With the sheer amount of computing infrastructure running, and the cooling requirements needed to keep that equipment in good condition, it comes as no surprise that data centers are energy hogs.
In fact, some of the largest data centers require more than 100 megawatts of power to operate—which is enough juice to keep the lights on at 80,000 U.S. households.
As the demand for data centers continues to increase—and ground breaks on more and more hyperscale data centers—it’s more important than ever to integrate as much energy efficiency into new data centers as possible. Not only will this enable organizations that run the data centers to lower their energy bills, but it will also help lower their carbon footprints—which is the key to going green and protecting the planet for future generations.
With all this in mind, let’s take a look at four ways you can maximize data center energy efficiency, to preserve resources and build a more sustainable tomorrow:
1. Optimize IT power
The whole purpose of data centers is to deliver IT solutions while supporting computing infrastructure and applications. So it comes as no surprise that IT power plays a prominent role in data center energy efficiency—or the lack thereof.
According to Gartner, 60 percent of all data center power to IT equipment goes to servers. Meaning if you can optimize your servers, you can lower your energy consumption.
Some ways in which you can do that include cleaning up workloads, consolidating virtual machines, virtualizing more workloads wherever you can, eliminating extra servers that aren’t being used and modernizing your existing servers to newer models.
2. Optimize data center physical space
If you build a data center that’s larger than it needs to be, you will end up paying extra for heating, cooling and lighting costs, among other things.
If your goal is to build an energy-efficient data center, you need to invest a lot of time up front, to make sure that your data center footprint is the perfect size. Otherwise, you will end up with more space than you need, which will cause you to drain more energy than you require.
3. Optimize cooling efforts
Data centers require powerful cooling systems in order to counteract all the heat that a room full of servers produces. This is why it’s so important to invest in efficient cooling systems.
But beyond that, this is also why you need to pay close attention to data center design. The more efficiently you design your data center from the outset, the easier it will be to mitigate the heat emitted by servers. For example, you can design your data center in such a way that heat is sent outside or to other parts of the building, should your facility allow for this.
4. Use data center infrastructure management tools
You can gain further efficiencies in your data center by investing in data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools. Such tools give you more control over monitoring, managing and controlling data center infrastructure, as well as related heating and cooling systems.
With granular visibility into your operations throughout the day—and from any connected device—it becomes that much easier to ensure that your data center is running optimally at all times, saving you on costs and lowering your carbon footprint in the process.
How modular data centers can help increase data center energy efficiency
One of the easiest ways to build more energy efficiency into new data centers is by taking the modular approach to construction. This way, construction occurs inside a vendor’s factory, which enables it to match components at the factory and configure them to optimize cooling. Further, the modular approach enables you to properly plan capacity in order to build the footprint you need—nothing more, nothing less. Add it all up, and modular data centers are considerably more energy-efficient than their stick-built counterparts.
For more information on how modular data centers deliver unparalleled energy efficiency—and how your organization stands to benefit from them in an abundance of ways—check out our free ebook, The Complete Guide to Modular Data Center Solutions.
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