CRC is no longer clear cut
but saving energy
remains a key concern
Harry Forbes
Chief Technology Officer at Nexans
White Paper
Nexans Cabling Solutions
November 2011
CRC is no longer clear cut but saving energy remains a key
concern
What do the changes to the CRC mean for network and data centre managers?
By Harry Forbes, Chief Technology Officer at Nexans
Controversy
The Government’s CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme appears to be in turmoil, with some critics
even suggesting it may be scrapped all together, as reported by the Daily Telegraph in
January. Major changes made to the CRC following George Osborne’s spending review in
October last year have led to uproar, and the business community is hitting back at what it
now sees as simply a carbon tax and a stealthy one at that.
Whilst the full effects of the CRC on the IT industry remain unclear, and the business world
adjusts its stance, many analysts point out that the changes in fact make a stronger case for
low-carbon IT with the argument for reducing energy consumption now purely a financial one.
Regardless of the changes and consultation underway and the controversy that is raging, the
IT industry need be in no doubt that energy efficiency remains at the top of the network
management and data centre agenda for 2011 and cabling infrastructure has an important
role to play in this.
Increasing consumption
Energy efficiency has been at the forefront of the public agenda since the 1970s when
companies, governments and academics started arguing for the need to build economies
without increasing energy consumption. In recent years, discussions on climate change and
global warming have increased the pressure on organisations to improve their energy
efficiency and we are now seeing legislation being introduced by governments around the
world in an effort to reduce the world’s energy consumption.
Energy costs account for up to a fifth of business expenditure and the IT industry is one of the
biggest spenders. In its report, ‘Cloud Computing and its Contribution to Climate Change’,
Greenpeace projects that data centres alone could consume up to 1 million megawatt hours of
power by 2020, with the telecom sector using another 950,000 megawatt hours. Whilst
projections vary the demand for data usage marches inexorably on and electricity bills
continue to spiral.
At a time when companies are watching every penny that is spent and fuel costs are volatile
energy efficiency has a very real impact on the bottom line, especially when you’re talking
about cutting chunks off data centre bills that run into many millions. There has been a change
of psyche within the IT industry regarding this, unarguably spurred on by the announcement of
the CRC back in 2008: energy efficiency is not just good for the environment but it is good
for the purse. Becoming energy efficient is another matter.
The history
On 1 April 2010 the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme came into effect in the UK. Formerly
known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment, it formed a central part of the Government’s
plans that by 2050 greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 80% from 1990 levels.
It was originally designed as a cap-and-trade scheme for public and private organisations with
an annual energy bill in excess of 6,000MW (or roughly £500,000 per year given the
changing price of fuel). In its initial form the CRC was expected to affect approximately
20,000 organisations, each required to measure and report their energy consumption and
purchase allowances from the Government for every tonne of CO2 emitted. The first auction
was due to take place in April 2011 with plans to publish a CRC league table later this year
showing the comparative performance of the top 5,000 participating organisations.
But a single, significant paragraph in October’s spending review changed all this:
'The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme will be simplified to reduce the burden on businesses, with
the first allowance sales for 2011-12 emissions now taking place in 2012 rather than 2011.
Revenues from allowance sales totalling £1 billion a year by 2014-15 will be used to support
the public finances, including spending on the environment, rather than recycled to
participants. Further decisions on allowance sales are a matter for the Budget process.'
What had been designed as an incentive scheme to reduce CO2 emissions had to all intent
and purpose become a business tax, and one that is currently still being ironed out. Despite
the uncertainly about the exact financial implications and a lack of decision about how and
whether to publish a league table one thing remains clear: cutting energy consumption means
savings on electricity and tax bills.
Putting in place the right hardware, software and
processes to achieve this is where the focus now needs to be. Looking at this from a glass half
full point of view there is also more time now to do this.
