While others in an organization may spearhead data center energy efficiency efforts, Facilities Managers are one of the most common project champions (especially when an organization does not have a Sustainability Manager). The facilities department is responsible for maintaining a data center’s building and infrastructure as well as replacing equipment to ensure electrical power, air flow, and cooling needs. Facilities Managers also work to assure uptime and recoverability. Facility Managers are most likely to pay (or at least see) a data center’s energy bill. Therefore, they will likely be more receptive to energy efficiency improvements, particularly if they are expected to reducing operating costs (presuming the bill comes out of their budget). Energy efficiency efforts often have the added benefit of reducing the management burden of a data center (e.g. server rooms that lack standardization can result in inefficiencies and a higher management burden for IT and Facilities staff), which can make the job of facilities managers easier. Once physical infrastructure energy efficiency gains (e.g. hot and cold aisles) have been implemented in a data center, further improvements can require significant investment and diminishing returns. For this reason, facilities managers and operators may have an amplified incentive to turn to IT energy efficiency opportunities. With the needs of IT and operations converging, there are now more natural opportunities for collaboration between the two.
Building the Business Case for Energy Efficiency in Your Data Center
Step 3. Overcome Barriers
Overcome barriers you might encounter during the planning and implementation of your energy efficiency project, and gauge which stakeholders are associated with particular barriers. Identify opportunities (and resources) that can help you overcome institutional, technical, and financial barriers.
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Hover over a barrier to see which stakeholders may be reluctant to pursue a data center energy efficiency project due to that barrier.
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Click on a specific barrier to learn more about why it may impede data center energy efficiency progress, and explore resources that can help you overcome these barriers and win over hesitant stakeholders.
Misaligned Interests (Facility Manager)
While others in an organization may spearhead data center energy efficiency efforts, Facility Managers are likely the project champion for energy efficiency measures. This means they must often align stakeholder interests with a data center energy efficiency project as well as facilitate discussion and collaboration. Facility managers often have the strongest interest in energy efficiency projects (as they typically pay the energy bill), and the misaligned interests innate to an organization (e.g. IT managers most concerned with reliability and capacity, CFOs most concerned with cost) can mean that significant time and effort is required to successfully push a project through. Facility Managers will likely need to align the interests of the IT Manager and CIO in order to implement a project. Increasingly, effective asset utilization joins the interests of both IT and Facility Managers. Through joint efforts and increased information sharing, IT and Facility Managers can find common ground.
Lack of awareness of energy usage, costs, and opportunities (Facility Manager)
While Facility Managers are most likely to be aware of a data center’s energy cost, they may not be aware of opportunities to reduce these costs. Many Facility Managers are resource constrained, particularly in organizations with small or medium sized data centers. Therefore, Facility Managers may not have the opportunity to learn about energy reduction measures and subsequent monetary benefits for data centers, including those that may be considered “low hanging fruit.”
No one person is tasked with energy efficiency (Facility Manager)
Projects are more likely to fall through the cracks (or not be initiated at all) if no one person in an organization is tasked with energy efficiency improvements. Even though implementing energy efficiency improvements is typically not part of a Facility Manager’s job description, they may take on the burden of guiding a project through internal stakeholder consensus while balancing their other roles and responsibilities within an organization. Dedicating significant time and resources can be a challenge.
Reduce operating costs (Facility Manager)
One study found that the majority (almost 80 percent) of data center energy bills are housed in the facilities budget. Thus, Facility Managers have an innate incentive to pursue energy efficiency measures that will lower energy costs.
Free up data center capacity (Facility Manager)
Freeing up capacity entails allowing more space, power, and cooling capacity to be available, all of which are a core concern and responsibility of a data center Facility Manager. Freeing up capacity allows a Facility Manager to more easily respond to needs from the IT Manager or CIO for increased computing abilities.
Comply with codes and standards and/or organizational policies (Facility Manager)
Facility Managers are often tasked with ensuring compliance for State and Federal codes and standards for new data centers as well as data center expansions or retrofits. Thus, energy efficiency measures that aid with compliance are inherently of interest.
Address aging infrastructure in need of upgrade (Facility Manager)
Given that a Facility Manager is typically responsible for maintaining a data center’s building and infrastructure, aging equipment that is near the end presents a unique opportunity to upgrade to newer, more energy efficient equipment or infrastructure (e.g. air management systems).
Leverage utility & other incentives (Facility Manager)
While capital expenditures for IT equipment most often come from the CIO/IT Manager’s budget, certain measures relative to data center infrastructure (like more efficient cooling or power distribution equipment) typically are housed in the Facilities budget. For this reason, utility or other financial incentives (e.g. rebates) for such improvements could drive a Facility Manager to undertake improvements.
No one person is tasked with energy efficiency (Facility Manager)
Projects are more likely to fall through the cracks (or not be initiated at all) if no one person in an organization is tasked with energy efficiency improvements. Even though implementing energy efficiency improvements is typically not part of a Facility Manager’s job description, they may take on the burden of guiding a project through internal stakeholder consensus while balancing their other roles and responsibilities within an organization. Dedicating significant time and resources can be a challenge.
CoE DCOI Fact Sheet
In June 2019, The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) released updated guidance on the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI). OMB Memorandum M-19-19 rescinds and replaces OMB Memorandum M-16-19. OMB is focused on targeting improvements in key areas where agencies can make meaningful improvements and achieve further cost savings through optimization and closures. This fact sheet summarizes DCOI practices as they relate to energy efficiency. Please reference the full OMB Memorandum for complete guidance (https://datacenters.cio.gov/policy/)
Small Data Centers, Big Energy Savings
The purpose of this brief guide is to present opportunities for small data center owners and operators that generally make sense and do not need expensive assessment and analysis to justify. Recommendations presented in this report range from very simple measures that require no capital investment and little ongoing effort to those that do need some upfront funds and time to implement. The range of opportunities includes IT equipment, power, and cooling. This guide also notes the value of training for personnel involved in data center operations and management. References are also provided for further information. Author(s): Steve Greenberg, Magnus Herrlin
DC Pro User's Manual
User's manual for the Data Center Profiler (DC Pro) Tool, V4. DC Pro estimates a data center’s current and potential Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and energy use distribution. It also provides a tailored list of recommended tasks for improvement. Results can be exported as stand-‐alone reports or for inclusion in other reporting material. The tool was reviewed by data center owners, design professionals, and product manufacturers.
