£250m/€300m in annual energy savings achievable for Europe’s data centre industry

Colt has announced a reduction in energy usage of 18% across its European data centre estate as part of a continuous energy efficiency programme that commenced in 2010. Over a three year period, the programme achieved savings in annual electricity usage of 43 gigawatt hours (GWh), equivalent to a reduction in CO2 footprint of 15,000 tonnes1 and savings of €4m in power costs per annum.

With electricity consumption by Europe’s data centres projected to reach 104,000 GWh (104 TWh) by 2020, up from 60 TWh at present, there is a pressing demand within the industry for greater energy efficiencies to minimise both carbon footprint and energy consumption. Energy usage currently represents a substantial business expense across the industry, accounting for 30–50% of data centre operating costs.

Based on efficiencies achieved over the last three years, Colt believes that without significant capital investment, on a like-for-like basis, an initial reduction in annual energy usage of 5% (3 TWh) is a realistic minimum target for Europe’s data centre industry, taking into account the average age of data centres across Europe which is estimated to be in excess of nine years. An industry-wide reduction of this scale, would reduce the industry’s CO2 footprint by over 1.2 million tonnes and yield savings of almost £250m/€300m in operating costs per annum. This would provide an environmental impact equivalent to mitigating the total annual electricity consumption of approximately 740,000 households in the UK (3.5 times the number of households in the City of Manchester).

As an endorser of the EU Code of Conduct on Energy Efficiency in data centres, Colt’s ongoing energy efficiency programme spans 30,000m2 of data centre space across Europe, including three facilities in the UK. The programme initially focused on data halls, targeting projects that delivered large, upfront gains in energy efficiency over a relatively short period of time. These projects accounted for most of the 10% savings Colt achieved Europe-wide during the first twelve months of the programme.

During years two and three, a further reduction of over 8% was achieved, with significant contributions coming from infrastructural projects. These projects, which required greater investment, were selected on an individual business case basis - each providing a compelling environmental benefit and operational cost savings over the remaining life of the installed equipment. Infrastructural projects included upgrades for cooling units, chiller equipment and uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems.

Ian Dixon, VP of Operations at Colt said: “From environmental and cost perspectives, Colt has demonstrated that substantial energy savings can be achieved by targeting efficiencies within individual data halls and across the entire data centre infrastructure, both inside and out. Our experience shows that many of these savings can readily be obtained through a series of simple steps that provide sizeable returns within a twelve to eighteen month timeframe. Given the age profile and makeup of Europe’s data centre estate, there is no reason why these reductions cannot be replicated across the industry as a whole.”

“In the current economic environment, businesses are looking to reduce costs and achieve greater efficiency. However, there is a belief among many participants in the data centre industry that energy efficiencies go hand-in-hand with heavy investment; that’s simply not the case. Most of the savings achieved by Colt since 2010 have resulted from initiatives within the data hall requiring minimal capital investment. These included initiatives for enhanced airflow management, more accurate measurement systems and tighter tolerance bands for cooling air temperature and humidity.”

Mr Dixon, notes that for businesses with older data centres, infrastructural investment can provide diminishing returns and the business case for moving to a new data centre becomes stronger, particularly where companies can time investments to align with IT infrastructure consolidation projects. Here the key factors to consider at the design stage are: efficiency of operations and flexibility in terms of power, cooling and space to ensure maximum efficiency throughout the data centre’s lifetime.