Do You Have Data Center Energy-Efficiency or Green IT Accomplishments to Showcase?

If so, the Uptime Institute encourages you to apply for the Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Awards. The Institute grants these awards to data center owners, operators and vendors for projects, ideas and products that significantly improve energy productivity and resource use in IT, data centers and beyond. Learn more

The IT sector has reduced equipment emissions by 32m tonnes worldwide since 2007

A recent study has concluded that the IT sector has reduced annual CO₂ emissions associated with IT equipment by more than 32 million metric tons worldwide since 2007.

The report, which is here, was conducted by Natural Logic to assess the progress of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative’s (CSCI). The organisation was set up in 2007 and is led by CSC, Dell, Google Inc., HP, Intel, Microsoft and the World Wildlife Fund, but now has a total of 645 members. It’s aim is to reduce the environmental impact of IT equipment through energy efficiency, with a goal of reducing annual CO₂ emissions from the IT sector by 54 million metric tons by June 2011.

The research shows that annual CO₂ emissions from IT equipment have decreased by 32 million to 36 million metric tons worldwide since 2007 and is on target to achieve the CSCI’s reduction goal by the end of its 2010 fiscal year in June 2011. The report puts the success down to the CSCI’s efforts to promote the adoption of power management, new IT efficiency standards and the use of higher-efficiency computing equipment.

The CSCI has said that in the future it will expand its focus to include commercial and home networking equipment, helped by new board members Cisco, Emerson Network Power and Juniper Networks. The organisation will set new energy efficiency criteria for networking technologies and network devices will be included in the organisation’s environmental targets, with the goal of reducing annual CO2 emissions by an additional 38 million metric tons by 2015.

There’s an interesting comment in the conclusion that in fact the use of PC power management has been much lower than the organisation estimated when it set its goals; “CSCI’s original estimate was based on an assumption that the use of power management features on desktops and notebooks would be in the range of 90% by the end of the 2010 program year, but the latest research shows it is only around 10% (22% at the most)”. So it looks like there will be a particular effort by these companies to push power management in the coming months.

© The Green IT Review (www.thegreenitreport.com)

“Power IT Down Day” scheduled for Friday, August 27th, 2010 – How 1E takes a good idea even further

Promoted by partners such as Intel, HP, and Citrix, “Power IT Down Day” is scheduled for Friday, August 27^th, 2010. Per the web site, powering your computer down for a single day can help save tens of thousands of costly kilowatt hours.

Powering down a computer for a single day is a great way to promote a concept that is clearly important, and it’s an ongoing, worldwide issue that 1E (Green IT solutions provider) addresses in a more complete manner. The data 1E discovered in their 2009 PC Energy Report is staggering: “... if all the world’s 1 billion PC’s were powered down for just one night – it would save enough energy to light up New York City’s Empire State Building – inside and out – for more than 30 years.” 1E has pioneered the technology to make IT more efficient by providing tools to “power down” every day of the year instead of just one. Consider the significant impact that can be realized by implementing the “power down” concept all year long! Read more about these solution here; NightWatchman, NightWatchman Server Edition, and WakeUp.

Whitepaper - Empowering Energy Efficiency in Federal Data Centers

This white paper discusses the Federal data center consolidation initiative and describes areas where greater energy efficiency and carbon reductions can be achieved using a number of quick wins. Don't be fooled by the title - this paper is not only relevant to Federal Data Centers, there's lots of great, usable info for anyone out there who is interested in Data Center energy savings, and more specifically how 1E's NightWatchman Server Edition can help.

Just to whet your appetite, some of the topics covered in this paper are:

IT Asset Utilization

Consolidation and Power Management

NightWatchman Server Edition - Quick Wins

Read the full document here:http://www.docstoc.com/docs/46793305/Empowering-Energy-Efficiency-in-Federal-Data-Centers

New white paper: Tools to assist with the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme

Commencing April 2010 the CRC energy efficiency scheme is a cap and trade scheme for public and private sector organisations consuming more than 6000mwh of electricity a year. Compliance carries an administrative and financial burden; this burden can be reduced with the use of intelligent tools such as PC and Server power management. Download here.

The UK Tax Implications of High Energy Usage in Data Centres

A data centre with 1000 servers running at 13% utilization with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 2 and an energy rate of 0.12p per kWh will pay £18k in CCL taxes per annum.

The following is a summary of UK Government legislation for energy and climate change.

Climate Change Levy (CCL)

Introduced on 1st April 2001 the CCL is a tax on the use of energy in industry, commerce and the public sector. The levy applies to industrial and commercial energy supplies in the following sectors: industry, commerce, agriculture; and public and service sectors.

