The EPA tells us that data centers and corporate data servers in the US ate up 60 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2006. That works out to a jaw-dropping $4.5 billion annually. Contact centers contribute their share of IT infrastructure through dedicated application servers, routers, and telecom gear. While the electric bill is part of the cost of running a contact center, a deeper understanding of where your dollars are being spent can reduce energy inefficiencies and improve the environment.
One surprising energy fact is that the computer, storage, and telecom hardware make up only about half the total wattage used in data centers. Consider this: A fully populated rack of servers consumes about 20 kilowatt hours of power, equivalent to the peak demand of 15 homes but squeezed within a refrigerator-sized box.
To prevent a meltdown, AHUs (air handling units) exchange heat through ducts under the raised data center floor to remote power-intensive CRACs (computer room air conditioners). Added to the mounting power bill is the wattage the UPS (unlimited power supply) requires to clean and regulate the voltage.
In a groundbreaking study, energy expert Jonathan Koomey concluded that on average, a data center's power is evenly split between IT hardware and non-computer equipment (UPSs, CRACs, and AHUs), leading to a PUE (power usage effectiveness) ratio of 2.0. (FYI: Here’s help for decoding this acronym-rich topic. Avaya's new Green site will help you decode this acronym rich topic.)
A PUE of 2 is considered a benchmark for IT energy efficiency. One major search engine company has gone out of its way to boast that it has performed even better.
To improve PUE, the EPA report offers many easy-to-implement operational practices, some as simple as enabling the energy management features in existing IT hardware.
Contact centers have another energy-saving trick that’s not necessarily available to other organizations. Agents are great candidates for teleworking. IP-based contact center software allows agents to field calls and view customer data from their home computers or anyplace there’s a broadband Internet connection.
One study worked out the energy savings for teleworking one day per week. Assuming a 22-mile one-way commute with a car delivering 21/mpg, it’s possible to save the power equivalent of 16 kWh.
Not bad. That’s almost one computer rack or 15 homes!
Obviously, telecommuting is great for the environment, but with fewer workers in the office, businesses also reduce lighting and heating requirements. And as they grow, companies save on real-estate costs for offices that will never have to be built, furnished, and maintained.
