Improving Energy Efficiency in Data Centers Initiative

Initiative Overview

The energy intensity of data centers, the growth of data center infrastructure in India, and the existing power deficit in the country calls for increased energy efficiency in Indian data centers. A public-private partnership has been working to increase the energy efficiency of data centers in India through market transformation, capacity building for efficient IT/ITES infrastructure, and the sharing of international best practices and benchmarks since 2007.

The initiative is being led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) under the guidance of the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)] and the U.S. Department of Energy. The key objective of the initiative is to develop and facilitate implementation of policies and programmes at the National level which will improve energy efficiency in Indian data centers. The initiative is now in Phase III. You can learn more about the initiative, and its outcomes on the IGBC data center site.

Use the links below to learn more about the initiative, project background, adivsory group members, national workshops, and key project outcomes.

Key Project Outcomes

Initiative outcomes include an ECBC user guide targeted specifically for data center owners and operators in their pursuit of compliance with ECBC requirements, as well as Level II and Level III requirements. This guide serves as a supplement to the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017, issued by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power (November 2019 version). The ECBC is intended to provide requirements for design and construction of energy-efficient buildings in India, including data centers. The purpose of this supplemental guide is to help users identify standards in the ECBC 2017 that pertain specifically to data centers and to offer notes and suggestions for implementation. 

The project also resulted in a number of case studies, which document innovative, energy efficiency success stories in Indian data centers. These case studies summarize the rationale for implementation of energy efficiency measures, as well as the project scope, outcomes, and performance.