Price of Power in a Data Center

mstansberry writes "Much like the rest of the country, IT is facing an energy crisis. The utilities are bracing companies for price spikes this winter and according to experts and IT pros, those prices aren't going to come down any time soon. This is thefirst article in a four-part series investigating the impact of energy issues on IT."

Comments

Yeah, but at least you won't have to

[Tavor]

Run the heat in the winter with Intel chips! Just do batch-processing, or some intense rendering work.

Re:Yeah, but at least you won't have to

[webzone]

So true. Last year my house heating system broke and I was able to heat my room just by using my Intel Pentium 4.

Solution?

[exi1ed0ne]

Pedal faster!!

First of many?

[BrianGa]

This is thefirst article in a four-part series investigating the impact of energy issues on IT.

Does this mean three slashdot dupes forthcoming?

Re:Moore's law?

[Spy der Mann]

I don't agree with this. How power efficient was Eniac?

Before, or after debugging? :P

Re:Folding

[dextromulous]

If everyone stopped running none essential services during the winter, it would ease the energy burdon.

Do you mean, to conserve energy, don't run non-essential services during the summer? Most people can deal with the excess heat generated by computers during the winter (hence a smaller net energy loss.) It is in the summer that you come across problems with wasting energy. Every extra Watt of energy you generate in the summer needs about another Watt (correct me if I'm wrong here) of energy spent to remove it from the building.

Maybe it's just because I'm from Canada, but I only run non-essential services in the winter. It's the only time it doesn't cook me in my apartment. The only major thing you "conserve" by not running your non-essential services in the winter is money on your power bill.

Remember: Conserving energy is more than just using less electricity.

Re:Hot Intel chips are big contributor

[sanosuke76]

The average temperature in server rooms has very little to do with server stability. It's actually mostly about the fact that the guys adjusting the climate control have these fantasies about attractive female sysadmins running around in the room in thin tops...

Disclaimer: I've never touched the thermostat in my server rooms. :)