Data centres said to be highest consumers of electricity worldwide

Data centres have been identified as excessive consumers of electricity globally.

Peter Greaves, Expertise Leader, for Aurecon’s Data & ICT Facilities has been cited in a press release to have said that Data centres consume up to 3 percent of all global electricity production, and roughly ten times more per square metre than the average office.

“Previously, energy efficiency wouldn’t necessarily be at the top of an information technology (IT) organisation’s priority list, but rising power costs, and an ongoing need for more hardware and equipment as well as booming data consumption is changing the way data centre operators are planning and running their facilities,” he said.

He noted that data centres are complex environments that have been created to house IT equipment. Within these, the primary driver of energy consumption is the IT equipment itself.

“The IT equipment that supports a data centre includes communication systems, storage systems and other IT systems such as processors, server power supplies, network infrastructure and hardware, computers, Uninterrupted Power Supply and connectivity systems,” he said.

According to him, most of the energy that is consumed within a data centre needs to pass through various stages of distribution before it can be used by IT systems. This energy is converted to heat, which is why these facilities require a significant amount of cooling.

He said, as server densities continue to rise, cooling systems are under increased pressure in order to keep IT equipment and servers cool enough for them to operate efficiently.

“If temperatures or the humidity is too high, IT equipment can be damaged and tape media errors can occur,” he said.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi