vnunet.com Comment: Clive Longbottom on India's green data centres

Clive Longbottom discusses India's increasing dependence on energy

I have recently returned from a trip to India where I listened to a presentation by Dr Ajay Mathur, director general of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in the Indian government.

There had been a lot of coverage in the Indian press about how the US had been pointing fingers at India, stating that until India sorted itself out on energy usage, it was pointless the US doing anything.

When set against per capita primary energy usage, this seems a little wrong. The average primary energy usage in the US has gone from 343 million BTUs per person in 1980 to 340.5 million BTUs per person in 2005 (latest figures available).

Meanwhile, in India, it has gone from 5.9 million to 14.8 million BTUs per person in the same period - still less than one twentieth of the US.

I found Dr Mathur's presentation interesting in that it showed how seriously India is taking its role as its population becomes more dependent on energy.

India has looked at the rest of the world, and has learned from many of the mistakes that have been made in the US and across Europe.

As an example, let's look at what the EU has done on domestic white goods. The EU Energy Labelling system gives a rating from G (least efficient) to A (most efficient) on white goods, with refrigeration now having two higher possible ratings of A+ and A++.

And herein lies the rub: as goods get more efficient, the EU labelling system cannot adequately reflect this, and new ratings above the A level have to be brought in to ensure differentiation between the raft of A rated goods.

India decided to take a different route. It uses a 5* system, where 1* is the least efficient and 5* the most efficient. However, the rules as to what makes a device 5* or 4* change every year.

Therefore, a manufacturer wishing to bring to market a 5* device that will be on the market for three years will have to build the device to the 5* requirements for 2011, not 2008. Otherwise, the device could become a 4* in 2009 and a 3* in 2010 as the rules change.

This is reflected in the way that India is looking at its data centres as well. Work is ongoing in rating backup power systems, large air conditioning systems as well as servers, networking equipment and so on.