The Code of Conduct (COC) and the Guide to Best Practices have generally been welcomed as a very good start, with some key challenges still to be overcome amid concerns that EU policymakers will eventually make adherence to the code mandatory.
One challenge is building awareness of the code’s existence and best practice guidelines. The code is not a benchmarking scheme, but a tool to help data center operations improve performance, and to receive support and recognition by the EC.
When EU commissioner Paolo Bertoldi launched the COC in November 2008 in London, he was at pains to point out the background to the development of the code. He said data centers were growing as a percentage of business cost and the energy they were using might impact the EU’s stated aim of cutting carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.
ENERGY COSTS
“The growth of carbon emissions by data centers will increase by three times, and Western European total electricity use will reach 104TWh by 2020,” said Bertoldi. “We will reach a tipping point in supply. The policy is to allow energy cost to rise and therefore data centers will represent an increasing proportion of overall business cost.
“Some worry that if we grow at this rate, we will never be able to cut carbon emissions by 20%, as we’re being asked to do by policymakers,” he said. “The COC is tailored to EU conditions – it is action-oriented.” Other speakers at the launch event included John Dwyer, area data center manager for Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services group, who is currently overseeing the construction of a mega data center in Dublin, Ireland. Dwyer said: “Microsoft is very excited about the Code of Conduct, as an intended participant and endorser of it, since it lays the foundation for driving best practices collectively as an industry and is aligned with many of our own internal best practices. Our Dublin facility is a great example of the spirit of the Code of Conduct since it will run almost every day of the year on free cooling. We will have chillers on the roof just in case - but we are still confident we can run on fresh air all year round for maximum efficiency.”
When the fact that the EU is importing 70% of its fuel is added to the equation, pushing data center owners and operators to save energy has both global and regional impact. Taking into account carbon taxation and trading costs, rising public awareness and the implications of energy use on climate change, then data centers become an easy target.
Pointing out some of the advantages of IT, Bertoldi said: “ICT is a key enabler of environmental impact reduction and we need to demonstrate that the industry is not profligate with energy.” One interesting aspect of data center efficiency that was touched upon at the COC launch was software development, with the commission saying that it would like vendors to develop more efficient software to a point where it will be possible to tell how much power it will take to run an application and how much work will be done by the application for the amount of energy that is put into it.
This is expected to be a focus of future best practice work and forms part of the ‘Items Under Consideration’ in the Best Practice Guide, which says: “There is much research and development needed in the area of defining, measuring, comparing and communicating software energy efficiency.”
The choice of Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) as the metric by which to measure efficiency has also been welcomed.
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Obligations of Participants in the EU Code of Conduct |
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The following data should be collected monthly and reported annually in a data sheet to theEuropean Commission DG JRC by 28 February at the latest for the previous year:
• Energy consumption for main IT equipment. If meters are not installed to provide the level ofdetail indicated in the definition (B.1), energy consumption at the UPS output can be reported. Adescription of equipment included in the measured IT energy consumption should be provided.
• Total facility energy consumption.
• If more meters are installed, data should be reported for these, including a description ofequipment included in the energy consumption.
• IT rated electrical load capacity of the facility.
• Target inlet temperature for IT equipment (optional).
• External monthly average ambient temperature (optional).
• External monthly average dew point temperature (optional). |
DCiE GUIDANCE
John Tuccillo, a director of the Green Grid, said: “By ensuring that energy efficiency is measured in a way that is consistent around the world, stakeholders can be confident that, over time, they will be able to better manage the cost of energy consumed by their data centers. The Green Grid supports the efforts of the European Union and looks forward to continuing our collaboration.”
Mike West, managing director of Keysource, which is committed to becoming an Endorser of the COC, said: “Like everything, it must be applied consistently. To reduce energy, all the plant and equipment must be viewed as one system and fine-tuned accordingly. Generally, the cooling plant offers the biggest opportunity to reduce energy consumption and improve performance of the data center at the same time. I am delighted that the PUE/DCiE metric has been included – this was an excellent decision,” said West.
“I think cooling is the critical issue in the DC because it impacts all the other disciplines, so all these best practices must be taken in the context of the facility as a whole. The key issue is to control airflow inside the space, and this requires the adoption of a range of best practices applied in a co-ordinated way.
“The code should deliver both performance improvements and cost savings through saving energy, and perhaps even extend the life of legacy data centers by making better use of the power and space available. Not to mention demonstrable commitment to energy reduction, which is good from a PR point of view and with respect to corporate social responsibility.”
West says Keysource is discussing the COC with all clients, and once Endorser status is established it will encourage all customers to sign up and participate.
CHECKS AND BALANCES
Alec Bruce, EMEA ecosolutions champion at Hitachi Data Systems – a potential Endorser of the code – said the code is detailed enough to affect energy use within the data center. “The parameters stretch from data center monitoring right across to efficiency rating of electrical systems (eg, UPS). It is certainly an effective measure in the retrofit of any existing data center, providing an important checklist of all potential infrastructure energy savings.”
“Our hope is that the best practice will mature for IT productivity measures. The industry data center measures (Green Grid, Energystar, COC) have a blinkered vision, primarily on the mechanical and electrical systems, such as PUE. Ecolabelling standards (Energystar, EUP) only provide measures for domestic computing. Efficiency index measures are required for enterprise computing systems to ensure the full scope of energy efficiency in data center operations,” says Bruce.
