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Servers and the technical infrastructure of server systems as for example cooling and uninterruptible power supply significantly contribute to the energy consumption and the operating costs of IT equipment. According to current studies the annual energy consumption of servers in the US is of the same order of magnitude as for television sets. In Europe servers are currently the second largest energy consumer among IT equipment following TVs. The worldwide energy consumption of servers amounts to roughly 123 TWh/year (1). According to forecasts for the German market the electricity consumption of servers will increase by 50 % between 2005 and 2010 (2). It is expected that energy costs for the operation of servers will exceed the costs for server hardware by 2015.
Efficient server hardware and software allows to reduce energy consumption and operating costs in both the IT-system and cooling. Depending on the application 20 -70 % savings can be achieved. There are currently several technological options available to improve energy efficiency of servers including efficient hardware components, power management as well software for server virtualisation
The project Efficient Servers conducted within the EU programme Intelligent Energy Europe aims at demonstrating the high saving potentials due to efficient server technology in practise and at supporting the development of the market for energy efficient servers.
The project is operated by an international consortium which is the Austrian Energy Agency (Project coordination), IBM, SUN, the University of Karlsruhe, the French environmental Agency and Robert Harrison LTD together with the British Market Transformation Programme.
Stakeholders interested in the project, are invited to register via the web-link. By registering you make sure to receive further information on project results and to be involved in the stakeholder discussion. » Link
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