(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The US Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.org) announced on Monday that data centers can now earn the Energy Star (www.energystar.gov) label.
As announced last month, the EPA was working on establishing final standards for its Energy Star certification for data centers, holding meetings with storage firms in hopes of getting feedback to draft standards for enterprise storage systems.
To earn this rating, data centers must be in the top 25 percent of their peers in energy efficiency according to EPA’s energy performance scale.
EPA uses Power Usage Effectiveness, which is a commonly accepted measure for energy efficiency to determine whether a data center qualifies for the Energy Star label.
Before a data center is awarded the Energy Star, a licensed professional must independently verify the energy performance of the buildings and sign and seal the application document, which is then sent to the EPA for review and approval.
Data centers use a significant amount of energy, accounting for 1.5 percent of total US electricity consumption at a cost of $4.5 billion annually, an amount that is expected to almost double over the next five years.
As the amount of energy consumed by data centers growing every year, improving the energy efficiency of data centers by just 10 percent would save more than 6 billion kilowatt-hours each year.
This is enough energy to power more than 350,000 homes and save more than $450 million annually.
EPA’s Energy Star provides an energy management strategy and free tools for public and private organizations to save energy and money through increased energy efficiency.
Those interested in finding more information about the Energy Star label for data centers can visit the Energy Star website here.
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