Adhering to the code does involve a level of commitment and the best practice supplement of the code is provided as a reference document, with a full list of the identified and recognised data center energy efficiency best practices within the code.
| Key aspects of the EU Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guide |
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The EU Code of Conduct for Data Center Energy Efficiency can be engaged with on two levels.
Participants who are most likely to be owners of data centers, and Endorsers made up of vendors, consultants and industry associations.
In terms of interest and engagement with the EU, the commission has been engaged with the industry directly and via the Green Grid.
The data that is collected through the Code of Conduct is based on DCiE – the metric developed by the Green Grid, but the data can be refined.
In terms of data collection and analysis, the EU commits to being careful on data protection – all reports will be anonymous.
For confidentiality, any reports will take account of commercial sensitivity; for example, by only referring to the location of a data center by reference to the nearest city.
Simple rules assure that action implemented and monitored give credibility to the scheme.
Participants can chose a single data center or engage at a corporate level and select new or existing data centers.
Voluntary approach must be flexible enough to allow different situations (new, old, colocation).
The analysis of the reports will take into account:
• Overview of performance across Europe;
• Comparing against DC peers;
• If the Code of Conduct is making an impact – iterative process, best practice;
• Introduction of a subset of practices; and
• DCiE numbers will be broken down by region/climate and by data center type.
Reporting form has four tables
1. Basic DC description
2. Monthly electricity measurement
3. Monthly IT (electricity measurements)
4. Best practice plan; for example, if you are doing a big virtualisation project it might drive up DCiE
– but it will still be best practice |
BEST PRACTICE
Best practice is offered under guidance split into four parts: Type; Description; Expected; and Value.
Type describes the activity; Description expands on the actions; Expected details whether the action is optional and when it should be undertaken; and Value assigns a figure to the activity to indicate the level of benefit to be expected from an action and the relative priorities that should be applied to them.
A major section covers cooling and airflow management, with six subsections covering areas such as design, cooling plant and free and economised cooling, CRAC units and reuse of wasted heat.
The nine sections start with Data Center Utilisation and Management and Planning, which covers involvement of organisational groups and resilience level and provisioning. Next is IT Equipment and Services, which covers selection and deployment of new IT equipment (power, basic operating temperature and humidity range, suitability, power management features, and provision to the configured power. Deployment of New Services covers areas such as virtualisation, efficient software selection and elimination of traditional 2N hardware clusters.
Other best practice sections in the guide cover managing existing IT equipment, data center power equipment, buildings (physical layout), geographic location, monitoring and IT reporting.
Items under consideration include direct current power distribution, optimal power density, utilisation targets, and further development of storage performance efficiency definitions.
TIME WILL TELL
The benefits of adopting the code are greater efficiency and lower costs. The dangers of not adopting the code are that the governments of the EU might decide to put it, or even stricter regulations, on the statute book. Previous European laws have started out as voluntary guidelines.
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Arup – An engineering view of the Code of Conduct |
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Do the EC Code of Conduct (COC) and Best Practice Guide provide
a suitable framework for data center operation?
The EC COC version 1.0 has been reviewed recently by Arup. There is a clear need to address energy efficiency within data centers and Arup believes the EC COC provides a framework for this across the industry.
This document largely formalises work that Arup would carry out as
a matter of course as part of its due diligence relating to data centers.
However, the strength in the COC lies in formalising these ideas for both data center owner-operators (ie, Participants) with vendors, consultancies, utilities, government, standard bodies and educational institutions (ie, Endorsers) under a single EU document.
Is it detailed enough to affect energy use within the data center?
There are countless opportunities to make improvements to energy consumption within data centers, but to include these all in the first version of the code would risk reducing its uptake across the industry.
Arup believes the code is a step in the right direction and is likely to encourage improvements in energy utilisation if not facilitate it directly.
W hat conditions within the code are most relevant to your market?
Consultants fall under Section b – Endorsers. Therefore, the direct commitments would be to:
1.Offer energy advisory services;
2. Calculate and present energy efficiency benefits and power
demand options; and
3. Promote the Code of Best Practices.
We would typically include these conditions as part of our work already. The increased awareness that the code may generate throughout the industry is anticipated to be beneficial for many businesses.
What in the Best Practice Guide is the most relevant to your market?
The Best Practice Guide is targeted at owner/operators of data centers. The code serves to formalise these recommendations and, furthermore, to provide guidance with respect to monitoring and maintaining data centers during their term of operation. The Best Practice Guide is felt to be of greatest value to smaller data center operators, with limited experience of data center management, since it prescribes the experience and learnings of the industry in an easy to follow format.
Will the costs of working to the code be the same across the whole of Europe?
The cost to Arup of working to the code would not vary considerably across Europe.
What benefits will working to the code bring to data center operators?
There is a real cost benefit in designing and running a data center energy efficiently. The code provides a suggested approach by which to do this.
Do you think the EC COC will be widely adopted in the UK?
Yes. In particular, we believe that mature operators, who are already operating with good practice, will find it trivial to adopt the code, with others following their good example. |
It really depends on which way you think the wind is blowing.
ONLINE
Go to www.datacenterdynamics.com to see how others have reacted to the European Union Code of Conduct, and to download the COC and the Best Practice Guide.
