Data centres currently consume about 1.3% of global energy produced though this figure is projected to grow as capacities are expanding at an accelerated pace to cater to shifting of computing capabilities onto the cloud. To minimise the impact of the growth, public and private efforts are required, such as the Singapore government’s introduction of green building rating system for data centres, and BMW’s shifting of some applications to a renewable energy-powered data centre. Read more

By Eugene Tay in Green Business Times (10 October 2012):

The new Green Mark for Data Centres was launched today by Ms Grace Fu, Minister in Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Environment and Water Resources and Foreign Affairs at the opening of the International Green Building Conference and BEX Asia, which are anchor events of the Singapore Green Building Week. The new dedicated green building rating system for data centres is jointly developed by Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

As Singapore’s commercial data centre space is projected to increase by 50% from 2010 to 2015, it is important to look at how green and sustainable data centres are, given their heavy use of energy. It is estimated that a typical large data centre in Singapore consumes energy equivalent to 10,000 households. Energy cost for data centres is also currently estimated to make up 50% of operating costs. There is thus potential for significant savings for data centres too if they were to go green.

The scheme covers both data centres that may occupy a purpose built data centre building or are part of a larger building. It assesses data centres based on five key criteria – energy efficiency, water efficiency, sustainable construction & management, indoor environment quality as well as other green features. Based on the combined scoring, the data centres will be awarded Platinum, GoldPLUS, Gold or Certified status.

Data centre operators are embracing the new Green Mark scheme. The pilot project saw three data centres being awarded Green Mark ratings – Credit Suisse Regional Data Centre (Platinum), Equinix SG2 Data Centre (GoldPLUS) and Singapore Tourism Board Data Centre (Gold).

Rated Platinum, Credit Suisse Regional Data Centre’s winning features include an efficient air-conditioning system, the use of energy efficient IT equipment and virtualisation technology to reduce overall IT equipment power demand. Such features enabled the data centre with 10,000 square feet of net IT space to achieve energy savings of 3.85 million kilowatt hours annually. This translates to annual cost savings of $1 million. A typical similar size data centre in Singapore consumes an average of 18.1 million kWh annually.

On the latest addition to the Green Mark scheme, Dr John Keung, CEO of BCA said: “While the original Green Mark scheme started off with a focus on building owners, we are now shifting the focus to occupants. Placing greater emphasis on users will help instill in them a sustainability mindset and allow them to play a greater role in Singapore’s green building movement.”

IDA’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ronnie Tay said, “Companies are looking to host their strategic IT operations and data centres in Singapore, which offers a secure and resilient infocomm infrastructure, a thriving and vibrant infocomm industry and highly skilled infocomm manpower. As the demand for data centre increases, there is a need to ensure the sustainable development of data centres. To this end, the Green Mark for Data Centre scheme aims to encourage better management and improved energy efficiency of data centres in Singapore.”

The BCA-IDA Green Mark for Data Centres is the result of a two-year collaborative effort between BCA and IDA, with supporting partners from Energy Research Institute @ Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N) and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs (LBNL) in US. It is an extension of the successful BCA Green Mark for buildings scheme launched in 2005.

Source: www.greenbusinesstimes.com

By Energy Manager Today Staff (11 October 2012):

BMW expects to cut the cost of powering its high-performance computing as much as 82 percent by moving some of these applications to Verne Global’s 100 percent, dual-sourced renewable-powered data center campus in Iceland.

According to the UK-based data center developer, the deal will see BMW move a number of its power-hungry applications, including crash simulations, aerodynamic calculations and computer aided design and engineering, to the Verne Global facility.

High-performance computing is traditionally associated with high power consumption and carbon emissions because of the need to both power and cool the high-density servers required to run these applications. By moving 10 of its high-performance computing clusters (consuming 6.31 GWh annually) from its German facilities to Iceland’s zero-emission data center, BMW will reduce annual carbon emissions by 3,570 metric tons, Verne Global says.

BMW made the Carbon Disclosure Project’s 2012 top five list of the world’s best companies in terms of climate change disclosure and performance, Environmental Leader reported.

In other recent efforts to make data centers more energy efficient, Intel has partnered with South Korean telecom company KT Corporation to develop energy-efficient technology to reduce power consumption at data centers. The new system, if applied to every KT-owned center, would save 8.6 billion won ($7.6 million) annually. Implementing the new system in every data center in South Korea would save up to 44.8 billion won ($39.6 million).

Intel has also tested Green Revolution Cooling’s oil-based coolant for server storage, and last month, the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory selected Hewlett Packard and Intel to provide what it says will be the world’s most energy efficient data center.

Source: www.energymanagertoday.com