Energy Efficient ICT at the
University of Sheffield
Chris Cartledge
Independent Consultant
C.Cartledge@sheffield.ac.uk
With thanks to
The University of Sheffield
SusteIT
Practical Steps for ICT Electricty
Use Improvement

ICT Electricity Use Footprint

IT equipment, Measuring and Costing



The Electricity Bill

Purchasing
Data Centres

European Code of Conduct

ASHRAE 2008
PCs

Practical purchasing
University of Sheffield
ICT Electricity Use (2008)




More than
£1M/year
About 20%
Institution use
PCs dominate
Servers: over
30% (including
HPC &
departmental)
PCs
Servers
Network
Telephony
Printing
AV
University of Sheffield
Data Centres Electricity (2008)

Servers, Network,
PABX



Over 40% of ICT
use, £400,000 p/a
Including
departmental &
remote cabinets
Could be higher –
overheads
underestimated?
PCs
Data
Centres
Printing
AV
Measuring Power Use
Manufacturer's figures


Where they exist
Measure equipment


Instantaneously or

Over a period or better

Monitor continuously
Use meter readings

Remember aircon, UPS,
etc overheads

Electricity Cost


In 2008, electricity was 10p per unit (kilowatt
hour)

plus VAT (5%) and climate change levy?

has increased and is increasing, so now say 15p

Over a year of 365*24 = 8760 hours

About £1.80 per watt per year
Date centres

Measured air conditioning overhead at Sheffield is
1.8

Typical, and much lower than aircon CoP (earlier
IT Equipment Buying


Typically, it is blind to electricity consumption

The bill is somebody else's responsibility

Information not always easily available

Cost from configuration tool, but not electricity use

Lots of other complex issues: VMware, Wake on
LAN, Stable platform, etc...
Sheffield includes life cost of electricity in VFM
Purchasing Example
Sun X2200 HPC Server
~25% Power Saving worth £130 p/a
Working
Idle
Standby
Standard, 2PSU, 16*2GB
Standard, 1 PSU, 16*2GB
Standard, 1 PSU, 8*4GB
HE Processor, 1PSU, 8*4GB
0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Watt
Sheffield Data Centres

Two, conventional:



Dark - with the lights off!
Physical changes

Hot aisle – cold aisle arranged, with some aisle
containment

Redundant aircon units switched off

Power monitoring, using SNMP capable distribution
blocks, into Ganglia
Equipment changes

Virtualisation – PC, SPARC servers and storage
(NAS)
Code of Conduct for Data Centres

A European Action to Improve Energy
Efficiency



http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/html/standby_initiative_data%20centers.htm
Best Practice Guidelines to enable change

About 120 good practices: covers all issues

Including on setting up a project to bring about
change

An excellent, readable, How To Do It guide
Unlikely to become compulsory

HEFCE mindful of University independence
EU Code of Conduct
Group Involvement

Establish a cross disciplinary change board

Consider impacts, ensure effective solution

Definition of standard IT hardware

M&E implications of new services

Audit existing equipment

optimise and consolidate where possible

Virtualisation

Temperature set point

Identify and deal with little used and unused
EU Code of Conduct
Some Top Rated Practices

Buy energy efficient IT devices

Use virtualised servers and storage

Switch off hardware for unused services

Virtualise little used services

Separate cold air from heated return air

Use free or economised cooling

Increase temperature set points
Desktop PCs


Monitors

LCDs much better than CRTs

Now power down automatically, by default
Desktop PCs

Powered down, when not in use

Thin client (Sunray) deployed where appropriate

Lifetime cost of electricity factored into purchase
decisions

Other issues – in particular maintaining a stable
platform
PCs
Information on energy consumption now better

EnergyStar Typical Energy consumption
available

A guide - good for office PCs, not 24 hour use

BUT PCs could/should be better!

In 2007 Sheffield identified Mac Mini as Best in
Class

Still is today: a genuine core 2 duo PC but not
feasible

No Windows license not a standard PC platform...
Apple Mac Mini vs PCs
Watts Off
Apple Mac mini, Z0H5
Dell OptiPlex XE, D01D001
HP TouchSmart 600
0.2
0.9
0.6
Watts
Sleep
1.3
2.3
3.4
ENERGY
STAR
TEC**
Requireme
nt
TEC
Actual vs TEC cost
(Adjusted (Measured
TEC
(14p per
Watts Idle for Config)
)
Target
unit)
8 181
45 216
52 216
31 17%
£4
162 75% £23
185 86% £26