Since 1986 - Covering the Fastest Computers
in the World and the People Who Run Them
Visit additional Tabor Communication Publications
August 02, 2011
Data Centers Consuming Less Power than Predicted
Jonathan G. Koomey, a consulting professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at Stanford University recent released a report that examined the data center power consumption between 2005 and 2010. His findings contradict several earlier reports, including one from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that predicted a doubling in data center energy usage during the same five-year period. 
Koomey contends that data center power use is not growing at exponential rates as predicted, but rather that it is slowing due to the rise of server virtualization technologies, lowered demand for computing due to the financial crisis of 2008 and new, more power-efficient devices and data centers.
In a special report prepared for the New York Times, Koomey claimed that “electricity used by data centers worldwide grew significantly, but it was an increase of only about 56 percent from 2005 to 2010. In the United States, power consumption increased by 36 percent.”
Conversely, the 2007 EPA report estimated that national energy consumption related to servers and data centers would nearly double from 2005 to 2010 to roughly 100 billion kilowatt hours of energy at an annual cost of $7.4 billion. It also predicted that data center demand for power in the United States would rise by 2011 to 12 gigawatts of power, or the output of 25 major power plants, from 7 gigawatts, or about 15 power plants.
As the New York Times reported, “Industry consultants and executives agreed with Mr. Koomey’s new analysis, but they also indicated that the slower growth might be temporary.”
In addition to reviewing energy consumption by servers and data centers, the report also considers the role of some of the cloud and data center giants, including Google. Koomey was able to obtain specific information about Google's data centers (no easy task given the company's secrecy about its server farms)--enough for him to contend that Google gets top marks for its efficiency.
Full story at New York Times
Discussion
There are 0 discussion items posted.
|
Join the Discussion |
Sponsored Links
One of the first HPC providers installing a 4X NVIDIA Kepler K-20 cluster. Invites you to a free evaluation on Seneca’s NVIDIA K20 Kepler cluster, pre-loaded with AMBER, NAMD, LAMMPS
High-Performance Computing in Action
Businesses that want to be on the cutting edge of their industries are increasingly turning to high-performance computing (HPC) solutions to handle complex compute processes and speed up their rate of innovation. Download this Executive Brief to see how businesses in energy, life sciences and entertainment put HPC solutions to work in their operations.
- Acer and Altair simplify cluster computing
- Receive Higher Application Performance with end-to-end 56GbE
- PGI 2013: OpenMP 1.5X faster than GCC, new GNU-compatible OpenACC C++ compiler, CUDA 5 and Tesla K20 support, and more.
- Cray Xtreme-Cool™ Supercomputer: Liquid-cooled architecture delivering superior energy-efficiency, lower TCO and faster ROI.
- Memory Debugging Challenges in Parallel and Distributed Applications
- Introducing the Cray CS300 Cluster Supercomputer Series
RSS Feeds
Feeds by Topic
- Applications
- Developer Tools
- Interconnects
- Middleware
- Networks
- Processors
- Storage
- Systems
- Visualization
Feeds by Industry
Feeds by Content Type
- Features
- Blogs
- Short Takes
- Off the Wire
- Whitepapers
- Multimedia
- HPC Soundbite Podcasts
- HPCwire Job Bank
Subscribe to All Content
May 17, 2013
May 16, 2013
- D-Wave Two Quantum Computer Selected for New AI Initiative
- Mines' Powerful New Supercomputer to Focus on Energy Research
- Kitware Develops Customizable Simulation Framework to Provide HPC for Mid-Sized Manufacturers
- Next HPC Installation Step Initiated at High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart
- HybridCluster2.0 Self-Healing, Ultra-High Availability Capabilities Unveiled
May 15, 2013
- Nominations for SC13 Cray, Fernbach and Kennedy Awards Due July 1
- Mellanox Technologies Ltd. Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Kotura, Inc.
