Rachel Kelly Channel NewsAsia 31 Mar 11;
SINGAPORE: Estimates are suggesting that the 10 largest data centre operators in Singapore consume energy equivalent to 130,000 households, which is more than 10 per cent of Singapore households.
Whether you are banking in the comfort of your home or checking your email from a cafe, such luxuries are powered with the aid of one of the fastest growing technology sectors globally - data centres.
It is not just banks and websites that require massive data centre services - as more businesses and governments head for the web. The commercial data centre space in Singapore is expected to grow by 50 per cent from 2010 to 2015 according to BroadGroup.
And while the industry is enjoying rapid growth, energy usage for the sector is one of the highest in the IT industry.
Data centre and network equipment accounts for 32 per cent of the entire ICT sectors energy and carbon footprint. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) said that IT equipment utilises only 30 per cent of the total energy consumed by a data centre. The remaining 70 per cent is taken up by cooling which leaves room for energy consumption reduction.
To encourage data centres to manage that cost, the IT Standards Committee (ITSC), together with the IDA and SPRING Singapore, launched the Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres - Energy and Environment Management Systems.
The IDA said that the standard is just a stepping stone and the it is looking to launch a pilot data centre building certification with the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore.
Ling Keok Tong, Deputy Director of Technology & Planning with the Infocomm Development Authority, said: "I think by the second half of the year, we would expect to do a pilot run of some of the data centres to see how green they are, and then from there we would launch green mark for data centres."
Singapore Infocomm solutions provider 1-Net is one of seven companies from both the public and private sectors to become the first to adopt the Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres.
They include the 1-Net, National Library Board, SingTel, Resorts World Sentosa, IBM and the High Performance Computing Centre at NTU.
Yow Tau Keon, Managing Director of 1-Net Singapore, said: "We actually started quite early, we were involved in the ITSC working committee and we also volunteered to be one of the first to be certified."
Some experts said that this standard is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.
Ray Pfeifer, Co-Chair of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said: "Singapore is the first in Southeast Asia - but at the same time this is important to Singapore because it is a very large hub for regional hub for regional data centres not only across southeast asia but really across all of Asia Pacific.
"Also the financial markets that are here also drive the requirements for a fairly strong data centre presence - so I think it's an important thing to do here."
The Singapore Standard specifies the need for management commitment, a green policy, as well as clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the organisation for implementing a green data centre.
-CNA/ac
