Reducing Power Use

Reducing Power use 

 Once you have an idea of how much power you are using it is time to take steps. There are several ways you can cut your electric bill. In this section, we will take a closer look at some ideas that can help cut power use

1. Data De-duplication

Explain how Data de-Duplication helps in cut power use.

• The mantra of computer use has been (and likely will continue to be) "Back up your data." But are we overdoing it? More than that is just wasteful and costly. So-called "data de-duplication" is a tool for reducing storage and bandwidth consumed from disk-based backup.
• By eliminating the need to constantly back up the same file repeatedly, backup storage consumption is reduced 10 to 50 times. Because less data is sent across your network, overall bandwidth consumption is reduced by almost 500 times.
• The obvious benefit is freeing up storage space, but there are energy implications that affect your corporate ledger. Reducing the number of data copies reduces storage capacity needs and storage power consumption
• Further, once data storage has been reduced, snapshots and other copies from high performance disks can be shifted to lower performance, energy efficient disks
• The benefit trickles down when you consider your organization's remote sites. Because less data is being replicated, money in waves because network traffic and storage capacity are not being overused.

2. Virtualization

Explain the need of virtualization in reducing power usage

• The biggest power draw to your IT infrastructure is from your servers, In and of themselves, they can gobble up 50 percent of the power coming into your datacenter.
• The best way to reduce this power usage s to reduce the number of server you use.
• Although you may have many servers, in the past, needed that many servers to fulfill mission critical tasks, by consolidating several machines into one and through virtualization, you can wheel out some of those watt-munching behemoths 
• Data storage is another massive consumer of power. Direct-attached storage can account for as much as 27 percent of your electricity bill.
• Direct-attached storage units fragment where data is stored in the organization. Also, each device must consume its own power.
• Clustering also involves identical hardware and operating systems to ensure a smooth rollover in the event of tragedy.
• The costs add up, especially when one considers the cost of the hardware and the power draw especially from a largely unused device.
• If technologies allow them to act as traffic cop and move applications between servers and storage devices with precision.
• Regardless of what fails, you can keep working as normal. Further, this causes a reduction in the need for hardware, space and energy usage.

3. Storage

Explain the need of storage in reducing power usage 

• If your organization uses a lot of direct-attached storage, you will see a huge power savings if you switch over to a Storage Area Network (SAN). By removing file servers, you see an instant reduction in power
• A SAN also allows you to grow in a logical, efficient manner. With direct-attached storage, you must add file servers to your network. If you have got a SAN, you just must add disks, which is considerably less expensive

4. Case Studies

• Vanderbilt University's IT services organization has turned to virtualization with great success
• Realizing that physical in money for power and cooling as well as their environmental effects, the university decided to hosts fewer servers and virtualization
• IT service official utilized server virtualization for 35 present of the servers they manage. They estimate they have been saving 20,575 watts per hour 
• Official hope to virtually virtually 80 percent of their servers. the state of Origin is taking on a much later consolidation project. it is combining 11 state agency datacenters by June 2009. The plan is for the centers to be combined at a new datacenter Salem and involves virtualization both storage and servers.
• The project is estimated to cost $43 million and it is expected to $10 to $12 million per year, once finished, and reduce pow consumption by up to 35 percent.

5. Management of Power

• In most organizations, computers are used for just 4 hours a day. The additional 20 hours, those idle machines are still using energy.
• Some estimates say that 65 percent of the energy used by computers and monitors is wasted because workers don't turn off computer when they leave for the day.
• Additionally, half of computer monitors do not have a power management scheme applied, to more money is wasted when they fail to automatically switch off.
• Several utilities are available that enable system administrators to easily manage power settings. These utilities usually enable sleep features built into prevalent operating systems and allow a computer to go into low power consuming sleep mode.

6. Bigger Drives

• Another technological boon that can help you conserve power is to ditch all your older, smaller hard drives and install a new, bigger one.
• Serial ATA (SATA) drive use about 50 percent less power per terabyte (TB) than Fibre Channel driven. They are also higher in storage density, which also helps reduce power consumption.
• For instance, if you replace 11 legacy drives with a modern, high capacity drive you get a 16 percent increase on capacity and 81 percent less power. Further, you save 33 percent more floor space than with the other System.

Involving Utility Company

• You should also try to involve your utility company in your efforts to reduce
• power costs They can offer power-savings tips as well as other services that can save you

1. Monitoring

• One way, you can monitor how much power you use is simply by contacting your utility company
• They can provide you with historical information about how much power was consumed (there is likely difference since October when you added 25 percent more servers), and they can help you figure out what you're currently using.

