Rewarding Efficiency in the Data Center
Google pioneers an organizational structure that reduces energy use.
See how Google has incentivized energy efficiency at its data centers.
Data Center Innovation
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RELATED LINKS
- Google's IT Lesson
- Revolutionizing Data Center Efficiency - McKinsey/Uptime Institute Report (registration required)
2009 INNOVATIONS REVIEW
Companies find that environmental sustainability helps reduce costs and gain advantages.
Our knowledge-based economy depends on data centers to store and process electronic information. Yet data centers also waste enormous amounts of energy.
In a typical data center, less than 5% of total power is used for computing operations. The other 95% is simply lost along the way—as heat in the servers, as conversion losses in power supplies, powering fans and lights and in cooling systems required to remove all that waste heat.
Not a technical problem
Technological solutions are available today to vastly improve data center efficiency, but companies are typically not organized in ways designed to minimize lifetime energy costs. Facilities and IT divisions are siloed, and their executives don't have sufficient incentives to focus on energy efficiency. Utility bills virtually never go to IT, and they often don't go to facilities, either.
Google's approach
By contrast, Google's data centers have become models of efficiency because of the way the company is organized. Google put all data center operations (IT and facilities) under the control of one executive, SVP of Operations Urs Hölzle, and encouraged employees to consider the total lifecycle cost of purchases. Today Google powers its data centers using less than half the energy as the industry average. Q&A with Urs Hölzle.
Kenneth G. Brill, executive director of the Uptime Institute, a nonprofit association of data center professionals, estimates that Google's industry-leading data center efficiency practices have saved the company at least $500 million in capital expenditures, $33 million in annual depreciation and $17 million in annual electricity costs.
So why does this matter? The Institute estimates that data centers account for between 8 and 35% of overall energy consumption at non-manufacturing firms. The Institute also reports that the total 2008 energy cost for data centers is $6 billion and growing by about 12% annually.
Posted: 09-Apr-2009; Updated: 20-Apr-2009
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