How Internet Data Centers Waste Power 170
Rick Zeman writes "The New York Times has extensively surveyed and analyzed data center power usage and patterns. At their behest, the consulting firm McKinsey & Company analyzed energy use by data centers and found that, on average they were using only 6 percent to 12 percent of the electricity powering their servers to perform computations. The rest was essentially used to keep servers idling and ready in case of a surge in activity that could slow or crash their operations. 'Worldwide, the digital warehouses use about 30 billion watts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the output of 30 nuclear power plants.' In other words, 'A single data center can take more power than a medium-size town.' This is the price being paid to ensure everyone has instant access to every email they've ever received, or for their instant Facebook status update. Data Center providers are finding that they can't rack servers fast enough to provide for users' needs: A few companies say they are using extensively re-engineered software and cooling systems to decrease wasted power. Among them are Facebook and Google, which also have redesigned their hardware. Still, according to recent disclosures, Google's data centers consume nearly 300 million watts and Facebook's about 60 million watts. Many of these solutions are readily available, but in a risk-averse industry, most companies have been reluctant to make wholesale change, according to industry experts."
Brilliant definition of "server" FTFA . . . (Score:5, Funny)
A server is a sort of bulked-up desktop computer, minus a screen and keyboard, that contains chips to process data.
Re:First post? (Score:3, Funny)
First post? ...on my own submission? LOL.
No no; you see you made the mistake of shutting down your server between the post and when it was put up by slashdot to save energy. You are just too slow to achieve internet time like Google or Facebook and will never make it in the market. Let this be a lesson.
Re:So? (Score:4, Funny)
It's value fluctuates by moods,
Sort of how people decide to use apostrophes.
Re:So? (Score:4, Funny)
The sun's total output is 380YW (trillion trillion Watts). How much of that we can capture and use is limited mainly by how much money we spend.
Oh yeah. I sometimes forget that dollars trump Physics.