# Presentation: 049382

## Electricity used by the Internet:  How an urban legend became conventional wisdom

- Jonathan Koomey, Ph.D.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- JGKoomey@lbl.gov, 510/486-5974, http://enduse.lbl.gov/
- For more details on the analysis discussed here, go to
- http://N4E.LBL.gov
- Download: http://enduse.lbl.gov/shareddata/internetdatatalk010507.ppt
- Presented at the EIA Spring conference, Environmental Issues Council Meeting
- May 7, 2001

## Background

- _x0008_*The Internet Begins with Coal*, by Mark Mills, was published in *Forbes* in May 1999.
- Results were widely cited and have become conventional wisdom
- Internet = 8% of all electricity use
- All office equipment = 13% of all electricity use
- Total projected to grow to 50% of all electricity use in 10-20 years

## Mills’ broader claims

- _x0008_ He says electricity demand growth will accelerate because of increased numbers and use of computers and office equipment (he equates importance in $ to importance in kWh)
- He says alternative sources cannot meet this increased demand, only coal can.
- He says that any attempt to constrain demand will kill the information economy.

## The reality

- _x0008_The importance of information technology to the economy does NOT imply that it must use a lot of electric power.
- Actual total for all office equipment is 3% of all electricity use, Internet electricity (using Mills’ own definitions) is only 1%.
- Alternative sources are growing quickly and becoming an important industry (e.g., wind).

## Recent developments 

- _x0008_Mills’ claims are becoming less widely believed, but many people still cite them, and some people still pay many $ to hear them.
- Many institutions have backed away from using Mills’ numbers.
- I and my colleagues have educated dozens of reporters on this topic.

## Mills’ analysis was flawed

- Bad data: 1-2 kW PCs, 500 kW central offices, 250 kW mainframes, 1 kW routers in LANs.
- Bad boundary definitions: Just what part of a PC or a server is “associated with the internet”, anyway?
- Overlooked systemic effects: information tech. can affect the efficiency of many processes.

## Mills’ electricity “used by the internet”, corrected by LBNL

**TWh per year**

## Data needs

- Equipment sales
- Power use (W) by operating mode
- Usage (Hours) by operating modes
- Equipment stocks (estimate using sales and lifetimes, and/or assess using surveys)
- Materials use, reuse, and recycling
- Estimate energy use and emissions
- Systemic effects (e.g., telecommuting, e-commerce)

## Latest estimate of office equipment electricity use by sector in 1999

**Residential 12%**

**Industrial 13%**

**Network**
**     ****4%**

**Commercial  71%**

**Total = 74 TWh**

- http://enduse.lbl.gov/Projects/InfoTech.html

## Comparison of Estimates of Energy Use for Commercial Office Equipment in 1999

**Printer**

**Desktop/Portable/Server Computer**

**Display/Terminal**

**Mainframe/Minicomputer**

**Copier/Fax**

**Annual Energy Use (TWh)**

- http://enduse.lbl.gov/Projects/InfoTech.html

## A key uncertainty:  Data centers/server hotels

- _x0008_Some utilities receiving requests for tens to hundreds of MW of power from proposed data centers
- Estimates for power use almost certainly too large
- One facility maximum = 90 W/sf, actual <40W/sf.
- Another facility claimed 65 W/sf, but floor area defined incorrectly to exclude aisles and other common areas, leading to an overestimate of power use (this definition is critical)
- Still another facility took direct server load and multiplied by three (!) to account for cooling, lighting, and other uses (implies a COP of about 0.5, 3-4 times too low)

## Electricity Flows in Data Centers

- local distribution lines

- to the building, 480 V

- HVAC system

- lights, office space, etc.

- UPS

- PDU

- computer racks

- backup diesel generators

- computer
- equipment

- uninterruptible
- load

## Defining metrics for data centers

**Power Loads**
**(in watts)**

**Footprint**
**(in square feet)**

- computer
- equipment
- (e.g., server)

- one rack
- (e.g., rack of servers)

- all racks

- all core data
- center space
- (net floor space)

- whole building
- (gross floor space)

- computers

- HVAC (in data center
- and for whole facility)

- lights (in data center
- and for whole facility)

- mechanical equipment
- excluding HVAC (e.g.,
- UPS, PDU)

- single data center
- floor within a
- multipurpose
- office building

- other (e.g., copiers
- and faxs in office space)

- Utilities

- Data center designers, media

- total power load

**W****/****ft****2**

## Upper bound estimate to electricity used by data centers in the U.S

- (1) Floor area taken from Juarez, Richard A. 2000. *Virtual Bricks II:  Virtual Econ 101 Update:  A Comprehensive Guide for Understanding eCommerce Infrastructure Evolution and Convergence*. Boston, MA: FleetBoston Robertson Stephens Inc.  May.  There is big uncertainty in the floor area number (could be as much as a factor of two too high).
- (2) Power density is an upper bound based on recent discussions with experts. Ignores the possibility that server loads are shifted from existing installations and not new loads.
- (3) Electricity use calculated assuming 8760 hours per year operation, flat load curve.
- (4) Total U.S. electricity use taken from EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2000.
- Contact:  JGKoomey@lbl.gov, 510/486-5974.

## Possible systemic effects of information technology (IT)

- Commercial floor space
- Reduced office space
- Reduced warehouse space
- Changes in travel patterns
- More efficient use of energy and materials
- IT + utility deregulation = energy service markets for big service providers

## Something unusual may be going on

- Source:  Joe Romm, Center for Energy and Climate Solutions

## Conclusions

- Misinformation seems to spread more quickly than truth.
- Bad data = wrong decisions
- Computers and other office equipment are NOT the cause of the California power crisis.
- Electricity used by computers and network equipment, including telecommunications and manufacturing energy = 3% of U.S. electricity use U.S., not 13% as Mills implies.

## Conclusions (p.2)

- No evidence that a Palm VII uses as much as a refrigerator (Mills has ignored eight data requests from me on this issue).
- Electricity used by data centers is relatively small in the aggregate; in certain cities such centers can be important contributors to load.

## Conclusions (p.3)

- Understanding the systemic effects of information technology is critically important (CECS, CMU, UCB, and others)
- Please spread the word!
- Credible data are urgently needed. Join our network for energy, environment, efficiency, and the information economy (N4E) at **http://n4e.lbl.gov**

## If you really want to get the numbers right http://www.numbersintoknowledge.com

- New book, just released!