DCEP Program Description
The purpose of this program description is to provide information about the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) DCEP certificate training program; the target audience is those interested in participating in the Program.
Data Center Master List of Energy Efficiency Actions
Comprehensive list of recommended efficiency actions for data centers. This living encyclopedia of measures also feeds into our Data Center Profiler (DC Pro) tool to provide tailored recommendations for improvements in data center energy management.
Department of Energy(DOE) Energy Assessment Process Manual
The process manual provides administrative step-by-step instructions for conducting an energy assessment (before, during, and after the assessment). The manual is specifically designed for the DCEP training program, but it can be used by any qualified assessor conducting an energy assessment.
Best Practices for Modernizing Vintage Data Centers
This white paper discusses the benefits and challenges of upgrading the data center’s infrastructure components and outlines best practices for successfully planning, implementing and testing those renovations. This paper also touches on bridging the IT-Facilities divide.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model for Data Centers
Data centers are mission-critical components of all large enterprises and frequently cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, yet few high-level executives understand the true cost of building and operating such facilities. Costs are typically spread across the IT, networking, and facilities/corporate real-estate departments, which makes management of these costs and assessment of alternatives difficult. This paper presents a simple approach to enable C-suite executives to assess the true total costs of building, owning, and operating their data center physical facilities.
Data Center Energy Efficiency Investments: Qualitative Evidence from Focus Groups and Interviews
This study explores potential barriers to energy-efficiency investments in data centers through focus groups and interviews with data center managers, including split incentives, uncertainty about new technologies, and more.
Small Data Center Webpage
Resource constrained data centers face unique challenges in their energy efficiency journey. The CoE's Small Data Center webpage recommends resources for small data centers that provide information on readily deployable, low cost, high-win strategies that can deliver robust energy savings.
IT Managers are responsible for ensuring the service and security of data center operations within an organization. They typically make purchases and upgrade decisions for servers and software with service and security goals at the forefront. Reliability is a key concern for IT managers- for example, they may be risk adverse to new technology for fear of loss of uptime. Certain energy efficiency opportunities require IT re-design and rest squarely with IT Managers and CIOs, like leveraging virtualization to reduce power consumption. Unlike Facility Managers, IT departments often do not pay (or even see) monthly energy bills and ultimately the financial consequences of their decisions. As a result, energy cost reductions alone are not a strong incentive for IT Managers to take energy efficiency actions. Despite this, IT Managers, have a lot to gain from energy efficiency improvements. Energy efficiency can simplify the IT environment, reducing the management complexity and allowing IT managers to focus on improving management of fewer responsibilities. Consolidation, for example, can free up floor space for increased flexibility and capacity, as well as reduce licensing software costs.
CIOs will likely be concerned with the impact of an energy efficiency project on operations, specifically on whether the project will allow the data center to sustain or increase its current operations. Since CIOs often have a role in project approval decisions, energy efficiency can provide the CIO more flexibility in increasing IT capacity within current facilities to support the company’s business growth. Energy efficiency improvements can also reduce power demands of the physical data center infrastructure, leaving organizations in a better position organizations to support future IT growth. Continually increasing IT capacity while containing operating costs is an important way for the CIO to contribute to company growth and demonstrate leadership within the executive team. While concerns of reliability may make CIOs wary of energy efficiency projects, project champions must address these concerns while clearly articulating the project benefits that align with these efforts. Framing the benefits as well as planning a project with their interests in mind, including safeguards against reliability issues, can help project champions get buy-in from the CIO and IT department.
Misaligned Interests (IT Manager/CIO)
CIOs and IT Managers within an organization are likely to prioritize IT stability, security, and flexibility. If capital expenditures for new equipment (e.g. new servers) are drawn from their budget, CIOs and IT Managers may place more weight on first costs than anticipated equipment operating costs when making purchasing decisions. CIOs and IT Managers may see energy efficiency measures at odds with their primary goals and can be resistant to change. For this reason, it’s critical that a project champion emphasize how an IT Manager’s and CIO’s interests are advanced by energy efficiency measures, including freeing up capacity (which can delay costly expansion projects), increasing data center reliability and resiliency, and reducing operating costs (if data center energy expenditures are housed in the IT budget).
Mission critical and risk averse nature of a data center (IT Manager/CIO)
An IT Manager and CIO’s goals are first and foremost to ensure the smooth running and availability of their data center. Data centers support critical services in organizations, with interruptions in service being very costly (both financially and from a reputation standpoint). As a result, IT Managers and CIOs have a low risk tolerance for new projects that may initially appear at odds with these goals. This risk aversion can influence energy efficiency projects in different ways. For example, an IT Manager might be hesitant to decommission unused servers in fear that it may interfere with a business function that may occasionally run on those servers.1 If an IT Manager or CIO perceives that an energy efficiency project could jeopardize data center operations, they may oppose a project or energy efficiency measure. However, energy efficiency improvements often are accompanied by improved data center reliability and resiliency. It may be the job of the project champion to clearly communicate this to a CIO or IT manager and find opportunities to mitigate perceived risk for a project.
