The Green Grid Idea

The idea of a "Green Grid" has been taking several forms, most related to the environment and energy.

There is a  Green Grid computing project at Dartmouth.

There is Green Grid,  the company marketing modular roof systems with energy efficiency listed among a long list of benefits.  The flagship Apple store in Chicago has one.

                        

There is the Green Grid being sponsored by the Mayor of London:

East London Green Grid

"The Green Grid concept aims to provide new and existing East London residents and workers with a multi-functional network of strategic open space and in turn improved quality of life."

                      

                        

Then there is the Green Grid a "global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems."

This is the one which has set out to help make sense of energy in IT.

Some short background on the Green Grid. 

It was born from an increasingly vocal demand from large data center managers that the IT industry do something to help alleviate the energy piggishness of IT gear.   

On the IT front, the prime culprits were servers, followed by storage and networking gear.  On the infrastructure side it was cooling and power distribution.  Growing business demands were taxing them all and in some cases data centers were running out of energy altogether. 

AMD led the early charge and deserves much credit for navigating the competitive obstacles, gaining agreement from the likes of Intel, IBM, Dell, HP and others.  Now they all sit at the same table, are courteous to one another and cooperate to help deal with energy issues for the sake of customers the industry and the planet.

Negotiations took awhile, but about a year ago the charter was signed by eleven founding members. 

Made a press announcement and they were on the way. 

A year into it...

One indication of the topic's importance is that membership has grown to more than 150, a number that includes IT companies, data center operators and other industry interests.  Liaisons have been established with the US Dept. of Energy, the EPA and other industry groups such as the Storage Networking Industry Association(SNIA) and the Distributed Management Task Force (DTMF). 

They have established a Communications Committee (I'm on it) and a Technical Committee with four technical work groups:

Metrics and Measurements

Technology  & Strategy

Operations

Data Collection & Analysis

There are also EMEA chapters of the two Committees, underway since late last year.

There is remarkable collegiality and cooperation exhibited here amongst a bunch of companies that compete fiercely most of the time. 

But that doesn't mean disagreements don't happen.  They are sometimes fierce as well.  But overall it is focus on the larger objectives that occupy people's time and energy.

Last week the Green Grid held its first Technical Forum in San Francisco. 

The event was billed as advancing "Green Grid’s mission... of energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems.  Attendees will learn about The Green Grid’s Data Center Metrics, current and emerging techniques for managing data centers for efficiency and future technical deliverables from the organization.  The Green Grid will also host discussions with leading industry policy-makers from around the world. "

I attended (about 300 total) and I can say that the results were encouraging.  It was an international event with participation from Japan, Europe and North America. 

A few highlights:

Three companies that operate large data centers started things off with overviews of how they are coping and what they are planning.  These included:

• Renato Crocetti, Corporate Vice President, ADP

• Jim Miller, Assistant Vice President Information
Technology, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car

• Brandi K Landreth, Director of Continuity
Management and Data Center Strategy, Allstate
Insurance

All three are senior people, responsible for data centers,  and all three described broad ranging corporate sustainaibility or green strategies that include the data center and then push beyond it.

Andrew Fanara, who runs the Energy Star program for the US Environmental Protection Agency, spoke about global trends and initiatives the US government is taking to deal directly with these issues in China, India and elsewhere. 

Anson Wu, representing the European Union presented an EU draft of the Code of Conduct being developed for Data Centres (they spell it with the extra "e") which is meant to establish best practices, metrics, and monitoring.   This is voluntary and is being circulated now for comment.

Members of the Technical Committee presented results of their work so far and set out the directions and priorities for the coming year.  One highlight here was a presentation by a Christian Belady from Microsoft who presented progress on Data Center Productivity or DCP.  You only need look at his chart linking dozens of key elements  to understand why this will take awhile to complete. 

It's not only complicated,  there is plenty of room for intelligent people to differ on the approach - those fierce conversations.

Still, progress is being made.

Three new white papers have been posted (one for members only).   These are:

The Green Grid Data Center Power Efficiency Metrics: PUE and DCiE
This paper updates the first GG white paper.  It's explains Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) with an important update that defines Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE). 

Existing Metrics, Guidelines and Programs Affecting Data Center and IT Energy Efficiency
This paper is a survey of organizations looking at data center energy issues, including potential technologies, metrics and best practices. 

New! Qualitative Analysis of Power Distribution Configurations for Data Centers
This paper looks at variations in data center power distribution configurations, looking at pros and cons and future possibilities.

Not sure if your'e company is a member?  Check the member list.

Comments

[PM]

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