# Presentation: 247960

## Latest Measured Data on Data Center Power Use in the U.S. 

- Latest Measured Data on Data Center Power Use in the U.S.

- 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/datacenterstalk020312.ppt
- To be presented at the 2002 NEMS conference
- March 12, 2002

## Background

- _x0008_*The Internet Begins with Coal*, 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
- These numbers are incorrect, but their prominence has prompted much research.

## Mills’ electricity “used by the internet in 1999”, corrected by LBNL

**TWh per year**

## 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

## 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**

## Results from one data center based on measured data

- (1) Source:  Mitchell-Jackson, Jennifer. 2001. *Energy Needs in an Internet Economy: A Closer Look at Data Centers*. M.S. Thesis, Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley. http://enduse.lbl.gov/projects/infotech.html
- Contact:  JGKoomey@lbl.gov, 510/486-5974.

## Total computer room power densities based on billing data

- (1) Source:  Mitchell-Jackson, Jennifer. 2001. *Energy Needs in an Internet Economy: A Closer Look at Data Centers*. M.S. Thesis, Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley. http://enduse.lbl.gov/projects/infotech.html
- (2) Data are for server hosting facilities and are not necessarily representative of corporate data centers.  Power use includes all HVAC and auxiliary equipment.
- Contact:  JGKoomey@lbl.gov, 510/486-5974.

## Electricity used by hosting-type data centers in the U.S

- (1) Source:  Mitchell-Jackson, Jennifer. 2001. *Energy Needs in an Internet Economy: A Closer Look at Data Centers*. M.S. Thesis, Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley. http://enduse.lbl.gov/projects/infotech.html
- (2) Power density estimates ignore the possibility that server loads are shifted from existing installations and are 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 2001.
- Contact:  JGKoomey@lbl.gov, 510/486-5974.

## Publications

- Article summarizing latest estimates of power used by office equipment in Energy--The International Journal, vol. 27 (3) pp. 255-269.
- Article summarizing latest estimates of power used by a specific South Bay data center under review by Energy--The International Journal.
- Article summarizing latest estimates of aggregate power used by data centers to appear in a special issue of Resources, Conservation, and Recycling.

## Future work

- Working with Uptime institute to compile data on power used by corporate data centers.
- Seeking more accurate data on floor area of hosting and corporate data centers.
- Collecting data on measured consumption of all different types of office equipment for EPA’s Energy Star program.

## Conclusions

- Misinformation seems to spread more quickly than truth.
- Bad data = wrong decisions
- Electricity used by computers and network equipment= 3% of U.S. electricity use, not 13%.
- Electricity used by data centers is relatively small in the aggregate; in certain cities such centers can be important contributors to load.

## Conclusions (continued)

- More work needed to estimate floor area for hosting facilities and corporate data centers, given the volatility in the market.
- Credible data are urgently needed. Join our network for energy, environment, efficiency, and the information economy (N4E) at **http://n4e.lbl.gov**