Data Center Power Consumption Secrecy
DataCenterKnowledge poses an interesting question about data centers - Should Power Usage Be a Secret? The argument by data center operators is that information about their power and water usage could damage them competitively. It is true that knowing how much power is used is a crude measure of the current capacity of the data center presuming you know anything about the efficiencies under which they operate.
The recently formed Green Grid admits that there is no general agreement on what differentiates an efficient data center from an ineffecient one.
Rich Miller may very well be right about power usage being added to the Data Center Fight Club circle of secrecy. With the EPA’s January announcement that they will begin to study data center power consumption, many worry that regulation can’t be far behind.