- NYSERDA Awards $1.8 Million to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Bright Computing Named Finalist for the 2013 Red Herring Top 100 North America Award
- Flow Science Releases FLOW-3D/MP 5.0
- NEC Establishes NEC Ukraine to Strengthen Operations in Russia and the CIS
- Fujitsu Receives Supercomputer Order From Nagoya University
- Avere Systems Helps Framestore Create Extraordinary Visual Effects for Blockbuster Films
- Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Exascale Systems Call for Papers
May 14, 2013
- Multimillion Pound Project to Develop Next Generation Computing Systems
- HPC Simulations Target Nanoscale Materials Under Strain
- New IBM Center in Beijing to Speed Linux Applications on Power Systems
- OpenCL Software Development Kit Fosters FPGA Exploitation
- S&P Capital IQ and Kuberre Systems Sign Data Facilitator Agreement
- Solarflare to Speak at Linux Foundation Enterprise End User Summit
May 13, 2013
- SDSC Hosts First Annual Industry Partners Research Review
- AMD Targets Server Performance with Open 3.0 Release
- BICS Selects Infinera DTN-X for 500G Pan-European Network
- Juniper Systems Celebrates its 20th Anniversary
May 10, 2013
- Two ORNL Researchers, Two Joint Faculty Receive DOE Early Career Awards
- ODCA to Hypervisor and VM Providers: Interoperability is an Enterprise Cloud Requirement
- Special ISC’13 Session to Probe the Thinking behind Europe’s Human Brain Project
May 09, 2013
- Ireland Sprouts Native Top Supercomputer List
- Durham University Cluster Boosts Study of the Stars
- Supermicro Ships New 4U 72x 3.5" Hot-Swappable HDD Storage Platform
- Two Virginia Tech Teams Named Finalists in DARPA Spectrum Challenge
May 08, 2013
- Cloud-Ready GlusterFS 3.4 Beta Now Available
- NCSA Hosts 2013 Private Sector Program Annual Meeting May 13-17 in Champaign/Urbana.
- Seagate Unveils Complete SSD Product Line
- Clustered Systems Installs Efficient 100kW Rack at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Penguin Computing Named Open Compute Project Solution Provider
- Silicon Mechanics Shows Computing and Storage Platforms at TechKnowFile
- OrangeFS Available on AWS Marketplace
- Teradata Introduces In-Memory Technology that Supports Big Data Deployments
May 07, 2013
- Argonne Announces Training Program on Extreme-Scale Computing
- Virtual School Summer Courses Available on Data-Intensive and Many-Core Computing
- Nallatech Joins Altera’s Preferred Board Partner Program for OpenCL
- Vicor's ChiP Power Component Packaging to Make European Debut at PCIM Europe 2013
- Hetzner Online Deploys ADVA 100G Core to Answer Data Growth
- WD And SanDisk To Create Solid State Hybrid Drives
- Solarflare's High-Performance 10GbE Ethernet Adapters Selected for IBM Servers
- CQUniversity Selects SGI to Expand HPC Environment
- Cray Expands XC30 Line with Air-Cooled Option
- AMAX to Showcase Solutions at 2013 Interop IT Conference & Expo
- PRACE Free Autumn School Focuses on Industrial Simulation
- International Symposium on Computer Architecture and HPC: Call for Papers
May 06, 2013
- AMAX Named Official Solutions Provider of Open Compute Project Foundation
- Altera Opens FPGAs to Programmers with SDK, Off-the-Shelf Boards for OpenCL
- 6WIND Announces OpenFlow Compatibility within Open vSwitch Acceleration Platform
- BittWare Joins Altera Preferred Board Partner Program for OpenCL
- Carnegie Mellon Robot Uses Arms, Location and More To Discover Objects
- IEEE TCSC Seeks Young Achievers in Scalable Computing
- ACM Opens Participation Doors for Richard Tapia Diversity in Computing Event
- Broadcom Intros Lowest-Power Multi-port Gigabit PHYs
Most Read Features
- Adapteva Shows Off $99 Supercomputer Boards
- Cray Answers Mid-Market's Call
- The Week in HPC Research
- Intel’s Big Data to HPC Interconnect
- A Conversation with Dr. Hans Meuer and Dr. Horst Gietl
- Big Red II Colors New Page for Hybrid Systems
- NERSC Managers Shed Light on 'Edison'
- The Week in HPC Research
- Emerging Technologies at SC13: A Chat with the Chairs
- The Week in HPC Research
Most Read Around the Web
- Speaking Many Languages into the MIC
- Supercomputing's Golden Age?
