Blue Angel for Energy-Conscious Data Centers! Come see us at the CeBIT

Certification of energy-conscious and environmentally friendly operation

Many of the data centres in German companies hold great savings potential. It has been proven that most of data centres operate inefficiently in terms of energy consumption even though energy costs account for 50 per cent of overall expenditure. In spite of this, companies are making relatively little investment in boosting energy efficiency. The Blue Angel ecolabel seeks to reverse the trend. The new RAL-UZ 161 certificate creates an opportunity for businesses to operate their data centres more ecologically and therefore consume less energy and fewer resources. Certification with the Blue Angel for data centres can be applied for after a one-year period of evaluation. The first Blue Angel for energy-efficient operation of a data centre has been awarded to the erecon company.

Typical server load is currently estimated at 20-50 per cent. However, it is also believed that one-third of all businesses with a data centre are not using all of the available capacity. This indicates that there is still great potential to make more efficient use of the existing hardware. Efficient operation can save costs and resources at three levels:

  1. Costs of investment and valuable resources for new servers,
  2. energy costs and valuable energy resources needed for daily operations, and
  3. air-conditioning costs for these servers.

Up to now there had no generally recognised guidelines for indicators to describe the resource and energy efficiency of data centres. This has now changed: the new Blue Angel eco-label for Energy-Conscious Data Centres (RAL-UZ 161) not only certifies the energy efficiency of data centres, it also evaluates the processes that make efficient handling of the existing hardware resources possible. The objective is to use as little hardware as possible to achieve energy-efficient server performance. The consideration of criteria that concern resource and energy efficiency is the only way that certified products or services can help to protect the climate and resources. "The Blue Angel for data centres provides companies clear guidance on how they can make their IT systems more efficient and more environmentally friendly.  The UBA is also in the process of getting its data centre ready for Blue Angel certification," said Thomas Holzmann, Vice-President of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).

Because IT is in constant development, the criteria for award of RAL-UZ-161 certification are not limited to the energy efficiency requirements of individual hardware components in a data centre (e.g. server and communications technology, power supply and air conditioning). Certification allows requires the centre to establish energy monitoring and energy management systems within the company. Any company which seeks to gain certification will be given helpful advice and recommendations on how to further optimise its data centre, which also happens to increase stability of operation.

Any company which has already been awarded the eco-label is relieving the strain on the environment and thereby making an active contribution to the protection the environment and to realising Germany's transformation of its energy system. Not only does the Blue Angel provide a company with competitive edge and boost its image, it is also a sign of its sense of responsibility.

We are presenting the Blue Angel for Energy-Conscious Data Centres at CeBIT on Thursday, 7 March 2013 in Hall 11, Booth proRZ Rechenzentrumsbau, and are offering advice to companies on how to make their data centres more energy-efficient, resource-efficient, and economical.

German Environment Agency

Wörlitzer Platz 1
06844 Dessau-Roßlau
Germany

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 Blue Angel  data centre