Home > Partner Resources > Specifications in Development > Enterprise Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Initiatives
EPA is working with all interested parties to identify ways in which energy efficiency can be measured, documented, and implemented in data centers and the equipment they house, especially servers. Provided below are EPA's current initiatives in this area:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have initiated a joint national data center energy efficiency information program. The program coordinates a wide variety of activities from the DOE Industrial Technologies Program Save Energy Now initiative, the DOE Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), and the EPA ENERGY STAR program.
The following fact sheets summarize ongoing efforts at DOE and EPA to provide information, tools, and resources to owners and operators of data centers to assist in their efforts to reduce energy consumption in their buildings. They also provide links to a wide variety of organizations outside of the Federal government that can be of help in your efforts to improve energy efficiency.
On August 2, 2007 and in response to Public Law 109-431 (31KB) the U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Program released to Congress a report assessing opportunities for energy efficiency improvements for government and commercial computer servers and data centers in the United States.
The study projects near-term growth in energy use of U.S. computer servers and data centers, assesses potential cost and energy savings related to computer server and data center energy efficiency improvements, and recommends potential incentives and voluntary programs to promote energy-efficient computer servers and data centers. The report complements EPA’s ongoing efforts to develop new energy efficiency specifications for data servers, including market and technical research, industry collaboration, and explorations into a new ENERGY STAR buildings benchmark for data centers which reflects whole building operations.
The report recommends a mix of programs and incentives, as well as a holistic approach to achieve significant savings. Recommendations include:
On Thursday August 9, 2007 EPA hosted a Web based discussion on its Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Opportunities.
EPA Final Report to Congress (2.5MB)
EPA Final Report to Congress — Appendices (1.5MB)
EPA Final Report to Congress — Executive Summary (185KB)
EPA would like to thank all industry stakeholders for their valuable insight and contributions to this effort. To view documents related to the report development process visit EPA Server and Data Center Report.
EPA is currently developing a new product specification for enterprise servers. Partners and other interested parties who would like to participate in this process are encouraged to contact Andrew Fanara, EPA, at Fanara.andrew@epa.gov.
ENERGY STAR Enterprise Servers Specification Development Page
Sign-up extended to July 1, 2008.
To assist data center operators in capturing the financial and environmental benefits of improved energy efficiency in their facilities, EPA is developing an ENERGY STAR rating for data center infrastructure. However, to develop the rating, EPA must first collect data on energy use and operating characteristics from a large number of existing data centers, including both stand-alone facilities as well as data centers located in office and other types of buildings. EPA needs the help of industry stakeholders to make this effort a success, and everyone has a role to play in this effort:
Provided below are a number of documents to help you, your members, or your clients get started.
Progress Update
As of May 30, 2008, over 120 data centers from more than 60 organizations have signed up to participate in the data collection. EPA thanks the following organizations for their participation or support of this initiative:
365 Main Inc.
7x24 Exchange
ADP Inc.
Computershare
Data Center Operations Council (Corporate Executive Board)
Digital Realty Trust, Inc.
EMC2
Hill Environmental Operations
Hosting.com
JCPenney Company, Inc.
Juniper Networks, Inc.
Rackspace
Raritan Inc.
The Green Grid
The Uptime Institute and Site Uptime Network
United Parcel Service
Unum
VISI
EPA will be holding regular webinars to assist participants throughout the data collection process, and to present preliminary findings. Please check this website for updated schedules. Below are the presentation and audio recording of a recent Q&A session held on May 6, 2008.
For more information, and to submit Expression of Interest forms, please contact us at ENERGYSTARdatacenters@icfi.com.
Carbon Footprint Energy Efficient IT Summit, London, England, September 4–5, 2008
Digital Power Forum, Burlingame, CA September 15–17, 2008
Computerworld Green IT Symposium, Washington, DC, September 17–18, 2008
Datacenter Dynamics, Miami, FL, October 22, 2008
Report on Energy Efficient Servers in Europe: Part 1, Energy Consumption and Savings Potential
EU Code of Conduct on Datacenter
ENERGY STAR Update Webinar: IT Equipment and Data Centers, April 18, 2007 (327KB)
Global Trends and Opportunities for Energy Efficiency (417KB)
Navigating Our Environmental Future (778KB)
Global Trends: Government Initiatives to Reduce Energy Use in Data Centers, February 2008 (345KB)
Opportunities in a Carbon Constrained World (9.25MB)
LBNL Best Practices Guide for Data Centers
Server Efficiency Benchmark Development Effort
Stakeholder Workshop to Discuss EPA Report to Congress, Santa Clara CA, February, 16, 2007
Conference on Enterprise Servers and Data Centers January 31 – February 1, 2006