Energy consumption and quantities of materials in German data centers

The study ascertains the energy, equipment and material resources of German data centers for the reference year 2008, and predicts their development through 2015 in two scenarios (“Business-as-usual” and “Green IT”). Similar studies for other countries or regions are not known to date. To achieve the findings, a methodology has been developed which allows the calculation of the number of data centers of various size classes and their average equipment. Reference products are defined, and on this basis, a detailed determination of the material composition of data center components is made. This proceeding permits detailed statements on the material equipment of approximately 53,000 data centers in Germany to be made.