ASHRAE's energy standard for data centers turns three

摘要

The late 1990s saw a tremendous growth in private and public sector use of large-scale computing systems. During this time and the subsequent tech industry bubble, national labs and other private-sector organizations were already studying energy use of computing systems and data centers. This seminal work, much of it fueled by the U.S. government, shaped much of our current-day thinking on data center energy use. Fast-forward more than a decade, scores of formal and informal organizations are attempting to tackle the issue of energy use in data centers. There are many approaches: server efficiency and virtualization, cooling system optimization, reducing electrical system losses (focusing on uninterruptible power supply technolbgy), modular data centers, climate-based efficiency and many others. Some organizations are explicitly vendor agnostic, while other researchers are a part of a manufacturing entity. While mostly good-inten-tioned, the sheer amount of research and recommendations (sometimes divergent) created an atmosphere of the "wild west," without any sheriff in charge. But, in 2015, after several years of development, ASHRAE released drafts of the Energy Standard for Data Centers for public review and comment. The following year, after the review process concluded, ASHRAE released Standard 90.4-2016: Energy Standard for Data Centers. The sheriff had arrived.