Data Centers

Links: Benchmarking • Best Practices Guidelines • Bibliography • DC Power Demo • Data Centers R&D Roadmap • Demonstration Projects • India Initiative • Organizations • Self-benchmarking Protocol • Self-paced Training

Data centers have exhibited steady energy demand growth, and electric utilities have received sizeable requests for electrical power for new facilities. Although the demand has subsided somewhat following the dot.com bust, there are many challenges to understanding this market and large opportunity for energy efficiency improvement.

Key Areas of Research:

1. Characterize baseline energy use and savings potentials

• Develop and document scenarios of national baseline and energy savings potential in a special report to the U.S. Congress.
• Compile and publish peer-reviewed measured data on power used by data centers. First effort in 2000-2001 under the supervision of researchers from LBNL and AT&T. One data center was followed over time, and revisited two years after the initial assessment.

2. Benchmark data centers and document best practices

• Perform in-depth energy benchmarking on actual facilities
• Identify and promulgate best practices
• Develop self-benchmarking procedures
• Investigate how IT equipment energy consumption varies with computation loads (Summary) and develop quantitative metrics
• Contribute to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency efforts to refine metrics and measurement protocols for benchmarking server performance

3. Improve data center building systems

• Determine the range of current UPS efficiencies, highlight more efficient designs, and provide a means for comparing their total cost of ownership (TCO)
• Analyze the energy efficiency savings potential and conduct a demonstration of DC power architecture for data centers

4. Improve the efficiency of IT equipment in data centers

• Document existing efficiencies of server power supplies
• Field-test achievable energy savings from more efficient power supplies in operating server installations
• Assess other power supply savings opportunities in data centers

5. Showcase best practices at LBNL's own facilities

• LBNL's in-house energy managers have worked with LBNL researchers for several decades on improving energy efficiency in our own high-tech facilities
• Implement best practices in LBNL's Molecular Foundry, a $65-million, 6-story building housing labs, a cleanroom, and a data center - received LEED Gold Rating