05-02-13 | Blog Post
In 2013, the biggest trend for data centers is making them more energy efficient. There are very simple things companies can do like turning off the lights in the data center to more strategic plans like locating data centers in cool geographical areas like the state of Michigan. If interested in learning more, see the list of articles below.
All of these individual ideas can make a difference. But what is that “big idea” that could make a significant impact on the environment and drive innovation to create even more efficiencies?
“The best thing is to fill the data centers,” says Yan Ness, Online Tech Co-CEO.
Ness gives the example of how much energy resources are actually consumed by a mid-sized company to run their servers.
A 100-employee company would typically have around 15 servers to manage their email, store files, and run their applications. Each server uses the same energy, equal to a 300-watt light bulb. If you add up 15 300-watt light bulbs, running 7X24, that’s equivalent to driving a car 250,000 miles every year.
It is very likely that these companies are not running as efficiently as possible. The companies may not realize how much energy is being consumed or they are unable to financially justify investing in more efficient equipment. So, what would happen if we move the 15 servers into a specialty data center?
We would automatically see more energy efficiencies just by moving this equipment out of the closet and into more efficient data centers. Then if we would move those 15 servers into a data center’s cloud, 90% less energy would be consumed.
Once all of the data centers are filled, something interesting will happen. All sorts of ingenuity around making data centers more efficient will grow even more because it makes financial sense to do so.
What do you think? Does Ness have the “big idea” by filling up the data centers?
Incorporating Energy Efficiencies in Data Centers
The Next Generation Data Center: How Michigan Data Centers Fit the Bill
Investing in Data Center Efficiencies – Part One
Investing in Data Center Efficiencies – Part Two
Michigan – The Next Cool Thing for Data Centers
Could Wind Farms Power Michigan Data Centers?
