Sydney: Energy consumption and efficiency in Australian data centers have been an inevitable subject for inclusion in each of the 9 events DCD has held in Australia to date. As Australia begins to shut down coal-fired power stations and as the share of renewable is projected to reach one-third of power generation by 2020 (according to Green Energy Markets) the energy landscape is presenting new challenges for data centers.

Market interviews preparing for this segment of the program indicates considerable increases in power costs - 300% over the past decade according to one source, 20% year on year, according to one of Australia's largest data center providers. This means a renewed impetus towards energy efficiency as it impacts costs whether footprint is housed on-premise or outsourced, and is increasingly playing a part in investment decision-making. Yet this impetus raises issues of PUE, the workhorse metric on which a lot of decisions (or assumptions) are made, of accessing 'green' energy, or when 'green' energy sources will start to challenge fossil fuels on a cost basis and when also genuinely national energy strategies will provide the necessary legislative impetus for better practices. 

Since the energy efficiency debate has been around for as long as data centers have in any numbers, have data centers in Australia done as much as they can in terms of energy efficiency? The survey of 100 members of the Australian data center community in January 2018 and more recent interviews with panellists and speakers indicate emphatically not. So, aside from the continuing development of more efficient, IT facility and network equipment, are there any new steps that can be taken? The Energy Smart sessions will look at innovations from vendors, the impact of IoT on smart energy management, the role of energy suppliers and help map a company path towards a sustainable digital future.

DCD>Australia’s discussion on what ‘Energy Smart’ means for the Australian data center industry will include:

•  Kevin C Kent, Datacenter Operations Manager at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center - Kevin will also present ‘Energy Crisis in the Data Center: Waiting on the world to change?’

•  Dennis Lee, Head of Technical Standards NABERS at the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage

•  Glenn Allan, National Australia Bank

•  Peter Blunt, General Manager of Datacentre Development, FKG Group 

There will also be roundtable discussions focused on ‘Buying Green Power: the impossible dream?’ and ‘What is needed to make renewables work?’ 

Registration for DCD>Australia is now open, free for end-users - register here