|
As the world celebrates Earth Day, it’s worthwhile considering the state of the IT industry’s Public Enemy No. 1 – the data center.
Sure, on their own, data centers don’t seem like much of a threat to the environment. There are no billowing smoke stacks and for the most part there are no pipes discharging wastes into nearby lakes or streams.
But as everyone knows, the problem lies in their care and feeding.
Data centers are huge consumers of electricity and as the world creates and processes more and more information, data centers are expected to continue to eat up a larger share of global energy consumption. In 2008, McKinsey & Company put out an influential report that warned that data centers were responsible for the emission of as much greenhouse gas as the entire country of Argentina. If left unchecked, McKinsey warned they would contribute four times that amount by 2020.
So yes, there is a problem. But I’m optimistic this is a problem the IT industry can meet and perhaps drive real change and create innovations that will have widespread positive impacts in other sectors.
Over the past year the industry has made great strides in designing and building data centers that consume far less energy than previous generations. Not only are we talking about servers and storage systems that can process far greater amounts of information, we’re also talking about exciting improvements in virtualization technologies and the design of data centers. Earlier this year, for instance, HP opened up the world’s first wind-cooled data center off the coast of England.
Google offers another prime example. The company has pledged to neutralize its carbon footprint by reducing energy efficiency, investing in renewable energy sources, and purchasing carbon offsets for the emissions it can’t reduce directly. That has resulted in a number of initiatives, including the installations of huge solar arrays at some of its newest data centers. It has set a goal to produce 50 megawatts of renewable energy – enough to power about 50,000 homes – by 2012.
The battle is far from over and many more innovations will need to be made before data centers are tamed, but the past year has been promising.
In an article in the San Jose Mercury News, writer Paul Rogers considered the doom and gloom that the Bay Area was under back in the 70s – when the first Earth Day was held. Back in 1970, he noted the Bay Area’s nine counties recorded 35 days of smog exceeding federal standards. In 2008 there were zero days – despite the fact that the Bay Area’s population has almost doubled. Technological improvements in motor vehicles were a big factor in the improved air quality.
I’m not saying we should give data centers a break – to the contrary, let’s keep the pressure up- but it’s hardly a doomsday scenario. Today’s problems may very well be creating the innovations that will result in a greener future.
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
