Big 5 Energy Cost Savers in Your Data Center

Achieve 30% Reduction in Data Center Power Cost in 5 Realistic Steps

Yes, it’s very likely that you’re spending 30-50% too much to power your data center!  The data center can be a “power pig” because everything that lives in the data center loves energy.  Servers, storage, racks of network gear, PDUs, cooling and everything else needed to support your IT platform needs power.  All of that power usage produces another by-product:  heat.  For every $1 of power to make 1 therm of heat, you spend $2 of power to remove 1 therm of heat!  It’s a cost cyclone, but you can control it with these 5 realistic steps:

1. Unplug Unused Hardware This may seem overly simplistic, however, there’s a reason that it’s in the #1 spot.  The power draw from unused and under-utilized hardware can represent up to 10% of data center power usage.
2. Reduce Your Carbon Footprint through Consolidation and Virtualization- The data center is filled with physical assets.  Servers, racks, storage, network devices, power/cooling systems- all of these physical systems are usually logically tied to a single use.  What happens to your power requirements if you combine many logical processes onto few physical devices?
3. Implement Energy Management Tools- The savings associated with efficient power distribution and management within the datacenter offers excellent return on investment.  Smart Energy Management allows IT systems to meter power usage and provide peak power only when needed.
4. Adopt Cooling Best Practices- 30-60% of all power cost in the data center is directly attributed to cooling equipment.  By utilizing high-efficiency cooling equipment and employing best data center cooling practices (such as hot /cold aisles), the energy costs associated with cooling can be reduced by as much as 25%!
5. Conduct and Energy Audit- Easy opportunities for energy savings could be right at hand.  An energy expert can rapidly audit your data center and assess your energy efficiency and compared to industry benchmarks.  By identifying gaps in energy efficiency, you can prioritize your investment to maximize your power cost savings.

Reducing your power footprint isn’t just eco-responsibility:  it’s good business.  By implementing these 5 steps, you can save at least 30% on your power bill for your data center.  You can also operate at greater efficiency with better reliability.   When good business and eco-responsibility merge, we all win.

Let Empower Energy help your company improve energy efficiency and reduce power costs in your data center. Contact Mark Bell at 404.681.3270 x302 or email to mbell@empoweret.com.