Global shifting of data centers demand

Data centers are a large energy user, accounting for an increasing portion, currently over 1.5% of the worlds electricity consumption. They have the potential to provide a significant Demand Response to the power system, by reducing and consolidating their server loads or increasing temperature set points. Data centers may also move their Information Technology (IT) workload geographically to provide a Demand Response to the system. A methodology for data center operators to move IT workloads geographically to avoid peak electricity prices has been developed. It aims to reduce overall data center energy costs by shifting data center demand globally. It is shown that energy savings, a net CO₂ benefit and energy cost savings (19%-50%) over a year depending on the primary workload location and future electricity prices are possible. A number of barriers exist to the implementation of demand shifting in data centers, most notably concerns over the data centers reliability and data security which is of critical importance.