Enterprise Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Initiatives

EPA is working with interested parties to identify ways in which energy efficiency can be measured, documented, and implemented in data centers and the equipment they house, especially servers. Provided below are EPA's current initiatives in this area

• ENERGY STAR Enterprise Server Specification Development Process
• ENERGY STAR Rating for Data Centers Development Process
• National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program
• EPA Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency

ENERGY STAR Enterprise Server Specification Development Process

EPA has launched the development process for the Tier 2 specification for Computer Servers. A Preliminary Draft Specification was distributed to stakeholders on September 24, 2009, and EPA held a stakeholder workshop on Spetember 25, 2009 in Menlo Park California. The Preliminary Draft and materials from the meeting are posted to the Tier 2 specification development page at the link below.

ENERGY STAR Tier 2 Server Specification Development Page

As part of Tier 2, EPA will be investigating methods with which to evaluate efficiency of servers while completing actual computing, transitioning the program from the current foundation developed for the Tier 1 specification. EPA developed the following position paper on the current state of energy benchmarking for servers. This paper was presented on behalf of EPA by the British Computing Society at the 2009 TPC Technical Committee conference in Lyon, France. The original publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com.

The State of Energy and Performance Benchmarking for Enterprise Servers (304KB)

EPA Finalized Version 1.0 of the Computer Server specification on May 15, 2009. Partners and other interested parties are encouraged to review materials related to development, and the final specifcation, at the link below.

ENERGY STAR Enterprise Servers Specification Development Archive Page

ENERGY STAR Rating for Data Centers Development Process

To assist data center operators in capturing the financial and environmental benefits of improved energy efficiency in their facilities, EPA is developing an ENERGY STAR rating for data center infrastructure. To develop the rating, EPA collected data on energy use and operating characteristics from a large number of existing data centers, including both stand-alone facilities as well as data centers located in office and other types of buildings. The data collection began in March 2008 and ended June 15, 2009 when all participants had submitted at least 12 months of data. Click here for a copy of the data collection form (350KB) used by participants.  Below is a copy of a presentation given by EPA at the beginning of the data collection effort, which provides additional background and details on the project.

• March 2008 Overview Presentation (234KB) — PowerPoint providing background on the ENERGY STAR Rating for Data Centers initiative, including background, methodology, and timeline.

Over 120 data centers submitted complete data, and EPA is currently finalizing the rating model, with an anticipated release date of April 2010.

The presentations and recordings of recent webinars in which EPA presented results of the rating development are provided below. If you are interested in finding out more about the rating model, please contact us at ENERGYSTARdatacenters@icfi.com.

• September 29 Webinar Presentation (239KB) — Overview of the preliminary results of the data collection initiative, including a review of data elements considered for inclusion in the final rating model.
• September 29 Webinar Recording — Listen to the recording and view the presentation of the slides above that took place September 29, 2009.
• November 12 Webinar Presentation (222KB) — Overview of the proposed model for data center infrastructure, including the data elements required in the final draft model.
• November 12 Webinar Recording — Listen to the recording and view the presentation of the slides above that took place November 12, 2009.

EPA would like to thank the following organizations for their participation and continued support of this initiative:

365 Main Inc.
7x24 Exchange
ADP Inc.
AFCOM Northern California Chapter
AOL
AT&T
Computershare
Data Center Operations Council (Corporate Executive Board)
EMC2
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Fidelity Investments
Hill Environmental Operations
Hosting.com
JCPenney Company, Inc.
Jones Lang LaSalle
King County, Washington
Lowe's Companies, Inc.
Microsoft
Mobile Satellite Ventures
New York Life Insurance Company
Principal Financial Group
Rackspace
Raritan Inc.
Rothstein Kass
ServerVault Corp.
The Boeing Company
The Green Grid
The Uptime Institute and Site Uptime Network
United Parcel Service
UnitedLayer, LLC
US Bureau of Reclamation
VISI

For more information, please contact us at ENERGYSTARdatacenters@icfi.com.

National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have initiated a joint national data center energy efficiency information program. The program coordinates a wide variety of activities from the DOE Industrial Technologies Program Save Energy Now initiative, the DOE Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), and the EPA ENERGY STAR program.

The following fact sheets summarize ongoing efforts at DOE and EPA to provide information, tools, and resources to owners and operators of data centers to assist in their efforts to reduce energy consumption in their buildings. They also provide links to a wide variety of organizations outside of the Federal government that can be of help in your efforts to improve energy efficiency.

• Fact sheet for the National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program (225KB)
• Short fact sheet for the National Data Center Energy Efficiency Information Program (85KB)

EPA and DOE have released a report which details the discussions and recommendations covered during the National Strategy Workshop on July 8, 2008 in Redmond, WA. The workshop, convened by DOE and EPA, gathered representatives from industry, utilities, associations and NGOs to identify next steps for public and private collaboration toward advancing toward the goal of improved energy efficiency in data centers. The final report is provided below.

• Energy Efficiency in Data Centers: Recommendations for Government-Industry Coordination (320KB)

EPA Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency

On August 2, 2007 and in response to Public Law 109-431 (31KB) the U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Program released to Congress a report assessing opportunities for energy efficiency improvements for government and commercial computer servers and data centers in the United States.

The study projects near-term growth in energy use of U.S. computer servers and data centers, assesses potential cost and energy savings related to computer server and data center energy efficiency improvements, and recommends potential incentives and voluntary programs to promote energy-efficient computer servers and data centers. The report complements EPA’s ongoing efforts to develop new energy efficiency specifications for data servers, including market and technical research, industry collaboration, and explorations into a new ENERGY STAR buildings benchmark for data centers which reflects whole building operations.

The report recommends a mix of programs and incentives, as well as a holistic approach to achieve significant savings. Recommendations include:

• Collaborating with industry and other stakeholders on the development of a standardized whole-building performance rating system for data centers.
• Federal leadership through implementation of best practices for its own facilities.
• Development of ENERGY STAR specifications for servers and related product categories.
• Encouraging electric utilities to offer financial incentives to facilitate datacenter energy efficiency improvements.
• The Federal government should partner with industry to issue a CEO Challenge, for private-sector CEOs to assess and improve the energy efficiency of their data centers.
• Public/private research and development into advanced technology and practices including computing software, IT hardware, power conversion, heat removal, controls and management, and cross-cutting activities.

On Thursday August 9, 2007 EPA hosted a Web based discussion on its Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Opportunities.

EPA Final Report to Congress (2.5MB)

EPA Final Report to Congress — Appendices (1.5MB)

EPA Final Report to Congress — Executive Summary (185KB)

EPA Press Release

EPA would like to thank all industry stakeholders for their valuable insight and contributions to this effort. To view documents related to the report development process visit EPA Server and Data Center Report.

ENERGY STAR Enterprise Storage Specification Development Process

EPA is currently developing a new product specification for enterprise storage. Partners and other interested parties who would like to participate in this process are encouraged to contact Andrew Fanara, EPA, at Fanara.andrew@epa.gov.

• Enterprise Storage Announcement (70KB)