- New Tome Tells Modern History of Supercomputing
- CUDA-Designed Robot: It's a Hit!
- Revolutionizing Tornado Prediction
- Sequoia Hits Warp Speed
- HPC and the True Cost of Cloud
- Floating Funding to Exascale Island
- Finnish Researchers Welcome New Cray Super
- Blue Waters: Security at Scale
Most Read This Just In
- IBM and Forrester Webinar to Discuss New Ways to Reduce Cost in HPC and Big Data
- Altera Opens FPGAs to Programmers with SDK, Off-the-Shelf Boards for OpenCL
- New Simulation Speed Record Achieved with Sequoia Supercomputer
- Brain Outperforms Supercomputers
- Argonne Training Program on Extreme-Scale Computing Taking Place July 28 - Aug. 9
- Commercial Quantum Computing Company D-Wave Systems Launches
- HPC System SuperMUC to Deliver 6.4 Petaflops
- XSEDE13 Student Programming Contest Registration Opens April 30
- AMD Targets Server Performance with Open 3.0 Release
- Supercomputers Soar as PC Sales Decline
Most Read Blogs
Feature Articles
Saddling Phi for TACC’s Stampede
The Xeon Phi coprocessor might be the new kid on the high performance block, but out of all first-rate kickers of the Intel tires, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) got the first real jab with its new top ten Stampede system.We talk with the center's Karl Schultz about the challenges of programming for Phi--but more specifically, the optimization...
Read more...
"No Exascale for You!" An Interview with Berkeley Lab's Horst Simon
Although Horst Simon was named Deputy Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he maintains his strong ties to the scientific computing community as an editor of the TOP500 list and as an invited speaker at conferences.
Read more...
Supercomputing Vet Champions Quantum Cause
Supercomputing veteran, Bo Ewald, has been neck-deep in bleeding edge system development since his twelve-year stint at Cray Research back in the mid-1980s, which was followed by his tenure at large organizations like SGI and startups, including Scale Eight Corporation and Linux Networx. He has put his weight behind quantum company....
Read more...
Sponsored Whitepapers
Best Practices in Big Data Storage
05/10/2013 | Cleversafe, Cray, DDN, NetApp, & Panasas | From Wall Street to Hollywood, drug discovery to homeland security, companies and organizations of all sizes and stripes are coming face to face with the challenges – and opportunities – afforded by Big Data. Before anyone can utilize these extraordinary data repositories, however, they must first harness and manage their data stores, and do so utilizing technologies that underscore affordability, security, and scalability.
Progress in Parallel: the Bull Parallel Programming Center
04/15/2013 | Bull | “50% of HPC users say their largest jobs scale to 120 cores or less.” How about yours? Are your codes ready to take advantage of today’s and tomorrow’s ultra-parallel HPC systems? Download this White Paper by Analysts Intersect360 Research to see what Bull and Intel’s Center for Excellence in Parallel Programming can do for your codes.
Sponsored Multimedia
SGI DMF ZeroWatt Disk Solution
In this demonstration of SGI DMF ZeroWatt disk solution, Dr. Eng Lim Goh, SGI CTO, discusses a function of SGI DMF software to reduce costs and power consumption in an exascale (Big Data) storage datacenter.
Cray CS300-AC Cluster Supercomputer Air Cooling Technology Video
The Cray CS300-AC cluster supercomputer offers energy efficient, air-cooled design based on modular, industry-standard platforms featuring the latest processor and network technologies and a wide range of datacenter cooling requirements.
HPC Job Bank
Featured Events
- June 13, 2013
- June 14, 2013
Think Beyond Plastics Conference
Berkeley, CA
United States
- June 16, 2013
- June 20, 2013
ISC'13
Leipzig,
Germany
.gif)
- June 17, 2013
- June 18, 2013
Forecast 2013
San Francisco, CA
United States
- June 20, 2013
- June 21, 2013
CIO North America
Marina Del Rey, CA
United States
- June 24, 2013
- June 25, 2013
The Trading Show Chicago
Chicago, IL
United States
- June 25, 2013
- June 26, 2013
TERATEC 2013 Forum
Paris,
France