Lack of awareness of current energy usage and opportunities (IT Manager/CIO)
Energy usage (and its costs) are typically outside the IT Manager’s and CIO’s purview. Thus, IT Managers and CIOs may not be aware of how energy efficiency can advance their interests- including illuminating opportunities through metering and monitoring, effectively increasing capacity, or reducing IT management complexity. Project champions are challenged with the task of successfully articulating the benefits opportunities provide, as well as designing projects that mitigate risk as it is perceived by an IT Manager/CIO.
Reduce operating costs (IT Manager/CIO)
While data center energy costs are most often housed in a facilities budget, IT Managers & CIOs can also be responsible for these costs. One study found that approximately 20 percent of data center energy bills are housed within the IT/CIO budget. However, as organizations realize that additional energy saving opportunities rest with IT, there has been a slight shift towards moving them to the IT/CIO budget. As Facility Managers exhaust infrastructure energy efficiency opportunities, they increasingly turn to IT opportunities. As a result, IT and Facility Managers may find themselves working in closer coordination than they did previously on matters related to data center capacity and energy management
Free up data center capacity (IT Manager/CIO)
Energy efficiency actions can effectively increase a data center’s floor space and capacity, and can also reduce the complexity of a data center. Freeing up capacity allows for possible delayed data center expansion and purchasing of additional equipment, which often comes out of the CIO/IT Manager budget. An estimated 20 to 30 percent of physical servers are considered comatose (meaning they haven’t seen any activity in the past six months). Metering and monitoring efforts can uncover unused servers and allow for recommissioning. Monitoring UPS capacity and power demand can allow IT Managers/CIOs to reclaim stranded power.
Increase data center reliability & resiliency (IT Manager/CIO)
Reliability is a core concern for IT Managers and CIOs. There is a misconception that these goals can be at odds with energy efficiency, but energy efficiency can work synergistically to advance both reliability and resiliency. Well informed IT Managers or CIOs may already understand how certain energy efficiency improvements (including DCIM systems as well as improved air management systems can enhance a data center’s ability to operate under compromised conditions). Further, technologies such as demand response, renewable integration, and microgrids can simultaneously enhance a data center’s sustainability, reliability, and resiliency, and even provide a revenue stream for an organization.
Address aging facility and IT Infrastructure (IT Manager/CIO)
IT Managers and CIOs are typically responsible for IT equipment purchases. When data center equipment has reached (or is close to reaching) the end of their useful life, IT Managers and CIOs have an opportunity to upgrade to newer, more energy efficient equipment. IT Managers and CIOs may also be motivated to retire equipment early, given the improved security and expanded opportunities for virtualization that newer equipment bring.
Comply with codes and standards and/or organizational policies (IT Manager/CIO)
Given that IT Managers are often involved in (or tasked with) data center equipment purchase decisions, they may be driven to purchase equipment that ensures compliance with relevant codes and standards related to energy efficiency (e.g. ENERGY STAR).
ENERGY STAR Data Center web page
ENERGY STAR page that includes links to purchase ENERGY STAR certified enterprise servers, storage, UPSs, and network equipment.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model for Data Centers
Data centers are mission-critical components of all large enterprises and frequently cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, yet few high-level executives understand the true cost of building and operating such facilities. Costs are typically spread across the IT, networking, and facilities/corporate real-estate departments, which makes management of these costs and assessment of alternatives difficult. This paper presents a simple approach to enable C-suite executives to assess the true total costs of building, owning, and operating their data center physical facilities.
EPEAT Registry
The EPEAT Registry contains a searchable database of certified data center equipment available for purchase. Visitors can also use the EPEAT benefits calculator to measure and report the environmental benefits gained from purchasing electronic products covered by the EPEAT ecolabel.
Successfully attaining executive buy-in can make or break a project, and CEOs in particular may not be familiar with the benefits of data center energy efficiency projects. Not only do CEOs often hold the key for funding access, but their support (and enthusiasm) can also engender priority and attention of other resources (such as staff time). CEOs are driven by the opportunity to improve the financial health of the company and reduce operational spending. In some industries, there is competitive pressure to demonstrate commitment to sustainability. While CEOs have an interest in ensuring that data centers are cost effective, their foremost concern is likely that data centers meet business needs and are secure, reliable, and able to scale with organizational growth. Although CEOs are likely to be held accountable to a Board or shareholders, they may also be needed to reconcile differences between IT and Facilities (such as risk management). While a CEO’s interests and responsibilities vary across organizational type and industry, a project champion should look to identify leadership’s priorities and frame their energy efficiency project in terms that will resonate.
Misaligned Interests (CEO)
CEOs have many interests across their organization; however they are most generally concerned with running it as efficiently and effectively as possible. Though there are many, their top concerns may include financial and operational management, communications, innovation, and managing reputation. In most instances, a CEO will not be familiar with the benefits of improved energy efficiency in their data centers or how it could advance their primary objectives. It’s important for a project champion to understand how to pique the CEO’s interest for a data center energy efficiency project. For example, what concerns do CEOs have that could be addressed by an energy efficiency project? CEO concerns could include improved resiliency, reductions in downtime, lower operating costs, delayed expansion projects, or projecting an image of sustainability and corporate citizenship, to name a few. All these benefits can be points of leverage. It is up to the project champion to connect the dots for a CEO and craft a message that clearly articulates how their interests are advanced by a project. This also means using terms that resonates with CEOs and understanding what metrics are used to gauge success at the executive level (e.g., do not present payback estimates if ROI is used more commonly to assess a project’s potential).
Opportunity Cost of Capital (CEO)
CEOs perpetually balance needs and requests from different business units within an organization. One of their main concerns is prudent fiscal management. CEOs may be bombarded with requests and initiatives from different stakeholders and consistently must prioritize the allocation of resources (spending, staff time, etc.) while making sure an organization achieves its core business objectives. It may require a concerted effort to articulate why data center energy efficiency measures warrant their attention, and build the case for how they can improve an organization’s performance and service offerings when competing for funds, attention, or staff time.
