Design

By 2020, the manufacture, distribution and usage of IT equipment could reach 3% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions – more than aviation and twice that of current UK levels, according to figures from the consultants McKinsey.

The fastest growing contributor to emissions will be data centres, says McKinsey. But there are ways to improve the energy efficiency the world’s estimated 30 million servers and other IT systems.

The most recent offerings come from HP, which is adding power-capping server technologies and energy efficiency services to its Thermal Logic portfolio, as part of its Green Business Technology initiative.

Power-capping technology identifies exactly how much power each server requires and then sets a limit based on this usage. The energy saved by power capping can be used to increase capacity by up to three times. Energy consumption can also be reduced by up to 25% - saving around $300,000 a year.

HP’s new energy efficiency design and analysis service gives companies an overall assessment of their data centre energy usage and provides detailed plans for energy efficiency improvements, along with the cost benefits and investment payback estimates.

The service can also provide designs for new builds and retrofits that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) standards.

“Customers are able to drive down data centre costs by reducing energy consumption and, at the same time, minimize environmental impact,” says Peter Gross of HP.

Meanwhile, Dell has overtaken competitors HP, Apple and IBM to become the fourth largest buyer of renewable energy in the US, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Over the last four years, Dell has increased its renewable energy purchase from 12 million kWh to 553 million kWh. The company currently buys enough green power, emissions reductions and renewable energy certificates to cover its total global electricity usage.

For further information:
www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_IT_can_cut_carbon_emissions_2221
www.hp.com/
www.hp.com/go/thermallogic
www.hp.com/go/dynamicpowercapping
www.dell.com
www.epa.gov/