data centre dilemma: how online consumption is leading to higher energy use, costs - power storage devices

At first glance, the old barge docked at the Marais Navy shipyard looked like it was just taking a break on the slow way to the scrap yard.
Most of the brown, pitted metal plates that form the deck are slightly distorted, creating hundreds of tiny reflection layers.
Several have been removed and created humans.
Almost trapped the careless reporter inside the ship.
Under the deck, when the workers dug from the deck, the machine made a roar and hissing sound.
In the coming months, the ship will become a state --of-the-art world-first.
Other companies have also tried to build their own ship, which has so far failed.
Is there any difference in "green" technology in the long run?
Google test for smart home technology-connected devices quietly tap our data: privacy expert smart thermostat downtime highlightsflies internet-
"What you see is the future," KirkHorton said . "
"What you see is revolution.
It takes some imagination to see the revolution. The vice-
The president of Nautilus Data Technologies led me carefully through the deck to avoid puddles and holes.
The age and condition of the barge is part of the plan;
The company says it only intends
As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability.
About five months later, the ship
Certified sea-worthy by theU. S. Coast Guard —
Will be fully operational.
The company has purchased space for their servers.
"This is the first efficient and sustainable water data center in the world . "
Whether it's the size of the aircraft hangar or the closet hidden in the basement, the data center has a row of disk arrays and routers --
The cornerstone of the Internet --
Store and transmit our data.
Using the ocean to improve efficiency makes this data center so special not just the fact that it's in the ocean, but the fact that it's floating on the water.
"This is our heat exchange," said Zhen ldmagcale, CEO of the company.
We walked into a shed next to the barge with a detailed version of what would be installed on the barge.
It is used to prove that his concept is valid.
He pointed to the pipe behind the server rack.
The water in the pipe is absorbed and then discharged in the ocean while the sea water is pulled out.
So far, he says, every environmental assessment has passed a virtuous circle.
"What we are doing here is moving water and moving air, and the efficiency is five times that of moving air," Magcale said . ".
Horton added that it allows businesses to save up to £ 40 on energy bills.
"With the advent of big data and the further development of cloud technology, you will see more and more advanced IT technologies --
Server infrastructure, equipment, storage-
They will continue to gain more and more power . "
Barge of Nautilus
About 40 kilometers northeast of San Francisco
Trying to solve problems that most people don't know exist. New modern
Every time you update your Facebook profile, every time you email a friend, every time you play your favorite show, in the dark room of a building in the distance, the lights flash, the server spins, the air conditioner roared.
We use more data every year.
The number of data centers is growing every year.
This data uses more electricity every year.
New modernization of data centers
"Day factory," said saysMukesh Khattar, technical director of the Electric Power Research Institute, funded by the power utility industry.
In 2000, before streaming companies like Netflix became popular, data centers accounted for half of America. S.
Electricity consumption, he said.
The number has increased by 2015.
"This number is increasing," says saysKhattar.
"You can see that.
Now everyone has a mobile phone and everyone has a portable device.
All of these devices are connected on the back
The terminal of the data center.
"In the data center, these people generate a lot of heat without staying calm.
"For every unit of energy that powers it in a normal data center, you need another unit of energy to cool the data center," high-
National Committee on resource protection
Environmental protection organization.
If you think every data center is an airplane taking off, then there are only about 10 seats, says Delforge --the servers—are used.
This is because the data center is designed to handle the "peak load", which is the maximum traffic they expect to experience, just like the arush customers on network Monday.
"The problem is that there are still 364 days left this year and they are still running all the servers," Delforge said . ".
"They don't power them when they don't need it.
"Energy efficiency as after-sales servicethought?
Outside, he says, is a robot army of nearly 15 million, waiting for rare orders.
"Would you like to wait a few seconds to download your photo? No! " says Khattar.
"We want it in an instant.
And the company just responded.
"You might think that the villain wearing a black hat will be an internet giant like Facebook.
To handle the company's trillions of page views per month, Facebook operates several server farms, some of which are about six football fields.
But big companies have big energy bills, so they have the incentive to cut energy usage in their data centers. "The estimate —
I think it was about a year ago.
"We saved $2 billion," said Bill Ville, Facebook's sustainability director . ".
"It means that it is very worthwhile to invest time and money.
"This investment has led to new, divested --
Efficient servers that generate less heat.
Mr. Vail said facebook's three data centers are operating entirely on clean energy.
On the other end of high-
The company uses a technology called free cooling.
"Basically . . . . . . Windows.
"We opened the window on one side and blew the heat out.
We open the door on the other side and introduce cool air from the outside . "
"The energy we save is equivalent to about $78,000 of the energy we use in a year. S.
Household and avoid emissions [are]
Similarly, about 95,000 cars are off the road.
"Small server closets can add experts like Delforgesayit
Intuitive, but facebook in the world is not a real problem. "The cloud-
Like Facebook, Google and other computing companies, they are only responsible for about all data center energy usage, "Delforge said.
"Personally, they use a lot of energy, but they are relatively small compared to all the small server closets and small rooms you can find on almost every floor of every office building in the country.
"These energy sources account for about half of the energy used in data centers," he said.
"This is a very old data center," Skhattar said . " He showed me around the classroom --
The Sizeddata center was phased out by his own organization.
To keep their servers calm, most companies with small data centers just blew up the air conditioner.
People who manage most IT departments do not know that industry standards have changed.
The new data shows that the air used to cool the server can actually reach about 11 degrees (20F)warmer.
Mechanical equipment-the hardware —
"You don't need to be as cold as you used to be," Khattar said . ".
"You can use warmer air . . . . . . In this case, your system will work very effectively.
There is more good news.
While olderdata centres need as much energy as the operations to cool down, the new centres only need one-
A tenth of energy
"The new companies that big companies are building are already more efficient," Khattar said . ".
"Great improvements have taken place in infrastructure.
But Del Fudge remains skeptical.
"At the moment, we see some of the top leaders --
Technology and other industries have created new technologies that can significantly reduce data.
But we need more than just a few shining examples . "
We need most people.
All the data.
Center operator
Use these best practices.
"Even if they did, there was another challenge: jevonsparadox. Nineteenth-
Century economist William Stanley jevonsob believes that consumption will not decline when technology is more efficient, but will rise.
And, Delforgefears, the situation seems to be with the data center.
"The rapid growth of this industry is outpacing the development of this industry," he said . "
Watch Kim Brunhuber's report on national data centers and power consumption at 9: 00 on Friday nightm.