No one person within an organization is tasked with energy efficiency (CEO)
In many organizations, data center energy efficiency improvement is not explicitly in any one person’s job description. Given the complex nature of data center energy efficiency improvements and diverse stakeholder interests, organizational leadership may need to actively identify a point person to take charge if they wish to reap the benefits of data center energy efficiency. While this project leader (or project champion) is most likely to be the Sustainability Manager or Facility Manager, the CEO could task others in the organization with this responsibility.
Save energy in accordance with organizational values (CEO)
Organizations that have green-ness or energy efficiency as an organization value, may have a particular interest in pursuing energy efficiency in data centers. CEOs may have a range of underlying motivators to pursue, promote, and advertise energy efficiency efforts, whether it be demonstrating corporate social responsibility, for marketing purposes, or differentiating themselves from competitors.
Comply with organizational policies and/or codes and standards (CEO)
Identifying energy efficiency projects that follow organizational policies or Federal and state codes and standards may help capture a CEO’s attention and prioritizing the project.
Improve data center reliability & resiliency (CEO)
CEOs are likely aware that data centers can be mission critical to their organization’s operations or service offerings. Downtime is not only expensive, but it also can negatively impact the core mission, products, or service offerings of an organization. At a minimum, it can lead to day-to-day disruptions for employees. For this reason, CEOs may be more receptive to energy efficiency measures when framed in terms of the added reliability and resiliency benefits, they provide.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model for Data Centers
Data centers are mission-critical components of all large enterprises and frequently cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, yet few high-level executives understand the true cost of building and operating such facilities. Costs are typically spread across the IT, networking, and facilities/corporate real-estate departments, which makes management of these costs and assessment of alternatives difficult. This paper presents a simple approach to enable C-suite executives to assess the true total costs of building, owning, and operating their data center physical facilities.
A Holistic Approach to Reducing Cost and Resource Consumption
This article from the Uptime Institute, A Holistic Approach to Reducing Cost and Resource Consumption highlights the importance of executive buy-in and commitment when implementing data center energy efficiency.
ISO 50001 Certification
Designed to support organizations in all sectors, ISO 50001 provides a practical way to improve energy use, through the development of an energy management system (EnMS). ISO 50001 provides a framework of requirements for organizations to: Develop a policy for more efficient use of energy, fix targets and objectives to meet the policy, use data to better understand and make decisions about energy use, measure the results, review how well the policy works, and continually improve energy management.
The ISO 50001 Ready Navigator provides an actionable framework through which stakeholders can plan, build, and implement their data center energy efficiency improvements.
Like the CIO, CFOs often play a key role in project approval decisions. CFOs are tasked to conduct responsible financial management of an organization. The level of knowledge and justification required to build consensus among parties responsible for managing financial resources may vary organization to organization. Prior to deciding on an energy efficiency investment, most organizations perform some sort of financial analysis- whether it be payback, total cost of ownership (TCO), or return on investment (ROI). Further analysis and decision making, such as how “well proven” the ECM technology is, may also be required to convince CFOs and the financing or budget department. Outside funding or alternative financing mechanisms (such as utility rebates or energy savings performance contracts (ESPC)) can increase how receptive a CFO is to a project, or their willingness to pursue measures that have longer payback periods. It’s the responsibility of the project champion to understand what terms the CFO will view the project in, how they’ll view the opportunity cost of capital due to competing priorities in the organization, and to create and frame the project in such a way that will resonate.
Opportunity cost of capital (CFO)
CFOs are constantly having to prioritize which investments are most aligned with an organization’s strategic objectives. For this reason, they may need to be presented with information that differentiates why upgrades in data center energy efficiency could “beat out” competing requests. Additionally, CFOs may be inclined to focus on lowest upfront capital costs when investing in improvements. Project champions must clearly communicate the comparably favorable life-cycle costs for more energy efficient data center equipment.
Misaligned interests (CFOs)
CFOs generally have cost containment objectives and may tend to prioritize lowest first cost, particularly for shorter term reporting periods. For example, if a proposed ECM requires a large capital investment with a payback of five years, and their performance is judged on reductions in capital expenditures year over year, then there may be a perverse incentive to prioritize short term wins over long term gains. Project champions should emphasize the vast cost savings potential associated with data centers given their energy intensity. Additionally, increasing project visibility across other executive-level stakeholders could facilitate a common understanding of its benefits and help engender support and a willingness to proceed.
Lack of awareness of current energy usage & opportunities (CFOs)
CFOs may be unaware of the potential operating savings and other benefits that accompany energy efficiency projects. The Uptime Institute’s 2016 Data Center Industry Survey reported that Finance was the number one business function consistently absent from major IT infrastructure decisions. In particular, they may be unaware that data centers consume drastically more energy than other office spaces, (depending on how that information is reported to them), or the “low hanging fruit” that can significantly reduce operating costs.
Reduce operating costs (CFO)
Given CFOs are tasked with financial management, reducing operating costs (and ultimately their organization’s OpEx) is an incentive in its own right. Given their background and understanding in finance, CEOs may be receptive to energy efficiency opportunities that reduce operating costs, particularly when the payback is low and/or more certain (e.g. well-proven ECMs).
Leverage utility & other incentives (CFO)
Incentives provided by utilities and other entities (e.g. at State or Federal level), or alternative financing opportunities (e.g. ESPCs) can be leveraged to win CFO approval of an energy efficiency project. Incentives that partially (or entirely) sponsor a data center energy efficiency project offset the capital investment required for a project.
