BCS/PGD/IT Environment/Data Centers

Environment Impact of Data Centers

A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and various security devices. Large data centers are industrial scale operations using as much electricity as a small town and sometimes are a significant source of air pollution in the form of diesel exhaust. Capabilities exist to install modern retrofit devices on older diesel generators, including those found in data centers, to reduce emissions. Additionally, engines manufactured in the U.S. beginning in 2014 must meet strict emissions reduction requirements according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regulations for off-road uses including those found in diesel generators.

Requirements for modern data centers

IT operations are a crucial aspect of most organizational operations around the world. One of the main concerns is business continuity; companies rely on their information systems to run their operations. If a system becomes unavailable, company operations may be impaired or stopped completely. It is necessary to provide a reliable infrastructure for IT operations, in order to minimize any chance of disruption. Information security is also a concern, and for this reason a data center has to offer a secure environment which minimizes the chances of a security breach. A data center must therefore keep high standards for assuring the integrity and functionality of its hosted computer environment. This is accomplished through redundancy of both fiber optic cables and power, which includes emergency backup power generation.

The "lights-out" data center, also known as a darkened or a dark data center, is a data center that, ideally, has all but eliminated the need for direct access by personnel, except under extraordinary circumstances. Because of the lack of need for staff to enter the data center, it can be operated without lighting. All of the devices are accessed and managed by remote systems, with automation programs used to perform unattended operations. In addition to the energy savings, reduction in staffing costs and the ability to locate the site further from population centers, implementing a lights-out data center reduces the threat of malicious attacks upon the infrastructure.

There is a trend to modernize data centers in order to take advantage of the performance and energy efficiency increases of newer IT equipment and capabilities, such as cloud computing. This process is also known as data center transformation.

The physical environment of a data center is rigorously controlled. Air conditioning is used to control the temperature and humidity in the data center. "Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments" recommends a temperature range of 18–27 °C (64–81 °F), a dew point range of 5–15 °C (41–59 °F), and a maximum relative humidity of 60% for data center environments.

Modern data centers try to use economizer cooling, where they use outside air to keep the data center cool. At least one data center will cool servers using outside air during the winter. They do not use chillers/air conditioners, which creates potential energy savings in the millions.

Energy Use

Energy use is a central issue for data centers. Power draw for data centers ranges from a few kW for a rack of servers in a closet to several tens of MW for large facilities. Some facilities have power densities more than 100 times that of a typical office building. For higher power density facilities, electricity costs are a dominant operating expense and account for over 10% of the total cost of ownership of a data center.