Japanese Data Centers Set to Double Electricity Consumption by 2012

MIC Research Institute Ltd., a Japanese market research firm specialized in the information and telecommunication (IT) fields, announced on May 7, 2008, that it has compiled data and results for its FY2008 Survey on Electricity Consumption in Data Centers and Green IT Promotion. According to the survey, data centers in Japan consumed 5.7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in fiscal year 2007. This is estimated to double to 10.7 kWh in fiscal 2012, which shows that instituting energy conservation measures should be an urgent priority for the industry. The study was based on interviews with representatives from 21 major IT companies and data collected from 55 companies disclosing the gross floor area of their data centers.

The data center market in Japan is growing around 7 percent per year. Market sales in fiscal 2007 were 1.16 trillion yen (about U.S.$11.04 billion) and are predicted to increase to up to 1.63 trillion yen (about $15.52 billion). The institute calculates that the rate of electricity consumption at the data centers of 21 major IT companies would show an average increase of about 13 percent from fiscal 2006 to 2008, boosted by burgeoning medium-sized firms in the market.

In terms of power usage effectiveness (PUE) -- which is a ratio showing how many times more electricity a data center consumes compared to the amount of electricity used to run the computer infrastructure in the center -- the average rate of PUE of 17 out of 21 companies interviewed was about 2.0 and shows an overall tendency of slight increase. Five companies out of 17 have actively introduced the PUE as an index. According to the survey, in order for better energy management to increase efficiency through the PUE being adopted by more IT companies, some challenges remain in specifying the items and points to be measured.

http://www.mic-r.co.jp/english/index.html

Posted: 2008/09/22 10:29:09 AM