Free up data center capacity (CFO)
Expanding and building new data centers is very costly. While an organization’s CFO may not have data center capacity as a top of mind concern, an effective increase of capacity can delay or eliminate the need to build or expand. This benefit could be leveraged to attain CFO approval.
Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE)
The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) houses information on the financial incentives available for efficient data center equipment. The DSIRE database can be searched or filtered to access the relevant information. To see the list of programs with a data center offering, click the Programs tab from the main header then Apply Filter. Filter by Technology>Energy Efficiency>Other>Data Center Equipment.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model for Data Centers
Data centers are mission-critical components of all large enterprises and frequently cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, yet few high-level executives understand the true cost of building and operating such facilities. Costs are typically spread across the IT, networking, and facilities/corporate real-estate departments, which makes management of these costs and assessment of alternatives difficult. This paper presents a simple approach to enable C-suite executives to assess the true total costs of building, owning, and operating their data center physical facilities.
Why your CFO needs to meet your IT department
Article on the benefits of involving CFOs in IT decisions.
Discovering hidden costs in your data center - a CFO perspective
IBM report on what efforts forward-thinking CFOs are doing to properly account for energy costs and more efficiently manage their data centers. CFOs can have significant impact on energy management behavior within their organizations, particularly with respect to data centers.
Opportunities for ESPCs in Data Centers
This webinar, held by the CoE in May 2020, reviewed how energy savings performance contracts (or ESPCs) could be leveraged as a financing mechanism to reduce the barriers for energy efficiency in data centters. This webinar covers successful data center ESPC examples, helps data center owners and operators understand why data center efficiency improvements are well-suited for inclusion in ESPCs, reviews relevant resources for ESPCs, and more.
Sustainability managers may be predisposed to view energy efficiency projects favorably, and are one of the most likely project champions within an organization. However, they may have a limited pool of resources (either human capital or funds) and must weigh these opportunities amongst others- such as an employee waste education campaigns, water efficiency measures, or pursuing lighting retrofits in office space. Sustainability Managers are likely interested in energy efficiency opportunities that not only provide an adequate return on investment but have clear tracking and reporting opportunities through which they can demonstrate their accomplishments. They are also likely interested in energy efficiency projects that are highly visible, innovative, and favored by management. Given their energy intensive nature, data centers offer ample opportunity for improving organizational sustainability. However, project champions may need to effectively convey this to sustainability managers.
Misaligned interests (Sustainability Manager)
While efficiency improvements in data centers are highly relevant to a Sustainability Manager’s goals, there may be factors other than energy savings potential (e.g. competing office priorities or reporting requirements) that influence which projects are undertaken. Sustainability Managers may be interested in opportunities that are less time or capital intensive, are more highly visible within an organization, are simpler to meter and report, and/or that engage employees more.
Lack of awareness of energy usage, costs, and opportunities (Sustainability Manager)
Sustainability managers may not be aware of the potential that lies within their organization’s data center. This could be a ramification of lack of visibility and proximity, or perhaps a history or preference within the organization to tap other opportunities as part of a sustainability plan. They are likely unaware that data centers can consume up to 50 times more energy per square foot than typical office space, and in some cases are responsible for up to 40 percent of an organization’s footprint. The Uptime Institute’s 2016 Data Center Industry Survey reported that Sustainability was one of the top three business functions consistently absent from major IT infrastructure decisions.v Understanding how a Sustainability Manager prioritizes and funds projects, as well as how their success is gauged, is critical. Project champions (assuming they’re not the Sustainability Manager), should seek to leverage the vast potential of data center energy efficiency measures and pursue projects that may have additional sustainability benefits such as reduced waste, increased recycling, water consumption savings, etc.
No one person within an organization is tasked with energy efficiency (Sustainability Manager)
In many organizations, data center energy efficiency improvement are not explicitly in any one person’s job description. Despite this, a Sustainability Manager is one of the most likely stakeholders to either undertake these projects independently or be assigned to it by organizational leadership.
Save energy in accordance with organizational values (Sustainability Manager)
Sustainability managers are, among other things, typically tasked with reducing an organization’s environmental footprint. This manifests through different business units and areas within an organization, data centers included. Data centers consume ten to 100 times more energy per square foot than a typically office building and can represent up to 40 percent of an organization’s carbon footprint. Since data centers may represent the single biggest energy consuming component of an organization, including data centers as part of an energy efficiency portfolio can easily align with a Sustainability Manager’s goal.
Comply with organizational policies and/or codes and standards (Sustainability Manager)
Sustainability Managers may have helped craft (and/or are tasked with enforcing) an organization’s energy or sustainability policies. A Sustainability Manager’s job may also entail overseeing the implementation and enforcement of codes and standards from outside entities, whether this be the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) for Federal Agencies or voluntary standards, such as ISO 50001.
Leverage utility & other incentives (Sustainability Manager)
Due to the fact that sustainability managers may be balancing spending priorities, participation in utility and other incentive programs may make data center energy efficiency measures more attractive for a Sustainability Manager to undertake. Aside from reducing costs, an innovative partnership with a local utility, for example, could be a more highly visible and marketable opportunity
ISO 50001 FAQs
FAQs on the practical implementation and benefits associated with ISO 50001 certification.
Procurement and Contracting’s role as it relates to procuring data center equipment and infrastructure varies from organization to organization. In some organizations, they may simply carry out purchase order from their IT and Facilities Departments. In other organizations, however, Procurement may have its own, more rigid set of policies to follow. This is particularly true in Federal Agencies. As a result, Facilities and IT departments may find that Procurement and Contracting officers are a key stakeholder who should be consulted with and included early on in an energy efficiency project. While some procurement departments may have policies that ensure equipment that is purchased is energy efficient (e.g. Federal requirements for EPEAT registered products), others may not. This department may first prioritize criteria other than energy efficiency – including lowest first cost, performance, or other specifications when selecting data center equipment. Energy efficiency and assessment of the total cost of ownership (TCO) should be integrated into the procurement process. Reviewing and revising current policies and practices to ensure that energy efficiency is a criteria in purchasing, (and that first costs alone do not drive purchasing decisions) is important in order to advance data center energy efficiency. Federal agencies also should look to emphasize energy efficiency requirements or criteria in their solicitations for IT equipment.
