Lifetime exergy consumption of an enterprise server

  • Authors:

  • Christopher R. Hannemann;Van P. Carey;Amip J. Shah;Chandrakant Patel

  • Affiliations:

  • University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA;University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA;Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA;Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA

  • Venue:
  • ISEE '08 Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

The energy efficiency of information processing is typically evaluated purely by how much power is consumed during operation. The reality is that the sustainability of energy use for information processing depends on the lifetime exergy (available energy) consumption of the equipment used. This paper explores the lifetime exergy consumption of an enterprise server used in a data center. By combining the disassembly analysis of a server with the aggregation of energy and material data, a more rigorous and useful assessment of the server’s overall impact is acquired. Scenarios involving various server and cooling loads are examined to simulate the variation in exergy consumption between different operating conditions. It is determined that, although the operational and cooling power consumption account for the majority of the lifetime exergy consumption, material extraction and manufacturing exergy costs are still significant. Additionally, the use of different materials can have a significant effect on exergy consumption and should be considered as an important design parameter.