Increasing the Efficiency of Scientific Computing Facilities on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Laboratory Campuses
William Lintner, DOE/Federal Energy Managment Program (FEMP)
It is estimated that data centers account for 1.5 percent of total U.S. energy consumption. Of that, the federal government accounts for more than 10 percent. These data centers consist of everything from small closets to data storage facilities to large, energy-hungry scientific computing centers. The latter are often found on laboratory campuses, but have a unique set of energy efficiency issues. This presentation will discuss the current energy use trends in scientific computing centers, their unique issues, and new technologies and best practices to address them.
The presentation will inform attendees about the “low-hanging fruit” for increasing data center energy efficiency, such as adhering to the ASHRAE-recommended humidity and temperature and hot/cold isolation. It will also offer other strategies for efficiency, such as virtualization. The presentation will suggest hardware that can be used to increase data center efficiency, including energy-efficient servers, power supplies, fans, and cooling systems.
Finally, the presentation will depict current DOE initiatives and projects on energy efficiency in scientific computing centers. FEMP coordinates the DOE Data Center Energy Efficiency Working Group, which has executed initial benchmarking on 41 DOE data centers, many on laboratory campuses. The group encourages these and other sites to benchmark further using an online tool, such as Data Center Pro Tool (DCPro). DOE is also working on other case studies and assessments, whose progress will be discussed in the presentation.
Biography:
William Lintner is currently a general engineer with DOE's Federal Energy Management Program's applied technology services and is DOE's project manager for the Labs21 program. He has been the project manager since the inception of Labs21. With EPA's managers, he has guided Labs21 through a period of rapid growth to become an exemplary model of pubic–private sector cooperation and the premier organization dedicated to applying sustainable principles to laboratories.
Mr. Lintner has championed sustainable best practices, primarily energy efficiency, for more than 25 years, first with the Department of the Navy and more recently with DOE. In 2000, he was recognized for his contributions to reducing DOE's operating costs by more than $100 million per year through investments in energy efficiency retrofit projects. More recently, he has led initiatives to spur facility managers to adopt best practices in their operations. Through these efforts, sustainable design and re-commissioning of buildings have become standard practices, and DOE has come to lead the federal government in the number of buildings that are LEED®-certified and the number of laboratories registered to be certified. Mr. Lintner is a professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a graduate of George Washington University and George Mason University.