Misaligned interests (Procurement & Contracting Personnel)
Misaligned Interests: Procurement and contracting personnel likely have their own set of criteria for purchasing IT and other data center equipment, and have an incentive to follow internally set procedures and policies. They may place greater weight on product performance or other specifications, or lowest first cost, without consideration of energy efficiency or lifetime operating costs. Ensuring that procurement includes energy efficiency as a criteria when making purchasing decisions, and that assessments of cost effectiveness considers payback or TCO is important for making purchasing decisions that advance energy efficiency.
Comply with codes and standards and/or organizational policies (Procurement & Contracting Personnel)
Given that IT Managers are often involved in (or tasked with) data center equipment purchase decisions, they may be driven to pursue energy efficient projects that incorporate purchasing equipment that ensures compliance with relevant codes and standards (e.g. ENERGY STAR).
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model for Data Centers
Data centers are mission-critical components of all large enterprises and frequently cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, yet few high-level executives understand the true cost of building and operating such facilities. Costs are typically spread across the IT, networking, and facilities/corporate real-estate departments, which makes management of these costs and assessment of alternatives difficult. This paper presents a simple approach to enable C-suite executives to assess the true total costs of building, owning, and operating their data center physical facilities.
Contracting for Efficiency: A Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Product Procurement
Contracting for Efficiency: A Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Product Procurement, provides guidance to agencies with regard to federal sustainable acquisition requirements related to energy and water consumption.
Green Procurement Compilation Tool
This green procurement compilation tool helps federal agencies identify green data center equipment and products, as well as which legal requirements and guidance apply with respect to procurement.
Case Study: Sandia National Laboratories' Holistic Data Center Design Integrates Energy and Water Efficiency, Flexibility and Resilience
This NREL case study highlights Sandia National Laboratories and their holistic data center approach, which provides resilient energy- and water-efficient cooling for high-performance computing systems. Sandia’s optimized data center design and operation first ensure that computing needs are met. Sandia’s data center achieves this by focusing on
a system of heat rejection to ensure that the data center is running both efficiently and effectively.
The Problem:
Each department faces its own separate challenges—with facility staff struggling with limits on rack and floor space, power availability, and equipment, while IT staff try to ensure they have sufficient processing power, network bandwidth, and storage capacity to support upcoming IT initiatives and sufficient redundancy to handle system disruption. CEOs are concerned with organizational performance and image, while CFOs are focused on cost containment and the bottom line. Additionally, the mission critical nature of data centers tends to lead to a hierarchy of these interests, with some (e.g. reliability) superseding others. It is rational that different parties with different objectives view energy efficiency through a particular lens and express concerns where they may feel their core objectives may be threatened. However, many energy efficiency projects provide benefits to all of these parties- the challenge is framing them appropriately and effectively communicating them. Split incentives (e.g. one part of an organization paying for upfront equipment costs while another pay operating costs) can also reinforce misaligned interests.
Opportunities to Overcome:
Champions must take an active role in breaking down institutional barriers and silos. Establishing a cross-functional improvement team creates a forum in which stakeholders from different backgrounds can come together and better understand where their interests align and how they can leverage overlapping financial, environmental, and IT goals to build consensus. It is important to review how an organization allocates resources and hardware, as well as how billing and accounting function for these projects, as these practices often drive or explain the interests of stakeholders. Organizations stand to benefit from a more holistic energy management approach when internal processes and incentive structures are developed in a more coordinated manner. Project champions should push for more coordination between IT and Facility departments in order to advance more integrated decision making. Further, adverse incentives should be reconsidered (such as project designers who receive bonuses when projects come in under budget). This can help to ensure that the energy efficiency gains made by one department are not undone (or mitigated) by another.
IT Manager & Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Sustainability Manager
Procurement & Contracting Personnel
Alternative Financing of Data Center Energy Projects
This slide deck covers opportunities for energy efficiency in data centers. It reviews alternative financing options for energy efficiency projects in data centers, with a particular focus on how ESPCs and UESCs can help advance efficiency. Several examples of successful ESPC/UESC projects in data centers are reviewed.
Best Practices for Modernizing Vintage Data Centers
This white paper discusses the benefits and challenges of upgrading the data center’s infrastructure components and outlines best practices for successfully planning, implementing and testing those renovations. This paper also touches on bridging the IT-Facilities divide.
Data Center Energy Efficiency Investments: Qualitative Evidence from Focus Groups and Interviews
This study explores potential barriers to energy-efficiency investments in data centers through focus groups and interviews with data center managers, including split incentives, uncertainty about new technologies, and more.
A Holistic Approach to Reducing Cost and Resource Consumption
This article from the Uptime Institute, A Holistic Approach to Reducing Cost and Resource Consumption highlights the importance of executive buy-in and commitment when implementing data center energy efficiency.
The Problem:
Most organizations do not have an individual who is explicitly tasked with managing energy efficiency in their data center. Whether a product of organizational silos, an oversight, or lack of resources, this makes it less likely that energy efficiency projects will be undertaken. Even if efforts are unofficially assigned, (and participants are well-intentioned), energy efficiency improvements may constantly be pushed to the back burner as stakeholders prioritize other concerns that are formally part of their job (and a measure of their success).