2. Sellback Opportunities

What are the requirements if you want to sell back power to utility companies.
Or
Explain net-metering.

• Your organization may be especially forward thinking and has turned to Mother Nature for its power needs, If that's the case or the idea simply piques your interest, you might be fascinated to know that those electrical lines running into your organisation and power both ways. That is, if you generate then power than you are using you can sell it back to the power company. 
• The practice is called net metering and most states have laws that direct utility companies to buy back power at the same rate you buy it from them.
• If your organization is considering relying on the nun for its power and possibly to sell back power to the utility company, you will need a few things:

a. Photovoltaic panels : These panels absorb solar radiation. They are made of silicon and coated with tempered glass Panels are typically mounted on the roof or on a free standing pole.

This figure shows that net metering allows you to sell power back to the electric company
b. An inverter : Thin device regulate the power and change it to Alternating Current (AC) inverters for a 6.5-kilowatt system run $3,000 to $4,000
c. A meter : You need a meter that can run backward and can show how much you are sending back to the utility company.

• True, not every utility will pay for incoming electricity. That will depend, however, on your state's energy policies and rules and whether your local utility is willing to work with net metering clients.

3. PCs

Windows based PCs are the backbone of industry. Sure, there are some Macs and Linux boxes out there, but most companies run on Windows There are not too many low power models out there, but 2008 saw several new model introduced.

(i) Intel

• At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Intel unveiled 16 new products based on the company's first 45 nanometer (nm) processor
• The new processor boosts a PC's speed, reduces power requirements, save on battery life, help the environment, and comes in a smaller package for more fashionable and compact computer designs. With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will be offering a total of 32 desktop, laptop, and server processors,

(ii)HP
HP has introduced its own low-power PCs, including the rp5700.
The PC touts a specialized design with additional cooling features. This allows it to be in higher temperature environments than most other
PCs. Its energy efficiency comes from 53 power management specialized Intel processors, and 80 Plus power supplies.
The rp5700 also uses post consumer recycled plastics and packaging well as exceeds requirements for hazardous material reduction.

4. Linux

• Low-power Linux machines have largely been like the OS itself homebrew devices
• An enthusiastic tinkerer will decide he wants a low-power file server, so he'll slap one together, put his favorite flavor of Linux on it, and post the video of him doing it on his website. But there are companies that offer their own low-power Linux options. Many of these are not only inexpensive to run, but downright cheap to buy.

(i) NorthTec

• The Bangkok-based NorthTec offers a tiny PC (for less than US$100) capable of running Puppy and other lightweight Linux distributions.
• NorthTec MicroClient Jr is 4.5 inches square and draws 8 watts of power. It uses a 166 MHz Pentium-compatible processor
• The MicroClient Jr is the smallest of the company's line of extremely small, energy efficient PCs.
• In fact, the company's founder says he built the company with the goal of producing sub-$100 PCs.The company has already sold PCs to clients such as McDonalds of Canada.
• The MicroClient Jr boots from Compact Flash rather than a hard drive. Other features include:

1. Fanless design 
2. 128MB SDRAM 
3. Input/output ports IDE
4. 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
5. 3 USB V1.1 ports Optional RS232
6. Compact Flash slot for expansion
7. 2.5-inch hard drive mounting 

• NorhTec offers several other models of small, energy efficient PCs, including the following:

1. Micro Client JSX, with a 486-compatible processor and running DOS ($85)
2. Micro Client Sr., with the same form factor as the Micro Client Jr, but with a 500MHz 
3. CPU and a WiFi option ($195).

(ii) Exclto

• Swedish company Excito offers a low-power, quiet Linux file and print server based on Debian Linux.
• "Bubba" is based on a 200MHz ARM processor, and comes equipped with an 80GB to 500GB drive plus a customizable OS featuring a torrent/http/ftp download manager.
• The Bubba server was designed to be left on all the time, without using much power or generating a lot of noise. It draws a maximum of 10 watts
• Bubba's hardware specs include:

1. 200 MHz ARM processor
2. 64 MB RAM
3. 3.5-inch, 7200 rpm 80 GB, 320 GB, or 500 GB IDE hard drive
4. 1x 10/100 Ethernet
5. USB 2.0 type A to printer or memory stick connection
6. USB 2.0 type B to PC connection