Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/634770
www.datacenterjournal.com 8 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL a caveaT aBouT The poweR gRid b ecause of the way energy is distributed through the power grid, claims regarding data center operations using solely alternative energy are a bit fuzzy. e mental picture that one might paint in such cases is of a data cen- ter in a green pasture with wind turbines rotating serenely and nary a loathsome power line in sight. But this picture gener- ally isn't the reality: not only is it oen impractical for a data center and a large power plant to reside at the same location, but wind and solar energy are far too intermittent for a data center, which needs a constant supply. Utility-supplied power remains nonnegotiable for a large data center. Chris Crosby, founder and CEO of Compass Datacenters, succinctly summa- rized the situation: "If you are going to do a 50MW+ solar farm, chances are that you are either selling it back to the utility or having the utility operate it for you." A relevant question might be whether that approach counts as true reli- ance on alternative energy, or just a cheat that enables companies to make grandiose marketing claims. Some journalists flat out accuse companies such as Apple of lying when they say they are operating on alternative sources. But absent complete isolation from the power grid, a data cen- ter will rely on a mixture from the utility as long as coal, natural gas, nuclear and other sources are contributors. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data indicates that total energy consumption in the U.S. was at nearly the same level in 2014 as it was in 2000, so a company that has invested in alternative-energy plants (assuming the concurrent decommission- ing of, say, a coal-fired plant) has increased national reliance on such sources. e sole fact that the data center proper is at a location removed from that energy infrastructure seems insufficient to justify accusations of falsehood. Nevertheless, because of the power grid's distributed nature, the situation is more nuanced than press releases might indicate. RecenT MaJoR announceMenTs Not every alternative-energy project unveiled by a technology giant necessarily involves constructing a wind or solar farm. Many such announcements are purchases of alternative energy as offsets to what an operation actually uses (typically power from coal or natural gas). A few compa- nies, however, do throw money into the energy-production business. Apple, for instance, announced in early 2015 that it would invest $850 million in a solar farm in Monterey, California. e company claims that it runs all its data centers on alternative energy—which mostly means it has purchased contracts for such energy rather than necessarily running its facili- ties directly off of solar panels and wind turbines. Other companies are following a similar path, even if they don't necessarily get into the power business. For instance, Equinix announced late in the third quarter than it had purchased some 105 megawatts (MW) of solar power to drive its California data centers, increasing the portion of its facilities that run on alterna- tive energy. At the end of the year, Google announced a purchase of nearly a gigawatt (842 MW) of alternative power across sev- eral nations for its data centers. HP made a 112 MW purchase in the middle of the year to cover all of its Texas data centers. ese announcements boast big numbers and give the impression that alternative energy is taking the technology industry (if not the nation) by storm. But alternative energy barely exceeded nuclear in the U.S. for 2014 at just under 10% of total consumption (nuclear was about 8.5%), according to EIA data. at's an increase from about 6% in 2000, but little more than the 9.3% of 2011. But even in 1984, that fraction was 8.4%, and nuclear has traded the lead with alternative energy for decades. In absolute terms, production of alternative energy was largely stagnant since the early 1980s. Only in the late 2000s did it begin to increase, and that trend may be due more to malinvestment in a low-interest-rate environment than to any real shi in the economics of power production. In other words, technology companies are talking (and even spend- ing) big, but the bigger picture doesn't bear out the headlong rush into alternative energy that the headlines might indicate. whaT aBouT The LiTTLe guy? One of the benefits of being a smaller data center operator (compared with, say, Apple or Google) is the ability to avoid the limelight when politicians, environmental- ists and others want a scapegoat with re- gard to energy efficiency or consumption. Crosby notes that the big players are able to invest in "green" (and sometimes not so green) projects that "are 'cheap' in terms of ensuring that a bunch of Greenpeace activists don't show up on TV accusing you of being an 'eco-fascist' at your next shareholders meeting. To these consumer- facing organizations, that type of bad PR matters." For such companies with cash on hand and a desire to build a more sustain- able power infrastructure, he suggests investment in natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal and is produced more readily, and in nuclear power, which has essentially no dirty emissions (although handling the radioactive waste requires great care). But what about small data center companies that want to be good stewards of natural resources? "Most data center operators realize that their time is better spent focusing on things like the efficien- cies of their on-floor layouts, hot- and cold-aisle design, and identifying the most effective cooling methodology (water, air) from a cost and performance standpoint," said Crosby. "ese areas have real impact on actual site performance and the bud- getary bottom line." On the design front, "Most of the trends are around trying to deliver IT load groups in as small an incre- ment as possible while still getting the costs of a large-scale dollar-per-kilowatt basis. is happens to be, in my opinion, the best approach for holistic sustainabil- ity. Nothing beats the value of that which you don't have to build and operate." For those companies that want to get in on the alternative-energy action, how- ever, many markets do offer options. "e