6 ways to cut your data center’s energy consumption

Look around. Every company should be doing this on a regular basis, evaluating operations and processes for areas that can be more efficient — and, as a result, cut costs and increase profits. For many companies, those gains can be made by assessing the energy consumed by their data centers.

According to the Data Centers Users Group, a recent survey revealed that 42 percent of the respondents had recently analyzed efficiency with their data centers or were in the process of analyzing it. The areas that were perceived to have the greatest opportunities for energy efficiency were cooling equipment at 49 percent; servers, 46 percent; power equipment, 39 percent; and storage (21 percent).

Here are 6 ways you can focus on cutting those costs, according to Energy Star and Emerson Network Power:

1. Virtualize your servers. Consolidating multiple servers to a single physical server, those servers can operate more efficiently and reduce energy costs by 10 percent to 40 percent, according to Energy Star.
2. Decommission comatose servers. Check to see whether some of your equipment is being under-utilized or not used at all. Studies show that, on average 15 percent to 30 percent of data center equipment, is running — consuming energy without being put to use.
3. Upgrade cooling systems. Innovations have led to increased efficiency in cooling systems — one of the components of your equipment that consumes the most energy. These new technologies can include variable capacity systems and improved controls.
4. Organize and improve stored data. Take the time to minimize storage utilization by finding areas of duplication. Some companies unwittingly keep duplicate copies of the same data, wasting storage space.
5. Properly seal the data center environment. By installing a vapor seal, you can better control relative humidity, reducing the need for unnecessary humidification and dehumidification, according to Emerson Network Power.

Contact Lifeline Data Centers for colocation solutions that help you boost efficiencies. We’re committed to providing clients with secure and quality data center solutions.

Other resources:

• Infographic: The 22 Data Center Compliance Acronyms You Need to Know
• White Paper: Why Data Center Compartmentalization is Important
• Lifeline One Sheet: What You Need to Know About Lifeline Data Centers

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.