Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
THE STATUS OF THE
PROCESSES TO ACHIEVE MORE
SUSTAINABLE DATA CENTERS
c. Operations of data centres can be distin-
guished into two types. The first type con-
sists of data centre operators that are part
of a larger organization. The second type
consists of computer hosting companies. In
2009, operators of in-house data centres are
involved in concentration, consolidation and
virtualisation of their ICT provisions. They
often do not procure new hardware until the
old hardware has depreciated. Furthermore,
these operators do not always measure their
energy consumption in enough detail. When
designing new data centres, sustainability
may play a part. Computer hosting compa-
nies charge both for used computer surface
as well as used electricity at any required
level. If required, they will to be able to
advise their customers on the implementa-
tions with regard to the energy consumption
of their hardware.
d. in 2009, advisors in the field of sustainabil-
ity such as Gartner and IBM are building a
database with data regarding sustainability
together with their customers. On the basis
of this data, advice is given. In that case, it
is always questionable what quality the data
in this database is.
In the above, five processes to achieve more
sustainable data centres have been examined.
These processes were legislation and subsidizing,
procurement, operating data centres, consult-
ing and recycling. It was established that in the
Netherlands:
a. legislation regarding sustainability of ma-
terials predominantly originates from the
European Union. Furthermore, it became
clear that governments mainly attempt to
realize energy economies by means of codes
of conduct, long-term agreements and by
subsidizing facilities. With regard to this, it
has to be concluded that the use of subsidies
mainly focuses on whether the investment
is tax deductible and that in 2008, this use
is limited to 60 subsidy applications per
annum, mainly for cooling equipment.
b. when procuring facilities for data centres,
buyers formulate demands from a sustain-
ability perspective in their request for a
quotation for workstations. As far as buyers
of authorities are concerned, these demands
go further and they ask questions about the
contribution of a supplier to the government's
organisations primary process. When sup-
plying cooling facilities and ICT provisions
the suppliers should have products that do
meet the current and future requirements with
regard to sustainability. Supplier of cooling
and UPS should make these modularly con-
nectable. Furthermore, the suppliers of cool-
ing should be able to provide cooling units
that use outside air (free cooling). Sup-pliers
of ICT provisions could gain from giving
more attention to the environmental aspect
of equipment and materials like toners. This
will make it cheaper for them to guarantee
recycling.
Looking at how these processes are executed
one can conclude that there are still clearly un-
derexposed aspects with regard to data centres.
Legislation, directives and norms do not fully
cover the area in question. With regard to procure-
ment for example, the only available norms are the
ones regarding workstations and sustainability is
also an item that often does not really count that
much. In data centres, detailed measurement of
energy further on is often insufficient.
One has to conclude that sustainability in data
centres seems to be at its early stages of develop-
ment in the Netherlands. Consolidation of data
centres is still going on and enables organisations
to save large amounts of energy. Measurement of