Additionally, the Government has shown its true colours and, judging by comments made by
the energy secretary Chris Huhne to the CBI in November about the CRC being ‘just the
beginning’ when it comes to carbon taxation, companies that are ahead of the game with
energy saving plans will win out.
This is underlined by the many other energy saving
initiatives that exist.
Energy efficiency initiatives
Although the UK is the first European country to have a mandatory energy reporting scheme,
the US is also moving ahead with planned energy efficiency legislation and there are several
other initiatives designed to promote energy efficiency around the world, many of which focus
on the data centre industry.
Other initiatives include the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres, which is a set of practical
guidelines to improve energy efficiency within data centres without jeopardising their mission
critical function, and its ultimate aim is to increase data centre infrastructure efficiency from the
current level of approximately 50% to 70-80%. In addition, the Green Grid is a global
consortium of IT firms promoting data centre energy efficiency through working to produce a
common set of metrics, processes, methods and new technologies.
The push for energy efficiency in organisations and the introduction of legislation such as the
CRC has a direct effect on IT Directors, Network Managers and Data Centre Managers who
will be under pressure from senior management to have 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
act now to improve energy efficiency, reduce consumption and increase profit.
Measuring consumption
The first step for many Data Centre and Network Managers is to understand the costs involved
in running their networks and data centres and to know what their carbon footprint is. One
way do this is to use Intelligent Infrastructure Management (IIM) and Environmental Monitoring
and Control (EMAC) tools. These provide data on actual power use down to rack and device
level and produce trend data for single or groups of physical systems. EMAC can measure
power consumption down to port level on each PDU (power Distribution Unit) and send email
alerts if pre-determined parameters for energy use are exceeded. Using such tools allows
Managers to identify the areas where improvements are needed, which is critical if they are to
make changes that bring long-term benefits.
Once energy consumption has been measured, there are several steps that Data Centre and
Network Managers can 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 IT temperature levels, but much of this depends 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 power consumption and heat dissipation, which means that
some server racks need more cooling than others. This leads to inefficient power utilisation
and cooling. The longer reach of structured cabling over point to point systems enables
improved system design flexibility to rebalance the server rack power, improve the cooling
requirements and reduce the inefficiencies, thus saving both energy and money.
Cabling
The choice of cabling used in a network can also make a difference to energy use and CO2
emissions. For instance, shielded cabling is less affected by external interference and therefore
needs less noise cancellation properties, which means it requires less energy per cable. Using
the best quality cabling available can also help Data Centre and Network Managers to
reduce energy consumption. For example, Cat 7A cabling has superior internal cross talk to
Cat 6A which allows noise cancellers to be turned down. Every 1 watt saved at the network
edge device will save 2.8 watts throughout the data centre. Using the very latest cabling
technology also allows organisations to future-proof their network infrastructures as they have
a longer shelf life and the ability to move from current bandwidth rates of 10G to expected
rates such as 40G without requiring refurbishment or re-installation, thus reducing the energy
use and costs incurred in additional construction work.
New standards have also been introduced to improve energy efficiency, including Energy
Efficient Ethernet. The includes an energy saving feature such as Low Power Idle, where
transceivers enable the Ethernet device to go into sleep state when not in use and bring them
back to life ready for communication on receipt of a ‘magic packet’. Since servers can use up
to 80% of full power even when idle, this technology can lead to significant savings per
server. This feature can only work with copper cabling.
Conclusion
Forty years after discussions began, energy efficiency is still a headline topic and will continue
to be for the foreseeable future. It is therefore a matter of urgency that Data Centre Managers,
Network Managers and IT Directors start to think seriously about the steps they can take now
to reduce consumption and improve efficiency. Both the UK and US Governments have shown
that they are serious about reducing their carbon footprints and improving energy efficiency,
and unless voluntary schemes across Europe are effective then they too will be looking at
Government intervention. Organisations must act now.
Copyright 2011 Nexans Cabling Solutions. All rights reserved. LANmark, LANsense and GG45 are registered trademarks of Nexans. Release date: November 2011.
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