Datacentre carbon emissions out of control

Re: Data centre carbon emissions out of control

Dear sir, While I applaud the idea that manufacturers such as Samsung are looking for ways to save energy at data centres with new technology, I do feel that this is more of an issue for the IT manufacturers than owners of data centres. The headline which stated that data centres produce more carbon emissions than some countries was incorrect and misleading. Carbon emissions are actually produced by the IT equipment and not directly by the data centres. Equipment such as storage devices and chips can be a drain on power and manufacturers should be looking at ways to make them more efficient. It should also be noted that companies looking to reduce power should do so from an end to end perspective rather than just at the data centre. More often than not, power is unnecessarily wasted during the delivery and transformation process and this is where significant strides can be made to improve efficiencies. The data centre industry is working hard to reduce power consumption and new more efficient data centre builds will continue to play an important role in this quest. It is important to remember the role that IT equipment manufacturers should be taking in the reduction of carbon emissions rather than solely pointing the finger at data centres, which are already pushing boundaries when trying to reduce power consumption. Philip Lydford CEO e-shelter UK

Posted by: Philip Lydford, e-shelter UK 03 Sep 2009