Taxable commodities and rates:

Taxable commodity	Rate
Electricity	£0.00456 per kWh
Gas supplied by a gas utility	£0.00159 per kWh
Any petroleum gas, or other gaseous hydrocarbon, supplied in a liquid state	£0.01018 per kilogram
Any other taxable commodity	£0.01242 per kilogram

Source: http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise_InfoGuides&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_PROD1_027235

Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC)

The DECC was created to bring together energy policy with climate change mitigation policy. Climate change and energy policies are inextricably linked – two thirds of our emissions come from the energy we use. Decisions in one field cannot be made without considering the impacts in the other.

Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC)

Starting in 2010 CRC is for all businesses not covered by a climate change agreement (see below) and the EU Emissions Trading System (See below). The policy has been developed with DECC, Energy Act 2008 and the Climate Change Act 2008. An estimated 20,000 organizations will be affected by the scheme and failure to comply will result in penalties.

How does it work? (Proposed)

• CRC will cover organizations with an annual energy bill of > £500k
• All energy other than transport fuels is included in the figure
• Carbon allowances will be allocated by auction
• Annual allowances will reduce over time
• Participants may be able to buy EU ETS credits to comply with emissions cap (see below)
• League tables published outlining best and worst performers in terms of carbon emission and reductions
• Self certification of monitoring, reporting and verification of emission
• Backed by independent risk based audit regime

European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)

The rationale behind emission trading is to ensure that the emission reductions take place where the cost of the reduction is lowest thus lowering the overall costs of combating climate change.

How does it work?

• Government allocates (free) emissions allowances to participating companies·
• If the company goes over their allowance they can purchase additional allowances from the market·
• The additional allowances are sold by companies who have emitted less than their original allocation of allowances

Emissions trading gives companies the flexibility to meet emission reduction targets according to their own strategy; for example by reducing emissions on site or by buying allowances from other companies who have excess allowances. The environmental outcome is not affected because the total amount of allowances allocated is fixed.

Energy intensive sectors

Energy intensive sectors are a wide range of industrial sectors, from major energy intensive processes such as steel, chemicals and cement, to agricultural sectors, such as intensive pig and poultry rearing.

Climate Change Agreements (CCA)

Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) allow eligible energy intensive business users to receive up to an 80% discount from the CCL in return for meeting energy efficiency or carbon saving targets set by the Government.

CCAs have a two-tier structure:

• A sector-level agreement between Defra and the sector or trade association (known as an umbrella agreement)
• Individual agreements between Defra and the operator of the facility (known as underlying agreements).

Targets are set on a company by company basis and must be met in order to receive the discount.

Recommendations for Reducing Energy and Taxes:

Employ the use of a reporting tool for measuring and monitoring energy use and sever efficiency. This will aid decisions such as decommissioning underutilized servers and the reallocation of workloads to use servers more efficiently, all of which will reduce overall energy consumption including cooling costs.

Lower overall energy consumption = Lower taxes

Understanding US Government Carbon Tax: Cap-and-Trade

A data center with 1000 servers running at 13% utilization with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 2 will be producing approximately 2000 metric tons of CO_{2 per year. If we estimate that each Cap-and-Trade permit (per metric ton) will cost $15, a 1000 server data center will pay $30k in Cap-and-Trade taxes per annum.}

The goal of Cap and Trade is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide throughout the economy using cost effective methods. The program is yet to be finalized.

What is The Cap?

Large emitting companies will have a limit on the amount greenhouse gases they can emit. Each ton of GHG emitted by the company must be covered by a permit. The number of permits will be reduced over time allowing less pollution until the crucial reduction goal is met.

What is The Trade?

A set number of permits are issued per year ensuring that the overall reduction of greenhouse gases is achieved. Efficient companies who successfully emit less than their target can then trade their remaining permits to companies who are not able to reduce their emissions, acting as a reward for the efficient companies.

What is a successful program?

A successful Cap-and-Trade program would limit the rise in global temperature to approximately 2.0 degrees Celsius / 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels by 2050 as part of a larger plan to abate global warming. In order to achieve this, US Government will have to lower the cap until emissions are reduced to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Initially the government would auction off the permits for around $10 to $15 per metric ton of CO₂ or its equivalent[1].

The program is initially estimated to generate in the region of $50 billion rising to $300 billion. Revenues are expected to be used to help offset costs to businesses and shareholders of affected industries and to help low to middle income Americans cover the cost of energy price increases which may occur as a result of the switch to renewable energy sources. It will also be used in the development of green technologies and trading.

Recommendations for Reducing Carbon and Taxes:

Employ the use of a reporting tool for measuring and monitoring energy use and sever efficiency. This will aid decisions such as decommissioning underutilized servers and the reallocation of workloads to use servers more efficiently, all of which will decrease energy consumption including cooling costs, reducing your overall carbon emissions.

Lower carbon emissions = Lower taxes

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[1] Center for American Progress: Cap and Trade 101 (2008)