Oregon’s IT landscape got greener in January when Beaverton-based EasyStreet Online Services Inc. cut the ribbon on a new commercial 7,000-square-foot state-of-the-art data center featuring technologies to reduce energy consumption and increase sustainability.
Data centers—sometimes referred to as “server farms”—are secure facilities where companies house their computer and network infrastructures. These centers are voracious consumers of electricity. In fact, experts, such as Gartner Research, estimate that data centers account for as much CO2 as the aviation industry.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reckons that power consumption by data centers has nearly doubled in the past five years, as more and increasingly powerful servers are brought online to answer queries, stream content, complete transactions, and perform calculations and analyses in every sector of the economy.
The problem is that not much of that power is being used productively—that is, being used to convert data to useful information. Data center power consumption can be divided into the material side—power supply, conversion, and conditioning and cooling—and the logical side—server, storage and network. The physical side consumes just one-third to one-half of the incoming electricity. But even on the logical side, an extremely low percentage of the power consumed actually does any work, experts say.
With usage now pegged at 120 billion kilowatt hours per year, at a cost of $7.4 billion, anxiety is building over a looming data center energy crisis. The DOE wants the IT industry top find ways to “bend the curve” and reduce consumption through greater energy efficiency.
And now Easy Street has stepped up to the challenge. “EasyStreet’s new data center will save 1.5 million kilowatt hours per year,” EasyStreet President and CEO Rich Bader told a group of dignitaries and guests at the ribbon-cutting. “This savings is enough to power 153 average households annually, and it comes about after years of inventive design work by EasyStreet and a collection of some of the nation’s best IT and environmental engineering minds.”
As the first data center to receive funding assistance through the Oregon Department of Energy’s Small Scale Energy Loan Program (SELP), the new EasyStreet facility now represents a blueprint for improved efficiency at other data centers in the state.
Buying 100 percent Portland General Electric (PGE) Clean Wind power offsets, EasyStreet claims a zero carbon footprint for its data center operations. Innovative technologies employed to augment energy efficiency include:
An Indirect Evaporative Cooling (IEC (News - Alert)) system, which is key to efficiency and outstanding Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). Supplemental Direct Expansion (DX) cooling units are expected to be needed only 180 hours per year.
A hot air containment system, achieved via Chatsworth TeraFrame “chimney” equipment cabinets that duct into the cooling system. These cabinets gather hot exhaust air and route it to the roof for processing by the cooling units.
An extensive rainwater capture and filtering system that provides the majority of water needed for the IEC system. (EasyStreet procures Bonneville Environmental Foundation Water Restoration Certificates, to offset 100 percent of the supplemental city water it uses.)
More efficient and reliable Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) using Vycon flywheels as their power source instead of batteries. Flywheel technology is considered seven times more reliable than battery-powered systems. In addition, batteries need to be charged continuously and recycled every four years.
Even the parking lot at EasyStreet features a charging station for hybrid and all-electric vehicles for customers and employees
“EasyStreet’s goal is to provide services in a facility that is reliable, safe and secure, versatile, and responsible to the environment. The technologies we’ve employed here are good for the environment, yes—but the efficiencies gained also allow us to deliver the higher-power density of 200W per square foot (or 5 KW per cabinet) that our customers need,” said Bader.
The data center supports both colocation and Cloud services. “New options are driving sweeping change in Information Technology,” Bader said. “EasyStreet’s mission is to help organizations in the region manage their transition to The Cloud with our own Green Cloud services.”
Bob Repine, director of the Oregon Department of Energy comments, “This is an example of the future. You have the opportunity to build that normal structure or shell. Or you have the opportunity to show that you are committed to creating a better environment. Doing the right things first — not the right things last.”
During the opening ceremony, the Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO)—an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Oregonians benefit from saving energy and tapping renewable resources— presented EasyStreet with a $346,000 incentive check for its use of energy-saving technologies. S
Said ETO Programs Director Peter West, “This is a powerful project. There is a lot of intelligence, engineering and forethought in this project. This is how we work best with businesses: We were brought in early to get it right. And in this case, right is a spectacular set of energy savings.”
Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
