Increased efficiency in data centers has allowed for a massive increase in the data delivered, without a corresponding increase in energy used. But can this continue?

“For the last few years, efficiency increases have kept pace with increasing demands for data,” said Sartor. “That’s probably going to hold true for the next few years, but beyond that who knows what is going to happen?”  

For the last five years, efficiency has kept up, because of Moore’s Law, virtualization and the increasing efficiency of the infrastructure measured by PUE. There are a lot of people questioning whether Moore’s Law can continue, you can’t get better than a PUE of 1, and you can’t get more than 100 percent utilization. There could be some issues beyond 2020.