In early March, the California Energy Commission
(CEC) announced that it was awarding a grant of $500,000 to Berkeley Lab
to conduct research designed to reduce the energy use of server farms in
California by 30 percent. About 17 percent of the nation's server farms
are located in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, requiring
about 80 megawatts of power to run. Saving 30 percent of this would free
up to 24 megawatts of power.
"Any megawatt savings would be really helpful to California in the
next few summers," says Commissioner Arthur Rosenfeld, chair of the
Commission's Research, Development, and Demonstration Committee. "Twenty-four
megawatts of electricity running continuously will supply 24,000 average
California homes."
There are three parts to the research. The first will characterize the
power load drawn by data centers in California -- determining where the
data centers are in the state and how much electricity they use. Researchers
will then study three to five centers in depth and develop case studies
showing opportunities for improved energy efficiency. The third phase,
in cooperation with the private sector, will be to develop a road map
for improving the efficiency of California data centers.
Dale Sartor and William Tschudi of the Environmental Energy Technologies
Division's Applications Team are managing the project; Jonathan Koomey
of EETD's Energy Analysis Department
will participate in the first phase. The team is also conducting a case
study review of a data center in New York for the New York State Energy
Research and Development Administration. NYSERDA and the CEC will share
results of their research to help better manage power used by data centers
in both states.
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