Thinking Energy-Efficient Power Management
Businesses today are beginning to take note of the high cost of energy and need for conservation. Computer engineers can no longer take power issues for granted. Yet, lacking viable alternatives, many continue to live with existing solutions where the efficiency is low. With energy prices skyrocketing and an exponential increase in the amount of data that is stored and moved, power usage by computers and servers receives far more scrutiny by management at both vendors and customers.
A Solution to Skyrocketing Energy Costs
CHiL’s technology is arriving at a time as energy costs skyrocket. While analysts at Gartner Inc. estimate that energy bills have traditionally amounted to about 10% of an overall IT budget, they predict energy usage could soon account for more than half of it. With heat, power and cooling rising to the top of the list of data center concerns, CHiL solutions enable energy-saving technologies from Intel and AMD and dovetail with a growing number of datacenter-focused energy initiatives. These programs include:
80 Plus Program. Sponsored by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, this program provides manufacturers with incentives to use more energy efficient power supplies in desktop PCs and servers. The 80 Plus reference power supply is more than 80% energy efficient at various load levels.
The Green Grid. With AMD, HP, IBM, Sun, the EPA and the Alliance to Save Energy behind it, the Green Grid aims to collect best practices in data center operation and design. It will issue recommendations for creating more energy-efficient IT operations.
House of Representatives Bill H.R. 5646. This bill sponsors a survey, currently underway and scheduled for completion in December 2006, to study and promote the use of energy-efficient servers in the U.S. The study will include an analysis of growth trends and server utilization, the migration to energy-efficient processors, and the impact on existing energy grids.