Data center growth in the United States: decoupling the demand for services from electricity use

Arman Shehabi,Jonathan Koomey,Eric Masanet,Sarah J Smith

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaec9c

Arman Shehabi, Jonathan Koomey + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaec9c

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Abstract

Data centers are energy intensive buildings that have grown in size and number to meet the increasing demands of a digital economy. This paper presents a bottom-up model to estimate data center electricity demand in the United States over a 20 year period and examines observed and projected electricity use trends in the context of changing data center operations. Results indicate a rapidly increasing electricity demand at the turn of the century that has significantly subsided to a nearly steady annual electricity use of about 70 billion kWh in recent years. While data center workloads continue to grow exponentially, comparable increases in electricity demand have been avoided through the adoption of key energy efficiency measures and a shift towards large cloud-based service providers. Alternative projections from the model illustrate the wide range in potential electricity that could be consumed to support data centers, with the US data center workload demand estimated for 2020 requiring a total electricity use that varies by about 135 billion kWh, depending on the adoption rate of efficiency measures during this decade. While recent improvements in data center energy efficiency have been a success, the growth of data center electricity use beyond 2020 is uncertain, as modeled trends indicate that the efficiency measures of the past may not be enough for the data center workloads of the future. The results show that successful stabilization of data center electricity will require new innovations in data center efficiency to further decouple electricity demand from the ever-growing demand for data center services.

Highlights

Data centers are the backbone of the information and communication technology that is becoming increasingly integral to our economy and society
Data center energy use modeling is a challenging endeavor given the rapid evolution of digital services, the quick turnover of information technology (IT) equipment stock, and the proprietary nature of this economic sector
This paper provides updates and presents insight into to the unexpected trends generated by the 2016 Department of Energy (DOE) data center model

Summary

Introduction

Data centers are the backbone of the information and communication technology that is becoming increasingly integral to our economy and society. Data center buildings house information technology (IT) equipment such a servers, storage and network equipment, as well as the infrastructure equipment needed to support IT electrical and thermal requirements. While an obscure building type 20 years ago, most companies employ some form of data center for their digital needs and these buildings are central to the services provided by companies in the growing and robust technology sector. As video streaming expands and the number of internet-connected devices continues to grow exponentially [1], data centers will be part of the supporting infrastructure needed to process, store, and transmit more and more zettabytes of data [2]. Initial reports showed data center energy doubling from 2000 to 2005 both in the US and globally [5, 6]. Facing such rapid growth and the potential for overwhelming electricity demand from data centers, the US Congress requested a report that estimated that US data centers had consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006 (1.6% of total US electricity sales) for a total electricity cost of about $4.5 billion (2006 dollars) [7]

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