More on energy efficiency
The Wall Street journal reported today on a study commissioned by AMD (AMD press release). Although AMD has focused on power savings with their processors, this study reinforces the point I made earlier today about energy efficiency being an area to focus on for new investment.
The key points:
Addressing the need for thorough, credible estimates on data center power use, the study found that in 2005, in the U.S. alone, data centers and their associated infrastructure consumed five million kW of energy, the equivalent of five 1,000 MW power plants.
The study found that in 2005, total data center electricity consumption in the U.S., including servers, cooling and auxiliary equipment, was approximately 45 billion kWh, resulting in total utility bills amounting to $2.7 billion, with total data center power and electricity consumption for the world estimated to cost $7.2 billion annually. The report also examines the growth in electricity demands since the year 2000, concluding that over the last five years server energy use has doubled.
So, there is a huge amount of money spent powering data centers. Products which enable this to be cut should have a great market opportunity.
