Pictures of the Future Spring 2008
Energy for Everyone – Computers and Energy
Low-Carbon Surfing
Internet usage plays a significant role in global CO2emissions. New strategies for making computers, servers and server farms more efficient are in the pipeline.
Experts at Fujitsu Siemens Computers are exploring how to improve the energy efficiency of computers (below). Data centers in Germany alone produce six million tons of CO2 annually
The world of bits and bytes is in need of a strict diet. Environmental experts have been adding up the watts used by the IT branch and want it to significantly reduce its energy consumption. They have confirmed that servers are the biggest energy eaters. Altogether, there are now more than 30 million servers worldwide. They provide networks with a variety of services and are usually found in data centers stacked to above head height.
According to a recent study by the Berlin based Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, data centers in Germany alone use enough energy to power two and half million households and are therefore responsible for around six million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Jonathan Koomey, a professor at Stanford University, calculated that a total of fourteen 1,000-MW power plants would be required just to power the world’s servers.
"This figure will get even bigger because more and more people are staying online longer," suggests Dr. Claus Barthel of the Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in Wuppertal, Germany. He said that internet usage has more or less doubled during the past five years and has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in energy consumption by servers. "Energy consumption within the IT branch will depend mainly on the seriousness and success of the efforts being made in energy-saving technologies," said Barthel.
The potential for savings is huge. "Equipping data centers with more efficient technology can shave around one third off their energy bills," estimates David Murphy, who coordinates "Sustainable IT" projects at Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS). He adds that a new data center built for optimal energy efficiency would use only half as much energy as older centers. That’s a particularly attractive proposition for data center operators because increases in energy prices could soon add up to annual electric bills that are as high as the cost of the hardware itself.
Under the title "Transformational Data Center," SIS engineers are drawing up detailed plans for energy savings and are overseeing their implementation. They work closely with IT experts from Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC), who are developing energy-saving equipment and new technologies. Indeed, FSC manufactured one of the world’s first computers with an Energy Star 4.0 rating—up to now the only globally acknowledged energy certification for computers. Thus, the Esprimo E5615 EPA consumes half the energy required by regular PCs. And FSC now manufactures seven other similar energy-stingy models.
FSC monitors from the ScenicView and ScaleoView product lines also now wear the Energy Star badge. What’s more, during the summer of 2008, FSC will introduce the world’s first zero-watt monitor. Thanks to a built-in condenser that stores power for up to three days, the monitor uses no power in standby mode. The monitor is automatically switched on via a signal that is relayed to it from the connected computer. This feature saves several euros per year in electricity.
Mention should also be made of FSC’s TX120 office server. At 163 W, it consumes only a third of the energy required by standard servers, which makes it, according to Fujitsu Siemens Computers information, the world’s most economical server.
"The work involved in reducing the energy requirements of computers, servers, and data centers and their infrastructure is difficult and complicated," says Dr. Wolfgang Gnettner, who oversees the "Green IT" project at FSC. He points out that you first have to acquire components that are especially energy efficient; for example, multicore chips that use several modest processors but perform just as well as chips with only one high performance, power-hungry processor. Power supply units are now also available, at affordable prices, that can convert a hefty 80 % or more of power. This compares to a modest 50 % conversion factor for earlier units.
Computer energy consumption does not depend alone on the energy efficiency of its components but also on how such components are managed. "An average PC running at just 10 % of its capacity still consumes 70 % of the energy it needs when running at full capacity," says Gnettner. Green IT experts at FSC are therefore developing management systems that deliberately cut back processor chip performance and rapidly turn processing power back up again as and when required.
Distribution of energy usage for an RX 300 server from FSC. The central processor has the biggest appetite
Appetite for Energy. Another important recipe in an energy-saving diet is called virtualization. This can make large numbers of servers redundant, meaning that they can be taken out of service. Gnettner explains the principle behind virtualization: "Specific tasks, which are currently handled by individual computers, for example print or email servers, are implemented in software and thus isolated from the hardware." These programs then all run on the same computer, but entirely independently from one another. Gnettner said that virtualization also enables the programs currently running on a desktop PC to be transferred to a central server.
This means that current desktop computers could be reduced down to the format of a school atlas. These "thin clients" can still access the required programs at any time via a network but, according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Environment, Safety and Energy, they use around two thirds less energy. FSC has already been supplying thin clients for several years. Virtualization and thin client solutions are right at the top of the list of Siemens SIS energy-saving strategies too.
FSC engineers have also set their sights on computer cooling systems because these have a particularly big appetite for energy. Cooling systems are responsible for around half of a computer’s energy requirements. This isn’t surprising considering that bits and bytes are capable of generating a lot of hot air. "An average server working at full capacity can generate as much heat as several heating stoves," explains Gnettner. With this in mind, FSC engineers have developed a sensor system that measures temperatures at different locations within a computer. A controller then ensures that cooling is carried out only where it is needed, depending on the thermal output of different components.
There are many recipes for an energy-saving diet, and the technology to implement them already exists. But SIS expert Murphy warns against getting bogged down in details while losing sight of the big picture. "For example, it doesn’t make much sense to re-equip an entire data center with more efficient computers and then to discover that you don’t actually need a lot of the equipment anyway," he says. Consolidation plans should always have the highest priority. Murphy says that SIS has been able to reduce the number of its backup servers by 90 % within the last three years.
SIS engineers also came up with imaginative plans, which were then implemented, for its centers’ energy-intensive air-conditioning systems. For example, naturally occurring groundwater is used for cooling at an SIS data center in Munich. Murphy says that this results in energy savings of 50 % over the conventional system. The Siemens data center in Paderborn cools its computer rooms with a refrigeration system that uses the waste heat from a neighboring block heating power plant.
If such plans and holistic solutions are implemented, the beneficiaries will not just be the climate and the IT industry’s energy bills. It may also help clean up IT’s image as an environmental polluter.
Andrea Hoferichter