1. Data Center Efficiency
The Google way.
Arjun Mohan
Hima Sudarsan
Nithin Madhavan
Surej Shams
2. Background
Major data centers require a large
amount of energy to power and maintain
them.
The cost of running large data centers is a
significant component of the overall IT
budget of firms.
There are two components to the energy
cost of data centers:
Cost of running computers.
Cost of cooling them.
3. In 2011, the EPA estimated that data centers
in the U.S. used about 12 GW of
power, equivalent to the output of 25 major
power plants.
Due to increasing power demands, by
2020, the world's computer servers will match
or exceed the carbon emissions of the airline
industry.
4. Ways to go Green
Methods to reduce power consumption.
Distribute data centers worldwide, placing
them in areas where it‟s more efficient to
power them.
Use of hydropower.
Virtualization.
5. Google is an industry leader in data
center efficiency.
It builds its own custom data centers
rather than rely on standard industry
equipment and practices.
6. Q. 1
What is PUE, and why is it an important
place to start when considering how to
reduce data center power consumption?
What value of PUE should data center
managers strive for?
7. • Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is a
measure of how efficiently a
computer data center uses its power.
• It is the ratio of total amount of power
used by a computer data center facility to
the power delivered to computing
equipment.
• PUE was developed by a consortium
called The Green Grid.
8. • The
data center industry uses PUE to
measure efficiency.
•It help reduce the energy used for non-
computing functions like cooling and power
distribution.
•A PUE of 2.0 means that for every watt of IT
power, an additional watt is consumed to cool
and distribute power to the IT equipment.
9. A PUE of 1.0 is considered to be ideal.
A PUE closer to 1.0 means nearly all of the
energy is used for computing.
For using PUE effectively, it's important to
measure often.
It should be sampled at least once per
second.
10. Q. 2
Describe the five methods recommended by
Google for reducing power consumption.
11. Google recommends five methods for
reducing power consumption:
1. Measure PUE
2. Manage airflow
3. Adjust thermostat
4. Use free cooling
5. Optimize power distribution
12. 1.Measure PUE
• Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is
a measure of how efficiently a
computer data center uses its power.
• PUE measures the amount of non-
computing overhead energy to the
amount of energy used to power the
actual machines.
13. 2. Manage airflow
• Good air flow is fundamental to efficient
data center operation.
• For healthy server and computer function
the internal temperature of the data
center is to be kept at the right level.
• First thermal modeling is used to locate
hot spots and better understand the air
flow in data centers.
• Then simple, cost-effective tactics to
prevent hot air from mixing with the cold.
14. Use blanking panels (or flat sheets of
metal) to close off empty rack slots and
prevent hot aisle air from seeping into to
the cold aisle.
Hang plastic curtains (like those used in
commercial refrigerators) to seal off the
cold aisle.
Enclose areas with components that run
hotter (such as power supply units or
PSUs) with plastic curtains.
15. 3. Adjust thermostat
• A thermostat is a control unit for a heating
or cooling system or a component part of a
heater or air conditioner
• Senses the temperature of a system so that
the system's temperature is maintained near a
desired set point.
• The need for energy intensive air
conditioning is eliminated by raising the cold
aisle of the data center to 80°F or higher.
• This helps to reduce energy use significantly.
16. 4.Use free cooling
•Free cooling is removing heat from a data
center without using a large air-
conditioner, or chiller.
• Cold outside air, water evaporation, or
thermal reservoirs are used to cool the
equipment.
• Avoiding the need for mechanical chillers is
one of the best way for energy and cost
savings.
17. 5. Optimize power distribution
• To optimize power distribution, Google
use high-efficiency power supplies,
minimize the number of times power is
being converted from one type of
electrical current to another, and keep
power supplies as close to the load as
possible.
• The servers lose only a little over 15% of
the electricity they pull from the wall
during power conversion steps—less than
half of what is lost in a typical server.
18. Q. 3
How much of the world‟s global
greenhouse gases are the result of
computing? List several factors that
will tend to retard or accelerate data
center power consumption both globally
and in the United States.
19. Around 2% of the global greenhouse gas
emissions are a result of computing.
In this 2%, 15% constitutes data centers
and 5 % includes large internet data
centers.
20. Factors that accelerate power
consumption
Advancements in IT.
Cloud computing.
Audio and Video streaming.
21. Factors that reduce power consumption
Air management
Chillers
Virtualization.
This technique allows servers to perform
multiple tasks at once.
Distributing datacenters worldwide.
23. Data center power consumption will be
high in developed countries, because most
of the major data centers are located in
these countries.
Now, to reduce data center power
consumption, companies are preferring
places with lower ambient temperatures.
This includes, Iceland and Scandinavia.
24. This map shows Google‟s data center
locations worldwide.
25. The map shows that a large number of
data centers are located in North
America and Europe.
This will include most of the developed
countries.
26. Q. 5
Imagine that a company has developed an
advanced technology that allows it to
reduce its data center requirements by an
unprecedented amount, and creates a
competitive advantage for the company in
the data center market. Why should it
share that technology with other data
center firms?
27. If a firm share its techniques, the rest of
the industry can also be more efficient
centers, and decrease global emissions of
green house gases.
Google is considered to be an industry
leader in data center efficiency.
It builds its own custom data centers.
But Google will not share its
virtualization technology.
28. Google takes many other steps to share
its energy efficient best practices with
other firms and the public.
29. Q. 6
Should the government or an industry
association regulate the carbon emissions
of the data center industry as they do the
airline industry? Or the automobile
industry? Or is it sufficient to rely on the
competitive market place to drive down
energy consumption in data centers?
30. A government or an industry association
should regulate the carbon emissions of
the data center industry as they do for
other industries.
Such an association can make the
companies aware about the importance of
„going green‟ and there by reducing
emissions.
31. The Environmental Protection Agency, In
2007, projected that the power
requirements of data centers would double
from 2005 to 2010.
There is plenty of incentive for online e-
commerce companies to reduce their data
center power consumption.
In addition, competition among the industry‟s
largest providers of data centers are
incentivized to help their customers “go
green” and reduce costs.
