Wind Powered Datacenter: Indiana

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1 Purdue University From the SelectedWorks of Heather M Brotherton Summer July, 2011 Wind Powered Datacenter: Indiana Heather M Brotherton, Purdue University - Main Campus Available at:

2 1 of 10 Introduction Use of fossil fuels for power has been a concern for decades. Increased dependence upon computer information systems has resulted in the proliferation of high-energy demand data centers. It is obvious that data centers are not going away. The good news is that computing may actually alleviate some resource issues. Google states that the average search uses kwh power. 1 This considered, using internet searches to research and purchase products could be a major boon to the environment by reducing the carbon footprint of the purchase in comparison to more traditional methods of driving around to find, compare, and ultimately purchase products. In addition, computer information systems and computerized controllers are key components of energy conservation. Energy costs are now higher than the equipment costs in some data centers. Data centers are typically located in areas where the cost of electricity is higher than the national average, which exacerbates the problem of high energy cost. 2 According to Google " if all data centers operated at the same efficiency as ours, the U.S. alone would save enough electricity to power every household within the city limits of Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C." 3 Reducing data center energy usage has proven to be a worthwhile pursuit with financial and environmental benefits. 1 center/efficient-computing/index.html 2 Power provisioning for a warehouse-sized computer 3 center/efficient-computing/index.html

3 2 of 10 Indiana This paper will investigate the feasibility of co-locating data centers on Indiana wind farms. Strategic long-term planning including combining clean energy, information technology, and efficient data center design could allow Indiana to emerge as an information technology service leader. There are economic advantages to locating a data center in Indiana. The cost of living in Indiana is low in comparison places such as California with high concentrations of data centers. This in turn means a lower cost workforce. Many less costly areas of the United States lack skilled workers to staff data centers. This is not the case in Indiana. Indiana universities prepare skilled Future IT professionals in sufficient numbers; there simply are not enough jobs to entice them to stay. If future data centers could be attracted, Indiana could gain many highly skilled jobs. These jobs would be a boon to the economy and serve as incentive for University graduates to remain in Indiana The low cost of electricity is another advantage. The average retail cost of electricity across the United States is 9.66 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) 4. Indiana's 2010 average cost of electricity per kwh was 7.36 cents. 5 The cooler climate during much of the year is another advantage offering possible "free cooling" options. Unfortunately, the Indiana climate must be taken into account as a possible risk for data center location. Tornados and floods are not uncommon http://

4 3 of 10 Wind Energy in Indiana Indiana is working to develop wind energy in locations where the conditions are deemed optimal. Wind energy is emerging as a cost effective energy alternative to the rising cost of fossil fuels in wind-rich regions. 6 Indiana is home to one of the largest wind farms in the country. 7 The National Renewable Energy Lab estimated that Indiana has the potential to provide four times the state's energy needs. 8 The cost of electricity in Indiana is currently low enough that how to use the wind energy without increasing the cost to Indiana consumers is an important issue. The current plan of the Indiana Office of Energy development is to sell the power to other states with higher utility costs. 9 There are costs to transmitting electricity; new lines cost about $1,600 per megawatt per mile. There is also energy loss to

5 4 of 10 factor in to the cost of transmission of approximately.236 kilowatts per mega watt mile. 10 A wind turbine producing 1,250,000 kwh per year would be capable of powering a data center at an estimated cost of 1.25 million dollars installed. 11 Wind turbines require an average of 40 acres per MW 12 and have a lifespan of about 20 years 13. Based on these figures a data center consuming 1,250,000 kwh per year at an average cost of.12 dollars per kwh would have a payback period of 9.9 years. This calculation assumed a land purchase cost of $6, per acre. This payback period does not include estimated 25% per kwh of operation and maintenance costs. Financing, interest costs, and applicable taxes including real estate taxes are also not included in calculations. All figures used above were based on conservative estimates. In some cases wind turbines may require as little as 2 acres per MW. 14 As of March 2011,Indiana s average cost per acre of farmland was $5200. The calculation also did not include tax breaks or other incentives p8 further_evidence_from_bwea_cymru_on_carbon_reduction_via_land_use.pdf.p df 14 ities+%26+clean+technologies&l2=renewable+energy&l3=wind&sid=eoeea&b=ter minalcontent&f=doer_renewables_wind_wind-energy-facts&csid=eoeea

6 5 of 10 Wind powered data center Several data centers claim to be wind powered, but the truth is they are purchasing wind power offsets. Purchasing offsets is admirable; but can wind turbines power a data center directly and at what cost? It appears that the most energy efficient way to use wind power is to be on site with the turbine. This reduces the costs of transmission lines and loss of electricity. Other World Computing (OWC) in Woodstock Illinois has built a data center with onsite wind power generation to support web hosting and internet service provider services. This small, energy-efficient, data center was designed to be "supported by a single wind turbine". 15 The 37,000 square foot Platinum LEED certified data center produces an estimated 1,200,000 kwh of electricity per year. OWC plans to sell about half of the energy generated by the wind turbine to the local utility as surplus energy. 16 The expected return on 15 centerknowledge.com/archives/2009/12/21/data-center-powered-entirely-bythe-wind/ 16

7 6 of 10 investment for this project is 100% over a year period. The cost to install a similar system is $1.25 million. 17 OWC serves as a model for a net zero data center. They employed a number of strategies to reach this goal. The data center and wind turbine were designed to work together. Building design and location OWC is not alone in addressing the building as part of the effort to reach net zero energy consumption. Yahoo has a data center that utilizes a chicken coop design to take advantage of free cooling. This 150 million dollar "Yahoo s Coop design attributes just 1 percent of its annual energy consumption to cooling."18 This data center is surrounded by lakes, which combined with the building design make Yahoo's energy saving possible. A Finnish data center is designed to use the heat generated by the data center to produce heat to surrounding homes. The Academia data center is located in bomb shelter under a cathedral. The amount of heating power provided "will be comparable to one large wind turbine, or enough to heat 500 large private

8 7 of 10 houses." Academia expects the data center to use about "half the energy of a typical data center." 19 Data center equipment In addition to building efficient data centers to optimize cooling and reduce the energy overhead of the building itself; It is necessary to plan data center equipment for efficiency. Many organizations are going through the process of virtualization in order to avoid under-utilized and zombie servers 20 Right sizing equipment is an important part of this process to ensure services are neither under-utilized nor overtaxed. However, it is important to plan for future growth as well. Modular designs that allow for fluid expansion can help issues with future growth and allow for ease of maintenance. In September of 2006 employees of Google released a document regarding power supply efficiency. In this article, they cite the average power supply efficiency as 60 to 70 percent. 21 Most of the loss occurs converting the power from AC to DC resulting in not only wasted power, but outputting heat in the process. Google uses servers they designed. The power supply with integrated UPS battery is the key feature of the design. Google unveiled this design during 19 BrandChannel=11617&sp=true 20 /proc.isecon.org 21 blog_resources/psu_white_paper.pdf

9 8 of 10 the Google Data Center Energy Summit. 22 Use of these custom servers combined with use of their five efficiency best practices 23 has enabled Google to reach a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of This PUE average weighted over a twelve month period for data centers of 5MW or greater. 24 Google has published extensive information concerning their data center efficiency. Google's Top 5 Efficiency Best Practices 1. Measure PUE 2. Manage air flow 3. Adjust the thermostat Set to thermostat to 80F+ 4. Use free cooling 5. Optimize power distribution Eliminate power conversion where possible 19 Green Data Center certifications Certifications for green data centers are still in the developmental phase. Many data centers are advertising LEED certifications. LEED certifications are primarily related to the building design. There are various LEED rating systems such as those for new construction, existing buildings, retail, and homes. The rating system is on a 100 point scale that includes sustainable site selection, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor 22 centerknowledge.com/archives/2009/04/01/googles-custom-web-serverrevealed/ 23 center/best-practices.html 24 center/efficiency-measurements.html

10 9 of 10 environmental quality, locations and linkages, awareness and education, innovation in design and regional priority. 25 LEED Certification Levels Certified Silver points Gold 80 + Platinum Awarded based on points out of 100 A newer standard Energy Star has created more specific to data centers. They have created a data center assessment to their online Portfolio Manager tools. This efficiency certification system is also based on a 100-point scale. Those that score 75 or higher can request an audit from the EPA, which then awards the Energy Star certification. 27 This efficiency measurement takes into account PUE Calculation Total data center energy consumption IT energy consumption accepted data center metrics such as PUE

11 10 of 10 Conclusion The OWC wind powered data center serves as proof of concept that data center co-located with wind turbines will work. This data center utilizes a geothermal system and is tied into the local electric company allowing excess electricity generated to be sold to the utility and provides backup power. The climate where the data center was built is similar to Indiana. Indiana has many areas with the potential to produce power available that could be used as a data center site. Given the anticipated ROI for the OWC data center, it appears to be a prudent long-term investment. Indiana is well poised to take the model set forth by the OWC example to combine wind power and data centers and employ it to secure a position as leaders in clean data center hosting. The low cost of land combined with high potential for wind power and the required talent pool make this economically feasible. Indiana also has a high potential for successfully using free cooling techniques to further reduce data center power requirements allowing more energy to be devoted to computing power. Future research into the feasibility of using containerized datacenters on farmland during the winter or fallow seasons could also create the possibility of establishing a symbiotic relationship between farming, wind power, and data centers.