A new methodology toward effectively assessing data center sustainability. Issue 76 (July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lykou, Georgia; Mentzelioti, Despina; Gritzalis, Dimitris
• Is Part Of: Computers & security. Issue 76(2018)
• Page Start: 327
• Page End: 340
• Publication Date: 2018-07
• Subjects: Data center -- Sustainability assessment -- Energy efficiency -- Operational efficiency -- Green energy -- Resources recyclability -- Environmental footprint -- Societal impact -- Scoring system; Computer security -- Periodicals; Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures -- Periodicals; 005.805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cose.2017.12.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0167-4048

Abstract

Abstract: Data centers are found in nearly every sector of the economy, such as financial and commercial services, media and communications, academic and governmental institutions. Day to day, there is an increasing demand for data processing and storage, thus cloud computing has evolved, supported by the continuous growth of internet services worldwide. This has led to significant energy consumption, accompanied with serious environmental impacts, such as earth resources spending, greenhouse gas emissions, electronic equipment waste and environmental pollution. Various metrics have been proposed to evaluate efficiency in data centers, aiming to develop energy conscious behavior and resources savings, however they are falling short, when assessing sustainability of a data center in a holistic view. Sustainability aims at preserving the environment, along with economic, operational and social longevity. The creation of sustainable data centers, using renewable energy, optimizing energy efficiency and minimizing resources waste, makes both environmental and business sense. In this paper, we present a new methodology, for assessing sustainability based on five major quantifiable elements, composed by different influencing factors, with the aim to obtain a holistic approach. By introducing a new sustainability scoring model, we can evaluate in a spherical way the environmental impact and operational efficiency of data centers.