ASIA TO DOUBLE DATA BURNING IN 5 YEARS: AMD

AMD’s report was timed to coincide with the Bali climate change summit. Concern about datacenter energy consumption has risen with their proliferation and with anthropogenic climate change worries, concommitant phenomena of the 21st century’s fascinating first decade.

Asian datacenter energy use to double by 2010: study
December 13, 2007 (AFP)

WHO
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) (Larry Vertal, environmental strategist)

WHAT
An AMD report predicts energy consumption of data centers in the Asia-Pacific region will double in the second half of this decade and assessed “shifting patterns” of world energy use. Datacenters house computer and telecommunications systems and storage require powerful cooling systems.

Graph from AMD report. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The report covering the 2000 through 2010 period came out December 13.
- Asia-Pacific datacenter energy use grew 23% per year from 2000 to 2005 while the rest of the world’s datacenter energy use grew at 16% per year.

WHERE
The report covered worldwide energy use in datacenters and highlighted factors in the United States, Western Europe, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.

WHY
- Asia-Pacific datacenter energy consumption is growing faster than that of any other region. Through 2010, it will require the equivalent of 2 new 1000-megawatt power plants.
- The US share of datacenter energy consumption will drop over the decade from 40% to 33%.
- The Asia-Pacific share will go from 10% to 16%.
- 2/3 of world datacenter energy use is in the US and Europe.

Graph from AMD report. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
Vertal, AMD: "Coal provides 25 percent of global primary energy needs and generates 40 percent of the world's electricity…We must work harder than ever to not only deliver more efficient server and cooling technology, but also work with our industry and government partners in areas where we see the most dramatic increases in energy use..."