European data centers that sign this agreement are obliged to reduce their energy consumption by 20 percent by the year 2020. However, EvoSwitch surpasses the requirement by consuming 40 percent less that traditional centers, the company said.
“This means that we are running far ahead of the established objectives,” said Eric Boonstra, managing director of EvoSwitch. “Still, we signed the EU Code of Conduct because we wanted to demonstrate what is technically possible and practically feasible at the European level.”
By signing the voluntary agreement, EvoSwitch is requirement to periodically submit information about the energy consumption in its data center to Italy’s Joint Research Centre of the European Institute for Energy.
“The EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres Energy Efficiency is a good European initiative and will hopefully motivate more data centers in Europe to invest in reducing their energy consumption,” Boonstra said. “The cautious objective of saving 20 percent on energy consumption is a nice start. Across the market, I think it’s a realistic and attainable objective.
“Older data centers will never be able to operate as efficiently as a completely new data center, but there are enough technologies available to achieve the 20 percent objective.”
The EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency was launched by the European Commission in November 2008 to discourage excessive energy consumption in data centers.
“The EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency is not just a goal for the future but also serves as a platform for like-minded parties that want to achieve a common objective,” Boonstra said. “This was also why, in 2007, we were the first data center in the world to become a member of The Green Grid, the consortium of IT suppliers that wants to curb energy consumption in data centers.”
EvoSwitch also was among the pioneer group of 16 ICT companies that signed the Long-term Agreement on Energy Efficiency issued by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The purpose of the agreement is to improve energy efficiency by 30 percent over a period of 15 years.