Opportunities to Overcome:
Establish a point person or individual who is responsible for periodically assessing data center energy efficiency, as well as initiating, implementing, and tracking projects. This “Project Champion” is most likely to be the Facility or Sustainability Manager, but could be virtually anybody in an organization. Shepherding a project through initiation to completion and overcoming organizational resistance and inertia often demands an individual’s explicit attention to be successful. Given the significant effort required, this barrier is most effectively overcome when written formally into a job description. If that is not an option, establishing a cross functional improvement team (see “Misaligned Interests” barrier) can create action amongst different stakeholders to make energy efficiency improvements that can advance individual and mutual goals. However, having a project champion (whether formal or informal), is often of critical importance for seeing a project through successfully.
Facility Manager
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Sustainability Manager
DCEP Program Description
The purpose of this program description is to provide information about the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) DCEP certificate training program; the target audience is those interested in participating in the Program.
ISO 50001 Certification
Designed to support organizations in all sectors, ISO 50001 provides a practical way to improve energy use, through the development of an energy management system (EnMS). ISO 50001 provides a framework of requirements for organizations to: Develop a policy for more efficient use of energy, fix targets and objectives to meet the policy, use data to better understand and make decisions about energy use, measure the results, review how well the policy works, and continually improve energy management.
The ISO 50001 Ready Navigator provides an actionable framework through which stakeholders can plan, build, and implement their data center energy efficiency improvements.
Getting to "Yes" for Energy Efficiency
Implementing a cost-effective energy efficiency project requires passion and a willingness to invest some time and little money. Even if you are the key decisionmaker, making an energy efficiency project happen can be complex. This Guide offers a variety of tools and resources for Champions to develop your own strategies to get to “yes.”
The Green Data Center: Steps for the Journey
This guide summarizes practical steps that project champions can take as they seek to establish and advance their data center's energy efficiency strategy.
Creating a Data Center Efficiency Plan
This white paper demonstrates how to create a data center energy efficiency plan by outlining the required steps, overcoming common challenges, looking at what information is important and relevant in determining savings, and what factors to consider when calculating a given project’s payback period.
The Problem:
Data centers are costly to operate and can represent forty percent or more of an organization’s overall operational expenditures. Despite this, information on operating costs may be silo-ed in a single department -typically facilities. Facility Managers may see a monthly power bill that includes energy use in data centers and offices- while an organization’s IT department never sees the impact of their decisions on a utility bill. Even if there is a desire to assess the True Cost of Ownership (TCO) for data center energy consumption, split financial reporting can make this difficult. Data center energy management is simply outside the purview of key decision makers- from the CFO to the CEO. As a result, these stakeholders may not be aware of how energy efficiency benefits that align with and may advance their interests.
Opportunities to Overcome:
A project champion shouldn’t expect other stakeholders within an organization to be familiar with energy efficiency opportunities in their data center. Instead, becoming more familiar with your data center’s energy consumption, expenditures, and efficiency potential is a critical first step to effectively communicate opportunities to key stakeholders. Project champions need to take initiative to identify opportunities and benefits and educate relevant stakeholders. Importantly, champions should also work to establish common reporting mechanisms that will better enable reporting across fragmented departments. Creating a continuous improvement team will help with communication and create a forum where standardization can be established. Seek out fragmented information from relevant stakeholders and present findings to the cross-functional improvement team (if one exists) to increase information sharing. If feasible, establish a method for continuously sharing this type of information across stakeholder groups. Standardized and transparent documentation of current projects can also help advance awareness of energy efficiency opportunities (and the associated benefits) in an organization. Setting measurable goals, establishing benchmarks, and monitoring and reporting of current projects, makes it easier for stakeholders to understand current project benefits. This, in turn, makes it easier to communicate “wins,” paving the way for future projects.
Facility Manager
IT Manager & Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Sustainability Manager
Energy Assessment Worksheet
Excel-based workbook to document the layout, metrics, actions and measurements from assessments of any data center. It is recommended that users first use the DC Pro tool before using this worksheet. The data from the profiling tool can be used as a starting point for more detailed assessments. The Center of Expertise for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers offers a range of system-level tools to measure and interpret energy use in information technology, cooling air management and the electric power system.
DC Pro User's Manual
User's manual for the Data Center Profiler (DC Pro) Tool, V4. DC Pro estimates a data center’s current and potential Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and energy use distribution. It also provides a tailored list of recommended tasks for improvement. Results can be exported as stand-‐alone reports or for inclusion in other reporting material. The tool was reviewed by data center owners, design professionals, and product manufacturers.
Data Center Metering and Resource Guide
Guide intends to help data center owners and operators implement a metering system that allows their organizations to gather the necessary data for effective decision-making and energy-efficiency improvements. Focus is on the necessary data to calculate the power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric. Author(s): Mahdavi, R. and S. Greenberg
Data Center Master List of Energy Efficiency Actions
Comprehensive list of recommended efficiency actions for data centers. This living encyclopedia of measures also feeds into our Data Center Profiler (DC Pro) tool to provide tailored recommendations for improvements in data center energy management.
Department of Energy(DOE) Energy Assessment Process Manual
The process manual provides administrative step-by-step instructions for conducting an energy assessment (before, during, and after the assessment). The manual is specifically designed for the DCEP training program, but it can be used by any qualified assessor conducting an energy assessment.
Air Management Packages Tool
This report presents estimated energy savings for small data center chiller (refrigeration) and fan equipment in a new tabular format for various air management upgrade scenarios. Air management is not only important in its own right but is also a prerequisite to other energy savings measures. If the scenarios included do not fit a particular data center, a previously developed air management tool (DOE, 2014) can be used to calculate a wide range of data centers and air management scenarios.
