Energy Policies: Research and Implications for Data Centers in North America

07 April, 2014 | Report

Editor: Rona Newmark, EMC Corporation Contributors: Chris Kelley, Cisco Systems, Inc. Henry Wong, Intel James Bartone, Schneider Electric Stephen Bryant, Schneider Electric Jay Taylor, Schneider Electric

The growth of data centers and their energy consumption has prompted the development and implementation of government policies that are designed to improve data center energy efficiency. At the same time, governments are working to address broader energy issues, such as climate change, by establishing policies to discourage the use of carbon-based fossil fuels and encourage the use of renewable energy sources. Because data centers depend so heavily on electricity for their function and operation, both types of policies have the potential to significantly impact the siting, design, and operation of data centers.

This report focuses on policies that are in effect or being proposed in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and highlights the policies that The Green Grid believes will be most useful or instructive to data center developers. The Green Grid modeled this research report on "White Paper #44 – Energy Policy Research and Implications for Data Centres in EMEA", a similar report about the European region, which it commissioned in 2012.