The Raritan Blog

Five Simple Things You Can Do to Save Energy in Your Data Center

Michael Bord
October 7, 2014

October is National Energy Awareness Month here in the US.  Although it was first decreed in 1991 to encourage government and private sector awareness of the importance of managing energy resources wisely, this year the matter seems all the more poignant for the data center industry at large. Consider the results of Data Center Efficiency Assessment report published this past summer:

“In 2013, U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 91 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. This is the equivalent annual output of 34 large (500-megawatt) coal-fired power plants, enough electricity to power all the households in New York City twice over. Data center electricity consumption is projected to increase to roughly 140 billion kilowatt-hours annually by 2020, the equivalent annual output of 50 power plants, costing American businesses $13 billion per year in electricity bills and causing the emission of nearly 150 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually.”

The report goes on to state how data centers can cut electrical consumption by as much as 40 percent by making several changes outlined later on in the report.  Here, we take several of those recommendations, as well as recommendations from other industry-leading experts to reveal five simple things you can do to save energy in your data center.