Industry News and Events ENERGY STAR Data Centers Infrastructure Rating Development 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. Provided below are EPA's current initiatives in this area. ENERGY STAR Data Centers Infrastructure Rating Development Industry Energy Efficiency Guiding Principles In an effort to assist data center operators wishing to assess the energy efficiency of their facilities, eight leading organizations that set or use data center energy efficiency metrics met on January 13, 2010 in Washington, DC. The outcome of the meeting is an agreement to three guiding principles for measuring energy efficiency in data centers at the present time. These guiding principles are meant to help the industry have a common understanding of energy efficiency metrics that can generate dialogue to improve data center efficiencies and reduce energy consumption. Each of the participating organizations has agreed to promote these guiding principals to their members and stakeholders in an effort to bring uniformity to the measurement of data center energy efficiency, while the dialogue continues to advance existing metrics. Below please find a copy of the guiding principles established on January 13. We hope that these principles will help you in your efforts to improve the efficiency of data centers, and welcome your questions by e-mail to ENERGYSTARdatacenters@icfi.com. ENERGY STAR Rating 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  used by participants. Below is a copy of the presentation given by EPA at the beginning of the data collection effort, which provides additional background and details on the project.
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.
For more information, please contact us at ENERGYSTARdatacenters@icfi.com. ENERGY STAR Specification Development Process ENERGY STAR Computer Server Specification Development 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.  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 specification, at the link below. ENERGY STAR Enterprise Servers Specification Development Archive Page Representatives from the US EPA were in attendance at The Green Grid Technical Forum in San Jose, CA on February 2, 2010, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM PT, at the San Jose Marriott. Stakeholders were encouraged to attend and participate in information sessions focused on Servers and Data Center Storage. Please find the meeting materials below:
EPA has launched the development process for the Version 1.0 Data Center Storage specification. An announcement letter was distributed on April 23, 2009 marking the start of the Product Development process. All information related to the specification development process can be found at the link below: ENERGY STAR Data Center Storage Specification Development Page Representatives from the US EPA were in attendance at The Green Grid Technical Forum in San Jose, CA on February 2, 2010, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM PT, at the San Jose Marriott. Stakeholders were encouraged to attend and participate in information sessions focused on Servers and Data Center Storage. Please find the meeting materials below:
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.
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:
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. |
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— Listen to the recording and view the presentation of the slides above that took place November 12, 2009.
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