Investigation of claim - only 3 percent of energy is used for useful computing
Incorrect claim: 97 % of energy is wasted
Less than 3% of the energy consumed in a datacenter is used for active, useful computing.
Data used for this analysis are unknown. The primary source is from 2008, so we can assume that the used data is definitely outdated and the claim not correct (anymore).
The primary source is not available anymore:
Rocky Mountain Institute of Technology, βDesigning Radically Efficient and Profitable Datacentersβ August 7, 2008
Secondary Sources:
- Improving Energy And Power Efficiency In The Data Center
- Reducing Datacenter Energy Usage Via Power-Saving IP and System Design Techniques (PDF)
- Software And System Solutions Drive Datacenter Energy Efficiency | Electronic Design
Current data
Power Usage Effectiveness
Average PUE of large data centers in 2022: 1.55
Hyperscale cloud data centers have an average PUE value of around 1.1 - 1.2.
Source: Cloud Carbon Footprint Methodology
β Cooling systems, lighting, UPS and other non-IT equipment consume around 10-35 % of the total energy in modern data centers.
Server Utilization
How much energy can be considered as wasted, if the server utilization is "only" 50 %? You should ensure the server utilization has sufficient headroom for spikes. 100 % can't be the goal.
So what can be considered as an optimal server utilization level?
Example Dropbox: