Sustainable IT at Stanford Strategic Plan: 2012 2014 Overview As Stanford has continued to pursue its commitment to environmental stewardship, Stanford s Sustainable IT program has continued to deliver energy, carbon and cost savings across the campus. Savings attributed to the program from 2008 to 2011 include $1.8 million in energy savings, consisting of 12.8 million kwh of electricity saved as well as 1.3 million ton hours saved of chilled water. The major initiatives for the past three years have included: Desktop power management Datacenter energy efficiency Satellite Server Room analysis, retrofit and standardized design Campus wide awareness building, partnership forging, and mindset changing Public outreach and communication The campus is now in a position where schools and departments recognize the impact that IT equipment has on their operations, and are identifying opportunities on their own to reduce that impact. Facilities staff are armed with tools and resources to help them understand and address the impact that IT equipment has on their buildings. As such, IT based initiatives are a core component of sustainability programs run not only by the office of sustainability, but also by schools and departments themselves. For the next 3 years, the Sustainable IT goal is to further embed sustainability into the campus IT infrastructure by continuing to promote and evolve the programs of the first 3 years, and to expand upon our efforts by identifying new opportunities in efficiencies around IT equipment specifically. Figure 1 Energy Savings from Sustainable IT 50,000,000 45,000,000 40,000,000 Actual Projected 35,000,000 30,000,000 25,000,000 20,000,000 15,000,000 10,000,000 5,000,000 2008 2009 2010 2011 Electricity Use Without Sustainble IT (kwh): Electricity Use With Sustainble IT (kwh): 4,500,000 4,000,000 Actual Projected 3,500,000 3,000,000 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 2008 2009 2010 2011 CW Use Without Sustainable IT (t h): CW Use With Sustainable IT (t h): Joyce Dickerson joycedi@stanford.edu 9/1/2011 page 1 of 5
Figure 1 shows electricity and chilled water use based on initial forecasts, and compares it to corresponding use after implementing Sustainable IT efforts. For 2008 through 2011, Sustainable IT drove 12,872,400 kwh electricity savings, and 1,274,100 ton hours of chilled water savings. Details on these initiatives can be found in Sustainable IT 3 years in Review, which can be found at sustainableit.stanford.edu. For the next 3 years, we are forecasting another 2.5 million kwh in electricity savings and 200,000 ton hours of chilled water savings due to the new initiatives described below. These, combined with ongoing savings from the first 3 years, are what make up the light colored lines in Figure 1. Energy Efficient IT Equipment Energy efficiency is a fast moving field, and new technologies are announced continually. This is true for facilities, where changes in electrical and mechanical infrastructure are yielding high efficiency UPSs, thermo graphic datacenter floor mapping, air flow management, passive cooling and more, and are driving down both electrical and chilled water use. IT as well as facilities staffs are actively tracking these advancements and incorporating them in IT infrastructure wherever possible. Whereas facilities staffs have long considered energy management a part of their job, it has not been the case with IT staff. Consequently, developments in IT energy efficiency are at a much earlier stage than developments in facilities energy efficiency. In addition to expanding power needs, IT equipment is demanding expanded space needs. In fact, space demand is growing more quickly then we can keep up with it. Without addressing this increased need to accommodate IT equipment, we find ourselves putting equipment into spaces that don t have efficient power and cooling to support it. As a result, given the current equipment forecasts, it would seem our only option would be to build more datacenter and customized server room space. Or, is it? Perhaps not. New advancements in IT server and storage technologies are changing this. Sustainable IT will work closely with IT Services, as well as other IT groups across campus, to identify opportunities to save space, power and cooling by being innovative with the IT equipment itself. This includes exploring: Low energy use hardware Smaller footprint hardware Tools that increase server utilization Low energy storage While estimated utility cost savings from the IT equipment itself will be less than $100,000 over three years, more impactful is the resulting reduction in capital due to the IT equipment becoming both smaller and more efficient. Reclaiming space by reducing equipment size would mean delaying, or eliminating, the need to build additional datacenter space. Forsythe, our current datacenter, is an approximately 20,000 square foot datacenter. If we can increase capacity of this facility by as little as 5%, that translates into $1.9 million in capital savings based on datacenter construction cost of $1900/square foot 1. Joyce Dickerson joycedi@stanford.edu 9/1/2011 page 2 of 5
