Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Data Center Energy Efficiency Project & Summit

Mission Statement: Driving Energy Efficiency – Green Operations – for Data Centers

Data Centers consume a significant amount of energy and will continue to do so at an alarming rate. According to the latest EPA report, Data Centers in the United States used about 61 billion kWh in 2006,double the amount of electricity used in 2000 – enough electricity to power 5.8 million households. By 2011, U.S. data centers are on course to consume up to 100 billion kWh.

This will result in an annual cost of $7.4 billion and the need for 10 new power plants – and depending how future data centers are fueled, the additional electricity demand could lead to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

This trend line is not inevitable. There are commercially available, cost effective solutions that significantly reduce energy consumption and help optimize performance. The dollar savings generated through sustainable reductions in energy use, combined with utility rebates, make investments in energy efficiency pay for themselves. And the payback periods are short. For the 17 case studies presented at the Leadership Group’s 2008 Data Center Summit, the payback periods (the time period for the dollar savings generated to cover the project costs) were often less than 12 months, some less than 5 months, with annual energy savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The challenge is the lack of knowledge and the general risk aversion of most Data Center operators. Operators simply lack the time and the means to conduct the due diligence required. And why take the risk? Their primary objective is to provide reliability – maintain data center operations on 24/7 time frame 365 days a year.

The Data Center Energy Efficiency Project provides solutions:

• Case studies for cost effective energy efficiency solutions for data center operations
  Through the support of a myriad of partners, the Leadership Group teams up host data centers to showcase cost effective solutions, both in hardware and software applications, to reduce energy consumption.
  
  Project costs are subsidized through a combination of utility rebates and the sweat equity of the technology partners. For projects that involved “proof of concept,” funding has been provided by the California Energy Commission’s PEIR (Public Energy Investment Research) and other sources.
• Subject data included in case studies to third party validation
  The case studies provide are liable tool for data center operators. They are not marketing material generated by the vendors. Under the Demonstration Project Agreement, the host data center operator (the end user) is responsible for assembling and presenting the case study at the Summit. All data included in the case study is also evaluated and validated by a third party.
• Showcase the case studies at annual Data Center Energy Efficiency Summit
  Case studies are presented at an annual Summit and then made available online through the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s website.