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Green networking – the practice of
selecting energy-efficient networking
technologies and products and
minimising resource use whenever
possible – has been on the radar
of the IT industry since the 1970s
when companies, governments and
academics started arguing for the need
to build economies without increasing
energy consumption. In recent years,
discussions of climate change and
global warming have increased the
pressure on organisations to improve
their energy efficiency and legislation
has been put in place by governments
around the world in an effort to reduce
the world’s energy consumption.
In the UK, the CRC Energy Efficiency
Scheme came into effect in April 2010,
featuring a range of reputational,
behavioural and financial drivers, which
aim to encourage organisations to develop
energy management strategies that
promote a better understanding of energy
usage.
Under the scheme, the largest
electricity users (more than 6,000MWh
per year) are required to measure and
report their energy consumption and
purchase allowances from the Government
for every tonne of CO2 they emit.
Operating as a ‘cap-and-trade’ mechanism,
it enables organisations to either buy or
sell allowances through an auction-based
emissions trading arrangement and is a
central part of the Government’s plans to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80%,
from 1990 levels, by 2050.
In addition, there are a number of
initiatives directed at datacentres. At a
European level, the EU Code of Conduct
for Data Centres is a set of practical
guidelines to improve energy efficiency
within data centres without jeopardising
their mission critical function. The
ultimate aim is to increase data centre
infrastructure efficiency from the current
level of approximately 50% to 70-80%.
The Green Grid, a global consortium
of IT firms, promotes data centre energy
efficiency by working to produce a
common set of metrics, processes,
methods and new technologies.
Impact on networks
The push for energy efficiency and the
introduction of legislation like the CRC
Scheme have a direct effect on IT Directors,
Network Managers and Data Centre
Managers who recognise the importance
of having precise data showing energy
use and specific plans in place to improve
efficiency and reduce consumption.
Added to the rising cost of energy and
budgetary constraints, it is crucial that
those running organisations’ networks are
continually seeking to improve energy
efficiency, reduce consumption and
increase profit. Current legislation is driving
a change in energy consciousness at the
very top of large enterprises and many
organisations are now applying cross-
functional teams to tackle energy issues.
Measuring consumption
In order to tackle their carbon footprint,
IT and Network Managers need first to
understand the costs involved in running
their networks and data centres. One way
do this is to use Intelligent Infrastructure
Management (IIM) and Environmental
Monitoring and Control (EMAC) tools to
monitor and manage the network. These
provide data on actual power use down
to rack and device level and produce
Data Centres
Green networking
and energy efficiency:
from cables to coding
Harry Forbes explains the impact that cabling can have on network
and datacentre energy consumption
trend data for single or groups of physical
systems.
Power Distribution Units distribute
power to individual sockets and can
automatically switch them on or off
depending on requirements. They also have
intelligent connections to rack managers,
which provide time and date-stamped
monitoring of volts, amps and sockets used,
and can send email alerts in the event that
pre-set parameters are exceeded.
Tools such as these allow organisations
to analyse and limit their energy use and
identify areas where improvements are
needed, which is critical if they are to make
changes that bring sustainable benefits.
Next steps
Once energy consumption has been
measured, there are several steps that
Network and Data Centre Managers can
then take to reduce it:
Cooling.
Cooling can account for as
much as 60% of a data centre’s power
use and is crucial to reducing energy
consumption of networks. How much is
needed depends to a great extent on the
design and layout of the network and
data centre. Having a large number of
high energy servers in racks that are close
together causes an imbalance of heat so
that some server rows need more cooling
than others. By altering the design, you
can rebalance the server rows, change
the cooling requirements and reduce
inefficiencies, thus saving both energy
and money.
Cabling.
The choice of cabling can
make a real difference to energy use and
CO2 emissions. Using the best quality
cabling helps reduce energy consumption.
For example, Category7A (CAT), the
highest performance copper solution
available on the market, offers immediate
energy and can maximise energy savings
by as much as 30-50% in short reach
mode as noise cancellers are turned down.
In addition, using the very latest
cabling technology gives organisations
the opportunity to prepare their network
infrastructures for a longer shelf life. For
example, it has been demonstrated that
CAT7A can support the next generation
Ethernet LAN speed of 40G. Subject
to progress within relevant industry
standards, CAT7A offers a cabling
infrastructure performance that can
reduce cable density, active link power
consumption and cost by requiring fewer
cable links than 10G running over CAT6A.
The cabling industry is continually
developing new standards to improve
energy efficiency, including Energy Efficient
Ethernet and Data Centre Ethernet. The
Harry Forbes, Chief
Technology Officer,
Nexans
Continued...
Current
legislation
is driving
a change
in energy
consciousness
at the very
top...