Data Centres – Watch Japan’s Energy Crisis

When disaster struck Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power station in the 11 March earthquake, the first consideration was shutting down and ensuring safety. The long term effects could be more significant.

Japan got nearly 30 percent of its power from nuclear plants, and now much of that is gone. In the wake of the disaster, other plants have closed, either as a direct result or for safety checks, and in May only 17 of the country’s 54 nuclear plants were in operation. That could imply that as much as 20 percent of the country’s electricity supply is in question – but actually, we don’t know what capacity the 17 reactors are working at, or how hard the 54 would have been working.

Data centres face 20 percent energy cut

It’s clear though, that Japan is going to be short of energy – car companies are closing every Thursday and Friday for a month, and data centres have been told to cut their energy use by 20 percent.

In other words, the earthquake in Japan has produced an immediate version of what data centres in the rest of the world will be facing.

How are data centre owners reacting? The Japanese data centre industry is very scared of the possibility of rolling blackouts – where power is turned off in a region for three hours at a time. Most data centres could weather such a power outage, but it would be an immense cost, as their onsite generation would have to cut in and burn enough diesel to power the site for three hours.

Most sites need around 5,000 gallons of fuel per hour of onsite backup, and have 24 hours worth of diesel stored on site. So eight blackouts would use all that up and the data centres would all need to refuel at the same time – a logistical nightmare.

Fujitsu has reacted by relocating 3,600 of its servers out of Japan’s built-up areas. Other initiatives apparently being considered include  management systems which will put laptops onto battery power for several hours a day, and moves to allow Japanese office staff to dress down in cooler clothes than the traditional business suit – so air conditioning units can be set to a temperature of 28C.

Let’s move to local generation

But viewed another way, the Japanese problem is a sign of the direction we should all be going in. To reduce demand on the grid, we should indeed be generating energy locally – preferrably by renewable means – and economising where possible. Local generation is also more efficient as it reduces the transmission losses in the grid.

Another Japanese plan could put solar panels on the roof of all new buildings, according to Reuters.

Now, no data centre could power itself on electricity from a solar farm on its roof – the energy density required is too high for that. But data centre owners such as Google – and even Facebook – are taking steps to promote renewable sources.

As fossil fuels run out – and as the greenhouse effect becomes more obvious – we will have to change our energy usage.

So watch what is happening in Japan – and be prepared to make the same changes.