A new computing standard may provide information that can be used to reduce out-of-control energy consumption by data centers.
According to industry reports, data centers consumed 1.2% of the United States’ electricity in 2005, the equivalent of five nuclear power plants. This consumption was twice that of just five years prior and is expected to double again by 2009.
"Many data centers consume as much electricity as a small city, and
it’s only going to get worse," says Debra Goldfarb, president and CEO
of computer industry analyst firm Tabor Communications.
Another metric, cited in a recent McKinsey & Company study, shows that the carbon footprint of data centers is predicted to eclipse that of air travel by 2020. Why? Aiming to keep up with ever-increasing demands for computing power, data center managers have been installing computers at a record pace.
Unfortunately, these systems run hot. They require vast amounts of electricity to perform their jobs and often need an equal amount of energy to keep them cool, causing data center electricity costs to outpace the cost of the computers. This macro-level global energy consumption problem gives way to a more local problem; many data centers are simply out of available power.
There are creative approaches to solving the problem. For example, Google is taking the challenge head-on by developing innovative techniques to cool its data centers, and by building new facilities near sources of hydroelectric power. But building new, efficient data centers is a mega-million dollar venture, and few data center managers have the resources of Google.
The alternative for the rest of the world is to install green computers, systems that require less electricity. Herein lies a new challenge: there are many computer manufacturers claiming to be green, and no broad-based metrics available to analyze their assertions. The Green500, founded by Dr. Wu-chun Feng of Virginia Tech, is the current metric for evaluating performance-per-watt.
"The Green500 calls attention to the issue of power consumption by ranking the energy efficiency of the 500 fastest computers in the world," Dr. Feng said. "However, the Green500 will need to evolve to offer a broader view of performance considerations than the current Linpack-based list."
The Green500 list is interesting, but it is not a tool for solving the data center energy issue, according to computer manufacturer SiCortex, which has proposed a more inclusive set of metrics for comparing energy efficiency in the High-Productivity Computing segment. The Green Computing Performance Index (GCPI) measures overall system performance-per-watt, based on the industry standard HPCC benchmark suite, developed by a team led by Dr. Jack Dongarra at the University of Tennessee.
The GCPI uses the benchmarks to provide three views of energy efficiency in terms of performance-per-watt. It is the first to measure and rank computers on a broad range of performance metrics relative to energy consumed, providing a business tool to help data center managers make more informed decisions. The initial results of sample comparisons revealed a few surprises regarding actual energy efficiencies versus marketing hype.
"We are optimistic that the GCPI will spawn needed dialogue in the industry, calling companies, including SiCortex, to live up to their claims surrounding green HPC," said Chris Stone, president and CEO of SiCortex. "To this end, we are inviting experts from the user community and other thought leaders to take ownership of this Index and preside over its neutrality. It is essential that the industry fully participate in populating this Index; its value will increase as more data is available."
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