As the data center business grows in the volume of energy it consumes, and energy issues facing the world grow more severe, hosting companies and the IT business in general are in a position where conservation is a more essential consideration.

The amount of energy consumed by hardware continues to increase, and energy available on the market is not keeping pace. Research agency Gartner anticipates that by 2009, approximately 50 percent of data centers worldwide will not be able to provide sufficient energy to their customers.

It seems like every week, a handful of web hosts or data center providers announce some “green” adjustment to their business. But at this point it’s still rare that a data center, or the related business, is built from the ground up around an eco-friendly strategy.

EvoSwitch is an exception – the only carbonneutral data center in the red-hot marketing of Amsterdam.

The Dutch data center operator launched its energy-efficient Internet hub in 2006, and has quickly expanded its customer base beyond the Netherlands to secure clients in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Russia and Turkey.

“Our investments in innovative technologies have enabled us right from the start to achieve energy savings of 20 percent at EvoSwitch, compared with traditional data centers,” says Laurens Rosenthal, innovation director at EvoSwitch. “And this percentage will increase dramatically.”

EvoSwitch has invested nine million Euros in a three-phase construction, the second phase of which was completed in June. After selling out the fi rst phase of its data center, EvoSwitch added another 2,000 square meters of space, bringing its total to more than 9,000.

The company says construction on the third phase should commence by the end of the year, when it plans to add another 5,000 square meters of operational space.

The extra space will allow the company to take another step forward in the overall effectiveness of its energy usage, says Rosenthal, who claims EvoSwitch is leading the local competition in that area. He rates his facilities
according to the Power Usage Effectiveness rating – a metric developed by the data center industry organization The Green Grid – in which a score improves as it approaches 1.

“A score of 1.6 is currently considered to be the highest achievable score worldwide,” says Rosenthal. “The implementation of the second phase will allow us to achieve an even lower PUE. In Phase 3, we expect to achieve a PUE of between 1.1 and 1.2.”

The expansion adds enhancements, including 19-inch racks that increase the power capacity per rack from 5kW to 20kW, enabling the company to provide medium and high density hosting. The company has doubled the number of power transformers from two to four, adding two new uninterruptible power supplies and another eight emergency power generators.

The Amsterdam facility uses green power from power supplier Delta. The facility also doubled power capacity from 10 MVA to 20 MVA – which represents about 20 million Watts – enough power for EvoSwitch to guarantee that customers receive ample power at all times. 

EvoSwitch has equipped the facility with a variety of energy efficient cooling technologies. Free cooling, for instance, is a low-energy cooling concept that has EvoSwitch using the facility rooftop to take advantage of the
cool outside air often found in the Netherlands. The company also uses “cold corridor” technology, which cools servers by separating cold and hot airflows.

The facility’s UPS systems use Delta Conversion, a low-energy method provided by UPS supplier APC that generates five percent savings over traditional double-conversion systems. But EvoSwitch says its eco-friendly strategy is about more than just employing the latest technologies. The company has aligned itself with non-profit organizations that seek similar ecological goals.

Rosenthal says EvoSwitch was one of the first green data centers to join the Green Grid. The data center is also involved with The Green Fan and the Climate Neutral Group, which work to restore the balance of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

EvoSwitch’s other environmental ambitions involve the separation of waste, including server packaging, before it reaches waste collecting services, and the removal of redundant, obsolete IT hardware.

Additionally, Rosenthal says the company uses only category A and B vehicles (smaller and more fuel efficient), as well as vehicles that run on natural gas. The company also encourages its 30-employee staff to bicycle to work when possible.

“We play a pioneering role in the market,” says Rosenthal. “The number of initiatives for truly green data centers that go beyond just the use of green power is obviously still relatively small– not only in the Netherlands, but
also worldwide.” 

Justin Lee is a frequent contributor to the Web Host Industry Review both online and in print, regularly covering the European web hosting business.