New York State is currently facing some difficult challenges including rising energy prices, an aging electricity delivery infrastructure, an imbalanced electricity generation portfolio and climate change.  According to a 2007 EPA study conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and sponsored by AMD, New York’s data centers – home to second largest concentration of data centers in the country – consume an average 4.5 billion kilowatt hours a year. This is the equivalent of nearly 700,000 single family homes with a year’s supply of electricity — at a cost of roughly $594 million.  To meet these challenges, energy efficiency must play a central role in reducing consumption and improving reliability.

With that in mind, NYSERDA, AMD, New York State, HP and GLOBALFOUNDRIES have all come together to address these issues head on, discussing them at the latest NY State Performance Computing Seminar on October 28.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), in collaboration with  AMD, have been instrumental in driving sustainable computing and business practices in New York.  Improvements in operating practices, coupled with installation of energy efficient systems, can enable significant energy savings and help reduce the strain information technology and data centers place on the electric grid while helping to ensure a reliable and affordable supply of electricity.  In addition, by improving the energy efficiency of data centers and working in synergy with NYSERDA and AMD, New York State and its IT businesses and data centers can make considerable strides toward achieving their respective energy and environmental goals, while supporting economic development in this growing industry.  More importantly, investments in energy efficient systems can help improve a data centers’ bottom line. 

NYSERDA’s Industrial and Process Efficiency program plans to invest more than $100 million over the next three years in new and existing manufacturing and data center facilities that help reduce energy consumption.  These funds can encourage sustainable load growth and help to significantly reduce the use of electricity and natural gas. 

For more information, visit www.nyserda.org

Sal Graven is a Technical Information Associate at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.