In this day and age it seems that we can – and do – make most transactions over the internet rather than on paper or in person. We pay bills, do our taxes, send photos, connect with friends, and even shop all from the convenience of our keyboards and computer screens. While this method may be a time saver, you would be wrong to think that it is an efficient energy saver as well.
In reality, while we are making all of these transactions, each tiny piece of data sent or received through this ‘cloud’ must travel hundreds of miles through internet channels and numerous data centers to reach the intended receiver, all the while (more often than not needlessly) consuming huge amounts of electricity in an inefficient and sometimes polluting manner. Data centers are rows and rows of computer servers spread across hundreds of thousands of square feet in a large facility that are connected by advanced cooling and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems.
According to a New York Times article published last fall, high-performance computing data centers across the United States have been found to sharply juxtapose what the seamless Internet has come to represent. While being viewed as energy efficient and streamlining data sharing, by design data centers are forced to use energy to convert data, keep machines and equipment running, and utilize complex and energy-consuming cooling systems to ensure stability and condition of said equipment. While the average individual might assume that by moving the majority of our transactions and discussions to the Internet would result in reducing humans’ environmental impacts both locally (less consumption of paper, ink, and energy) and world-wide (a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 pollution, and fuel-delivering mail transportation), data centers across the globe run up against the maximum energy available through each one’s utility provider, making impacts less visible but no less real.
Acknowledging this challenge, companies world-wide such as Apple, IBM, and, Facebook have taken significant steps to enhance and design data centers. Efforts have been made to utilize renewable/ clean sources of energy, incorporate energy efficient building systems, and reduce/reuse waste as much as possible.
One local example is the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The first facility of its kind in the nation, the MGHPCC is a groundbreaking collaboration between greater Boston’s most prominent academic institutions to help support research on issues ranging from cyber security to climate change. A 90,300-square-foot data center housing over 16,000 computer servers, the facility utilizes 10 megawatts of available power, 78% of which comes from local renewable energy sources. The facility is home to data through a ground breaking collaboration between state government, private industry, and five of the Commonwealth’s most research intensive universities.
As the rate of data production and conversion increases year to year, data centers and server rooms are transforming the way we live and work, but must innovate to become a model of sustainability that will translate into the future. So next time you go to send that video or power point presentation back and forth for viewing, take a moment to remember that no matter how digitized business is becoming, all devices run on a power cord and consume energy.
