Originally posted on Data Center Frontier by Julius Neudorfer
In the past, most IT equipment power loads did not decrease much even when idle, representing a huge direct waste of IT energy, as well as creating a heat load that required (and wasted) cooling system energy. In 2009 the EPA released the first Energy Star for Servers program, which defined a series of energy usage and efficiency requirements. These requirements focused on increasing overall server energy efficiency, lowering overall power, and especially the power drawn while at idle.
The Energy Star program now also includes storage systems and the large network equipment specification is expected to be finalized in 2016. While not all IT equipment is Energy Star rated, it does represent an energy cost reduction factor to be considered when making a purchasing decision for IT buyers.
This article is the forth in a series on data center cooling taken from the Data Center Frontier Special Report on Data Center Cooling Standards (Getting Ready for Revisions to the ASHRAE Standard)
To read the full article, view it on the Data Center Frontier website here.
