National Workshops

Subtitle
Enhanced Energy Efficiency in Indian Data Centers Initiative

Summary of National Workshops

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), formed by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), is making constant efforts towards wider adoption of green building concepts including data centres in India. The green building movement stands tall in the country today with over 4,573 green building projects registered with a footprint of 5.3 billion sq. ft. To keep advancing this movement, the US DOE Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the CII- IGBC are collaborating on a joint initiative- Enhanced Energy Efficiency in Indian Data Centers Initiative. The key objective of the initiative is to develop and facilitate implementation of policies and programmes at National level which will improve energy efficiency in Indian data centers. Key to this initiative are the series of National Workshops held to promote discussion and deliberation. They include:

  • One Day Conference | Mumbai | September 2019
  • ANSI Workshop | Hyperabad | July 2019
  • Half Day Workshop | Mumbai | May 2019
  • Half-Day Workshop | Bangalore | February 2019
  • The "Kickoff" National Workshop | Mumbai | July 2018

One Day Conference | Mumbai | September 2019

The “Building Data Center Ecosystem Conducive to India’s Digital Convergence” Data Center Blueprint Summit was held in September 2019. Industry experts held numerous panel sessions, touching on innovation and best practices, management of operational costs in data centers, and more. 

General Information:

Panel Discussions:

  • Panel Discussion I: Industry Challenges in Development of Data Center Infrastructure and Formulating a Data Center Policy
  • Panel Discussion II: Innovation and Best Practices in Data Center Infrastructure Development
  • Panel Discussion III: Increasing Energy Efficiency and Managing Operational Costs for Datacenters

Presentations:

One Day Workshop | Hyderabad | July 2019

India aims to reach 40% urbanization by 2030. Launched in 2015 by the Government of India, the Smart City Mission is supporting India’s efforts by promoting improvements in infrastructure and the preservation and development of open and spaces. To reach its urbanization goal, India needs to prioritize energy efficiency standards and best practices for commercial buildings and data centers, including application of the Indian Energy Conservation Building Code and the National Building Code.

The first day of Green Data Centers: A Workshop on Codes and Standards for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers will focus on green building innovations; the second day will focus on data center efficiency. Presentations by U.S. and Indian experts from the private and public sectors will discuss capacity building for data centers and green buildings, as well as emerging efficiency opportunities and standards. This collaboration will help India meet its energy efficiency targets, specifically data centers and green buildings.  Sessions included:

  • Session I: Inaugural session and introduction to Energy Efficiency in Data Centers.  Dignitaries welcome the group and set the stage for the workshop.
  • Session II: Prevailing practices in data centers for energy efficiency in view of standards and codes.  Coming from an international perspective, experts will discuss emerging efficiency codes and standards and their application to practice.  Experts including leaders from the U.S., multinational data center owner/operators, and an audit and certification organizations will illuminate the state-of-the-art in energy efficiency standards and their application internationally and in the Indian context.
  • Session III: The Indian Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) and its application to data centers. The Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency recently included data center in the ECBC.  IGBC, LBNL, and a group of industry advisors are developing guidelines and recommendations for implementation.  Besides setting a base level of efficiency, the team is making recommendations for higher levels of performance and best practices. Presentations will cover data center cooling, chiller plant performance, the electrical “chain” (e.g. UPS efficiency), and IT equipment and management. 
  • Session IV: Deploying innovation and best practices to achieve high energy efficiency performance in India.  While some locations in India have unique issues with climate, power quality, and air quality, innovative best practices can still yield high returns on performance, and save significant energy and money.  
  • Session V: Wrap up Panel:  International experts, practitioners, and others will reflect on the day’s sessions and lead a discussion with all those attending regarding how codes and standards can help India achieve much higher levels of energy efficiency performance in data centers. 

Workshop Documents:

Half-Day Workshop | Mumbai | May 2019

A half-day workshop was held on May 14th in Mumbai. The workshop convened Advisory Group Members and others. Several technical sessions and panels were held. Key topics in the agenda included:

Technical Session I. Green Data Centers

Technical Session II. Excellence in Design for Optimised Performance

Challenges and Opportunities in Green Data Centers (Panel Discussion)

Half-Day Workshop | Bangalore | February 2019

A half-day workshop was held on February 13th in Bangalore. The workshop convened Advisory Group Members and others. Several technical sessions and panels were held. Additionally, the proposed energy performance levels in Data Centers per ECBC and additional recommendations from the Advisory Group members were discussed for each of the sub-working groups: Chillers, Cooling, Electrical, and IT. Key topics in the agenda included:

Technical Session I. Green Data Centers

Technical Session II. Excellence in Design and Operation & Maintenance

Reliability and Green Concepts (Panel Session)

ECBC Guide for Data Centres – Energy Performance Levels in DCs

Kickoff National Workshop | Mumbai | July 2018

A workshop on “Enhanced Energy Efficiency in Indian Data Centers” was held on 24 July 2018 at Godrej Auditorium, Mumbai. Topics ranged from code compliance and ways to forward achieve higher ECBC levels in data centers to industry benchmarking and case studies. Key topics in the agenda included:

 

Technologies
General