and computer equipment with energy-intensive air conditioning cooling units used at both the server rack and printed circuit board levels.
Many companies are currently investing in "Free Cooling" technology to use the outside ambient temperature to cool their data center systems and thus reduce energy consumption. In 2013, Facebook unveiled a new data center in Sweden that uses Free Cooling technology, taking advantage of the average outside temperature of 1.11 °C (34 degrees Fahrenheit)(3).
A certain percentage matters: According to Frost & Sullivan, raising the energy efficiency levels of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) from 90% to 98% could save the United States $3 billion annually in energy costs. CoreSpace, a GE customer in Dallas, is saving about $25,000 a year with its UPS systems equipped with eBoost*—a multimode system that allows the UPS to operate at 99% efficiency. Modular power: Data center capacity is expected to increase by 33% over each of the next five years, so achieving greater capacity and efficiency from existing data facilities is vital to support that growth. Containerized, or modular, data center solutions, such as GE's PowerMod* technology, connected to existing facilities, allow companies to scale their capacity and power usage as needed. Outdoor units use ambient air to reduce excess heat and energy consumption.
- Powering Mines: To save on energy costs, Iron Mountain built its data center in a former limestone mine in Pennsylvania. It keeps data operations cool by allowing the underground walls to absorb up to 1.5 BTUs/ft2 (4).
- Powering Cell Towers Worldwide: Powering the 640,000 off-grid cell towers with diesel generators consumes more than 11 billion liters of diesel fuel annually. Hybridizing a cell tower using GE's innovative Durathon* sodium-nickel chloride batteries reduces fuel consumption at these sites by up to 50% and could enable more towers worldwide to be powered by renewable energy sources, such as solar power. Cutting fuel consumption by up to 50 percent delivers significant savings for the industry and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from each off-grid cell tower.
“As we create, share, and use more data in our personal and professional lives, data center energy efficiency will remain one of the biggest challenges facing the industry,” Schnitzer continued. “The innovations we are currently deploying not only provide real and immediate benefits but also pave the way for the new solutions of tomorrow.”
GE’s Critical Power division offers global product and service solutions for critical applications that maximize uptime and energy efficiency. These solutions complement GE’s broader portfolio of Industrial Solutions, which offers cutting-edge technologies designed to deliver, manage, and optimize electrical power for customers across multiple industries.
