Growth in Datacentre Electricity Use 2005 – 2010

Growth in Datacentre Electricity Use 2005 to 2010

2011 paper by Jonathan G. Koomey, Ph.D. and Consulting Professor, Stanford University.

Growth in Datacentre Electricity Use 2005-2010Main Topic•Results of growth in electricity use in datacentres from 2005 to 2010•Growth in electricity use vs. previous 5 year period•Percentage of electricity used by datacentres - Globally & in the U.S.•Reasons for the slowdown in growth

EPA Growth Projections for 2005-2010Secondary Topic•Projected growth figures vs. actual growth•Reasons for differences between papers•Methods used to analyse data

1. Growth of Datacentre Electricity Use2005 – 2010

• Globally - electricity use in datacentres grew by 56%

• U.S. - electricity use in datacentres grew by 36%

• Difference of 44% - Globally• Difference of 64% - U.S.

Main Findings

Both global and U.S. rates had doubled for 2000 - 2005

Due to reduction in server installed base & changes to the power use per server

Main Findings

2. Percentage of Electricity Use2005 – 2010

• 1.1 - 1.5% of global electricity use• 1.7 – 2.2% of U.S. electricity use

Average Power Consumption

• Global – 23.2 to 34.4 gigawatts• U.S. – 7.7 to 12.3 gigawatts

Main Findings

3. Projected Growth vs. Actual Growth• Globally - Electricity use projected to grow to

2.2% of total electricity used vs. actual growth to 1.3%

• U.S. - Electricity use projected to grow to 3.5% of total electricity used vs. actual growth to 2%

Projected growth = All trends continue.Upper bound = IDC figures for no. of servers + ‘00 – ’05 electricity use per server continues.Lower bound = IDC figures for no. of servers + no change to electricity use per server.Actual growth = Mid-point of upper and lower bound

Reasons for Slowdown in Datacentre Electricity Use

Virtualisation

•Higher server utilisation•Multiple virtual servers on single physical server•Less servers = Less electricity useFinanci

al Crisis

•Economic slowdown – companies cut costs by reducing numbers of servers•Less servers = Less electricity use

Reduction in number of

servers

Other Factors

• Cloud computing

• Datacentre efficiency

• Power consumption

per server

Breakdown of Electricity Use in a Datacentre

Servers

Volume Servers

Mid-Range Servers

High End Servers

Hard Disk Drives

Solid State Disks

Switches

Routers

Hubs

• Volume servers are the single biggest consumers of electricity in the datacentre

• Future power per server more important than server installed base

• Infrastructure equipment is the biggest group consumer of electricity

• Storage capacity less important than number of spindles

Breakdown of Electricity Use in a Datacentre

PUE - Power Usage Effectiveness: Used to measure efficiency of datacentre.

Total Power Entering Facility Power Consumed by IT Equipment PUE Ideal PUE = 1. This means that all the power entering a datacentre is consumed by the IT equipment.

Why is this an area of interest to the electronics industry?

Drivers to Reduce Electricity Use

Political & Legal – legislation, regulation and policiesEconomic – Cut costs & increase profitsScientific – Prevent damage to environment (e.g. greenhouse effect)Social – Reputation of company, social influence businesses, corporate social responsibility

Factors Affecting Future Electricity Use in Datacentres

• Virtualisation• Cloud computing – Higher server utilisation & less electricity• Power consumption per server vs. numbers of servers• Datacentre efficiency – since 2006 datacentre efficiency improving through

practices (e.g. more efficient heating & AC, smart lighting , etc.)

Questions?