The European Commission'sCode of Conduct on Data Centres' Energy
Efficiencycomprises a series of voluntary,
light-touch measures, expected to form the basis of more stringent
legislation in the future,laying out a set of minimum standardsfor compliance.
The move to introduce the code of conduct at the end of last
year was a recognition by the EC that datacentres are
heavy and often inefficient consumers of energy - and that
this problem is only set to increase. The organisation
estimates that, while in 2007 datacentres in Western Europe alone
used a huge 56TWh of power,
this figure is likely to almost double to 104TWh by 2020 as
automation and online adoption continue apace.
As such, growth rates will inevitably hinder the European Union
in hitting its much-touted carbon reduction and climate change
targets, such facilities are
an obvious area on which to focus.
The ultimate aim of the Code, according to Andy Lawrence,
research director of eco-efficient IT at analysts the 451 Group, is
to
drive datacentre infrastructure efficiency (DCiE) from its
current levels of 50% or less at most sites to more like 80%.
But he warns: "That's very ambitious and would be very expensive
to do. If everyone adopted all of the code's recommendations they
could probably get to 70%, but you wouldn't get to 80% unless you
made a
fairly major investment."
A much less ambitious but nonetheless important objective of the
document, however, is simply
to make IT directors and datacentre operators aware of how
inefficient their existing facilities are by encouraging them
to measure power usage. This is useful, says Lawrence, because: "A
few years ago, most CIOs didn't know what their electricity bill
was, but now about half do - and once they do, they pay real
attention to where power is being used and tend to take action
because consumption is massive."
As a result, one of the requirements of signing up to the code
is that interested parties with existing datacentres must submit
initial energy usage measurements of at least one month's duration,
before undertaking an energy audit to identify where savings can be
made.
The next step is to submit an action plan, which includes a
range of intended best practices which need to be implemented in
only 40% of the datacentre's floor space within three years of the
plan being approved by the code of conduct secretariat. Suggested
measures include improving system resource utilisation by employing
technologies such as
virtualisation as well as optimising the design, configuration
and management of energy-hungry cooling systems.
A further commitment relates to monitoring energy consumption on
a regular basis and providing the EC's Directorate General Joint
Research Centre (DG JRC) with an annual report outlining any
improved energy efficiency practices that have been introduced. The
DG JRC compares these implemented practices with the promised
measures laid out in the action plan and has the right to end an
organisation's participation if it believes that progress has been
too slow or if members have failed to meet their reporting
requirements.
A Data Collection Working Group has also been set up, meanwhile,
to correlate and analyse information from all contributors in order
to work out trends and potentially form the basis of energy
efficiency targets in future.
Nonetheless, the DG JRC has no powers of censure beyond the
right to terminate participation, as the code is not mandatory.
This means there is no formal auditing process for compliance
beyond the submission of self-certification documentation. There is
no accreditation scheme to recognise either membership or
compliance.
Lawrence explains: "They've been very careful not to frighten
off anyone that's willing to change but doesn't want to make a big
investment to do so. So you could say that they've been
over-cautious, but they felt it was more important to get buy-in.
There's also been an element of politics because the datacentre
industry, which played a big role in drafting this, doesn't want to
be regulated, so it was keen to make the bar as low as possible to
enable self-regulation."
But the downside of this approach, as Jonathan Steel, chief
executive of market research company the Bathwick Group, points
out, is that the lack of either a carrot or stick means that the
code could simply be ignored. Although he does acceed that it could
be used to set standards by other organisations, such as ISO.
"It's mainly a set of aspirations to make people think about
what they should do, so I'd imagine that government departments and
bodies such as Intellect might use it as the basis for best
practice or for procurement and consultants and vendors will use it
as an opportunity to sell products and services. But most companies
have got other things to worry about at the moment," he says.
As a result, while the code may act as a stake in the ground to
see how the market responds, it is unlikely to be taken up beyond
those organisations that have done a lot of work already in terms
of boosting energy efficiency and wish to have such activity
endorsed, not least to exploit the positive PR aspects.
Despite reported murmurs of interest from organisations such as
the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, BT and
Microsoft at the end of last year, Lex Coors, director of
engineering at co-location and managed services provider Interxion,
says not one has formally signed up so far. Coors was involved in
writing the code alongside members of other organisations such as
the British Computer Society.
He attributes this reluctance to the proposed correlation and
analysis of data undertaken by contracted members of private sector
consultancies, rather than the EU itself. This constitutes a breach
of security for companies such as his own, claims Coors, and puts
off others with fears about confidentiality.
Nonetheless, Lawrence believes that if the proposition does not
work as a voluntary code, it is likely to become mandatory. "Our
view is that it will eventually end up as legislation. It wouldn't
be especially tough to begin with - more minimum standards that
everyone has to reach. But it could lead to a more stringent system
with tougher targets over time," he concludes.
Download the EC Code of Conduct
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