The Problem:
Investing organizational resources (e.g. funds or staff time) in energy efficiency projects inevitably means that organizations are foregoing those funds for something else. Energy efficiency projects need to compete not only with other investments, but also different sustainability initiatives within the organization (e.g. an organization could prioritize water savings in plumbing). This problem is largely defined by the funding source- as this will determine what the project is “competing” with. Does investment for a data center energy efficiency project come out of a facilities budget, a dedicated sustainability fund, or a general fund? Additionally, some companies choose to be part of a multi-tenant data center (also known as a co-lo), rather than independently operate their data center, as to not detract from core business competencies, which may expenses related to data center efficiency improvements from capital expenditures (CapEx) to operating expenditures (OpEx). This can impact how organizational leadership may perceive a project – or the hoops a project must jump through, as CapEx spending may undergo a more rigorous assessment- e.g. payback and ROI calculations. Project champions need to effectively convince stakeholders that funds are worthy of being allocated considering the potential project benefits (see drivers for energy efficiency in data centers).
Opportunities to Overcome:
Project champions should determine the anticipated source of funding for the project, and assess whether there are other stakeholders also vying for those funds. For example, if project funds are slated to come from the sustainability office, are there other initiatives that might be foregone? Assess the financial and other reporting requirements of various stakeholders, and frame the project in terms that will resonate with key stakeholders. Project champions also should consider the risk tolerance of the organization. For example, in a more conservative organization, perhaps ECMs with a well-proven track record and shorter payback periods should be prioritized. Organizations report being more likely to adopt energy-saving technologies when the costs savings fully offset the higher initial purchase cost within the first few years of operation; and are less likely to adopt those that are paid off over a longer time frame.viii Project champions can improve odds of overcoming this barrier in the future by implementing consistent yet flexible financial benchmarks. Establish baseline consumption and costs so that improvements can be benchmarked against something. Concrete monetary savings that speak to a stakeholder’s’ bottom line are better equipped to pave the way for improvements in the future. Additionally, partnerships and alternative financing opportunities- e.g. efficiency programs, utility incentives or rebates, ESPCs, UESCs, other potential sponsors can be critical in building a case for an energy efficiency project. ESPCs for example, do not require any upfront capital for a project (with costs paid throughout the life of the project). Lastly, while identifying funds for energy efficiency is key, maintaining and continuing to advocate for those funds (e.g. through a green or revolving fund) is also important for sustaining investments.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE)
The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) houses information on the financial incentives available for efficient data center equipment. The DSIRE database can be searched or filtered to access the relevant information. To see the list of programs with a data center offering, click the Programs tab from the main header then Apply Filter. Filter by Technology>Energy Efficiency>Other>Data Center Equipment.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model for Data Centers
Data centers are mission-critical components of all large enterprises and frequently cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, yet few high-level executives understand the true cost of building and operating such facilities. Costs are typically spread across the IT, networking, and facilities/corporate real-estate departments, which makes management of these costs and assessment of alternatives difficult. This paper presents a simple approach to enable C-suite executives to assess the true total costs of building, owning, and operating their data center physical facilities.
Discovering hidden costs in your data center - a CFO perspective
IBM report on what efforts forward-thinking CFOs are doing to properly account for energy costs and more efficiently manage their data centers. CFOs can have significant impact on energy management behavior within their organizations, particularly with respect to data centers.
Opportunities for ESPCs in Data Centers
This webinar, held by the CoE in May 2020, reviewed how energy savings performance contracts (or ESPCs) could be leveraged as a financing mechanism to reduce the barriers for energy efficiency in data centters. This webinar covers successful data center ESPC examples, helps data center owners and operators understand why data center efficiency improvements are well-suited for inclusion in ESPCs, reviews relevant resources for ESPCs, and more.
Small Data Center Webpage
Resource constrained data centers face unique challenges in their energy efficiency journey. The CoE's Small Data Center webpage recommends resources for small data centers that provide information on readily deployable, low cost, high-win strategies that can deliver robust energy savings.
The Problem:
Whether it’s a part of an organization’s core business offering or to keep daily operations running smoothly, data centers are mission critical to an organization’s operations. For this reason, energy efficiency actions taken in a data center may be viewed more cautiously than other sustainability measures (such as installing low flow toilets or switching to LEDs in office space). IT Managers and CIOs in particular will be concerned with ensuring data center operations are not compromised by energy efficiency measures. There is often a strong desire among stakeholders to maintain the status quo, and hesitancy to take any actions that are perceived as risky. Aside from lost productivity and reputation issues that can be associated with downtime, they are costly, estimated at over $8,000 per minute.
Opportunities to Overcome:
There are many positive testimonials of how energy efficiency can reduce energy consumption and operating costs without compromising (and even boosting) data center reliability and service. Energy efficiency improvements, particularly those that entail upgraded data center infrastructure and equipment, often have added benefits of improved and reliability and resiliency. For example, wider environmental envelopes (with more robust IT equipment), can allow for greater efficiency and continued operation under compromised conditions (e.g. failure of compressor cooling). Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) systems, which are often installed as part of an energy management upgrade, can detect faults and provide early warning of potential problems. When operating within a risk adverse organization, project champions may need to educate other stakeholders as to how energy efficiency actions can actually bolster a data center’s reliability and resiliency. Additionally, project champions could pursue energy efficiency measures that are perceived of as less risky from the IT perspective in order to demonstrate a proven process for implementing projects.
IT Manager & Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Data Centers and Advanced Microgrids Meeting Resiliency, Efficiency, and Sustainability Goals Through Smart and Cleaner Power Infrastructure
While other facilities such as military bases, hospitals, and universities are exploring the concept of an advanced microgrid, data centers have been slow to warm up to the concept. This white paper explores how distributed strategies can help data center owners and operators meet goals of resiliency, efficiency and sustainability.
Designing and Managing Data Centers for Resilience (Webinar Recording)
This COE webinar recording describes demand response and microgrid technologies, the business case for their deployment, and proven examples of their implementation.