Percent Reclaimed Square Footage Reclaimed Cost per Sq Ft to Build New Space Potential Capital Savings 5% 1,000 $ 1,900 $ 1,900,000 10% 2,000 $ 1,900 $ 3,800,000 15% 3,000 $ 1,900 $ 5,700,000 20% 4,000 $ 1,900 $ 7,600,000 25% 5,000 $ 1,900 $ 9,500,000 If we can realize 25% reduction in datacenter space, that reflects $9.5 million in capital that would either be delayed or not spent at all. $4,000,000 $3,500,000 $3,000,000 $2,500,000 $2,000,000 $1,500,000 $1,000,000 $500,000 $ Cumulative Utility Savings Cumulative Capital Savings Through this energy efficient IT equipment initiative, we estimate we can reduce datacenter space needs by nearly 2000 square feet, which translates into $3.8 million in capital avoidance. Energy Efficiency in Server Rooms Server rooms continue to maintain a presence on campus. In the first three years of Sustainable IT, we identified where these rooms were, measured them to determine energy savings opportunities, coached staff on how to evaluate and remediate inefficient rooms, and developed a section on server rooms for the Facilities Design Guide. Armed with a structure and a process, our goal is to identify 3 4 server rooms each year that would benefit significantly from an energy makeover. This includes renovating the room to reduce its energy use, as well as potentially moving equipment to a more energy efficient central location (Forsythe or SRCF). Joyce Dickerson joycedi@stanford.edu 9/1/2011 page 3 of 5
12 $120,000 10 $100,000 8 $80,000 6 4 2 0 Number of Rooms Converted, Incremental Number of Rooms Converted, Cumulative $60,000 $40,000 $20,000 $ Incremetnal Savings Cumulative Savings We estimate we can reduce annual electricity and chilled water usage by about 20% for each room as a result of these efforts. Achieving the goal of retrofitting 3 4 server rooms per year will take building strong partnership with facilities organization as well as the schools/departments themselves. We will rely heavily on schools/departments to identify candidate rooms, and to allow us to work in the space. We will need Zone Management to lead in project execution, and will need Energy Retrofit Program (ERP) incentives to help fund these energy saving efforts. Outreach and Communication Outreach and Communication have been, and will continue to be, an important part of the Sustainable IT effort. Initiatives for the next 3 years will include: Speaking at Education events Speaking at Industry events Publishing articles on website and in publications Building and maintaining web presence with tools and resources Exploring social media and other online resources to build community Developing and reporting on Sustainable IT metrics Stanford has built a leadership position in Sustainable IT, and our upcoming efforts should keep us in that position. We have a strong history of equating sustainable IT with efficient IT, and that message will continue to be conveyed. Through metrics and measured results, Stanford tells a compelling story of the benefits of Sustainable IT and how it helps contribute to efficient operations and positive global stewardship. Codifying and automating metrics collection and display will be an important component of the Sustainable IT program over the next 3 years. Joyce Dickerson joycedi@stanford.edu 9/1/2011 page 4 of 5
Support of Existing Measures In addition to initiating the programs mentioned previously, Sustainable IT will continue to nurture and develop the programs put into place for the first 3 years. These include: Desktop power management Datacenter energy efficiency Satellite Server Room analysis, retrofit and standardized design IT equipment procurement and disposal Campus wide awareness building, partnership forging, and mindset changing Public outreach and communication Sustainable IT will also continue to support campus needs in general by working directly with schools and departments to tackle specific projects that come up during the year. Summary Sustainable IT continues to have a meaningful impact on campus. It has contributed to the University s reduction in operating spend, reduced capital, reduce energy use, and reduce carbon emissions. It has also been a program that has brought groups together, particularly facilities and IT, to identify opportunities for savings and deliver on those projects. By 2014, forecasted annual savings driven by Sustainable IT will be: Annual electricity savings 8,000,000 kwh/year Annual chilled water savings 900,000 ton hrs/year Annual financial savings $1,000,000 /year Sustainable IT has become an important component of Stanford s overall sustainability program, and will continue to gain importance as more and more of our research, education, communications, and administration goes online and puts demand on our IT infrastructure. 1 $1900/square foot is the estimated cost from LBRE on the cost to build a new datacenter Joyce Dickerson joycedi@stanford.edu 9/1/2011 page 5 of 5