BUILDING THE WORLD’S FIRST SUSTAINABLE GREEN DATA PARKS
Matthew Rajendra
Regional Director (Asia & Middle East) | Green Computing Initiative Deputy Director General | Asia Centre of Green Computing Research
www.greenci.org
www.asiacgcr.org
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The ICT industry is currently responsible for consuming 3 per cent of the world’s energy. This consumption is increasing by a rate of 20 per cent a year, making 2030 the year when the ICT industry will be responsible for doubling the world’s energy consumption. At the same time, the amount of CO2 emissions which currently stand at 21 billion Metric tons annually will double as well.
Choose a year, any year between 2015 to 2020 and imagine yourself in the future of Malaysia. Energy costs will be extremely high, energy security will be below the safe levels, the environment will be adversely impacted, new green data centre standards will be enforced and carbon taxes will be in place.
By December 2015, the withdrawal of gas subsidies would have been completed, making the national electricity tariffs skyrocket. This withdrawal started in June of 2011 when the government announced that electricity price may be increased every six months due to the fuel cost pass-through mechanism that the government has adopted. In fact, there was an average 8.35 per cent increase in electricity tariff for both industrial and commercial consumers from June 1st 2011. Furthermore, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, has warned that Malaysia could be faced with a power shortage within five years if it does not begin building new generating capacity from early 2011. Assuming a power demand growth of 5 per cent a year, power demand will increase by 22 per cent on a compounded basis. The reserve margin will thin and fall below the safe level of 20 per cent. The country’s reserve margin currently stands at 42 per cent.
The world has now moved beyond the conventional view that economic growth objectives are incompatible with environmental objectives. Left unaddressed, climate change represents a serious threat to economic wellbeing. Central to such principles is the appropriate pricing of carbon and ensuring that climate change mitigation policies across the board are both effective and economically efficient. Carbon taxes are seen to be enforced in Malaysia in 2014 starting at RM25 per Metric ton of CO2e and increasing gradually to RM50 in 2020.
Data centres are enormous energy consumers. In fact, data centers frequently fall in the top 10 energy consumers of a country, making data centers the top 10 polluters worldwide as well. On top of that, according to a recent report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. data centers are the fastest growing consumers of energy.
By 2015, data centres in Malaysia will be facing four major challenges:
1. Exponential increases in electricity tariffs
2. New green data centre standards enforced
3. Imposition of carbon taxes, primarily on non carbon-neutral energy
4. The lack of energy security with higher probability of power outages
5. Increased pressure from society to become environmentally friendly
The world’s first sustainable green data parks conceived and championed by Matthew Rajendra from the Green Computing Initiative and the Asia Centre of Green Computing Research addresses these issues with an innovative use of four main components called the Green Data Mix. The public sector project sponsor is Kementerian Tenaga Teknologi Hijau dan Air (KETTHA). The public sector owner is Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC).
EXISTING STAKEHOLDERS’ PROFILE - 1
Matthew Rajendra
CGCP,CGCA,CGCI,CCIE(w),CCDA,CCNP,MCSE,MCSA,MCDBA,MCSE,MCSD,CLP,ACT,CWNA,CXMMT,CIM
Known as the Green Computing Guy within the industry, Matthew has been in the Information Technology industry for the past 15 years specializing in training and development, enterprise networking, enterprise software development, IT service management and green computing technologies.
Currently, Matthew is the Regional Director (Asia and Middle East) of the Green Computing Initiative and concurrently the Co-Founder and Deputy Director-General of the Asia Centre of Green Computing Research(ACGCR) housed in Technology Park Malaysia. His vision is for the world to embark on a more sustainable approach to computing and his principles are embodied into the objectives of ACGCR which is the world’s first and only dedicated research centre in green computing technologies. He is heading ground breaking research activities and leads a team of 60 researchers and product specialists. Matthew also founded the Middle East Centre of Excellence in Green Computing based in Kuwait City. That facility received accolades for Matthew’s pioneering work in ‘energyware’; software used in energy optimization.
Matthew was elected the Leader for the Environmental Lab by MDeC during the 5 weeks Digital Malaysia Labs co-organized by MOSTI, Pemandu and EPU from July to August of 2011. He led the team to win 3 of the 5 awards including Most Innovative Ideas, Best Overall Presentation and Most Syndicated (Green Data Park). Matthew conceived and designed the world's first Green Data Park project and is currently championing the project with MDeC. The first 100 acre Green Data Park is set to go live in Q1 of 2014.Matthew headed the development committee that structured Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad’s (PSMB) CCNP syllabus for the Skim Latihan Graduan 2 in 2003 and once again in 2005 for the SLG0/5 programme. He was also elected by PSMB as a Master Trainer to deliver the Train-The-Trainer sessions for all CCNP and MCSE trainers nationwide.
Malaysian Universities whose teaching faculties have benefited from Matthew's hands-on TTT approach include UM, UPM, UTM, UKM, UNISEL and OUM. Hundreds of corporations in Malaysia and Singapore engage Matthew on a contract basis.
The top ten companies in Malaysia have all been exposed to Matthew's X-Method training methodology; MAS, Tenaga, Telekom, Sime Darby, CIMB, Public Bank, Genting, Nestle, KL Kepong and Maxis.
Government Agencies in Malaysia that has engaged Matthew as a regular consultant include Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative And Consumerism, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Human Resources, MIMOS, PDRM and DBP.
EXISTING STAKEHOLDERS’ PROFILE - 2
Green Computing Initiative (GCI)
The Green Computing Initiative is an international member based green computing accreditation organization that certifies individuals and endorses organizations in Green Computing technologies. It is the owner and creator of the Certified Green Computing Professional, Certified Green Computing Architect, Green Computing User Specialist and Certified Green Computing Architect programs which is currently being offered worldwide through a network of authorized partners globally.
Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC)
MDeC is incorporated under the Companies Act of Malaysia, and owned and funded by the Government. MDeC combines the entrepreneurial efficiency and effectiveness of a private company with the decision-making authority of a high-powered government agency.
MDeC’s role is to advise the Malaysian Government on legislation and policies, develop MSC Malaysia-specific practises, and set breakthrough standards for multimedia operations. MDeC also promote MSC Malaysia locally and globally, as well as support companies which are locating and located within MSC Malaysia.
Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air (KETTHA)
Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water Malaysia (KeTTHA) was established on 9 April 2009. Prior to that, KeTTHA known as the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications (MEWC) was established on March 27, 2004 through the restructuring of the Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia.
The 'communication' moved out to the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture (KPKK). Admission of new functions and responsibilities KeTTHA for planning, formulating policies and programs show a strong green technology is the Government led by Prime Minister to lead a new initiative addressing global issues such as environmental pollution, ozone depletion, 'global warming' and issues related thereto.
SUSTAINABLE GREEN DATA PARK OVERVIEW
The key targets set for the Sustainable Green Data Parks project during the Digital Malaysia Masterplan process are as follows:
1. Three Green Data Parks to be built and operated by 2020, with the first Park operational by Q2 2014.
2. A combined Gross National Income of RM3.6 Billion by 2020.
3. Creation of 10,000 jobs by 2020.
4. Position Malaysia as the world’s leader in sustainable green data parks.
The Green Data Mix serves as the model for each Park. It divides the Park (minimum 80 acres to up to 300 acres) into four distinct quadrants namely:
Efficient Energy Quarter (EEQ) – A highly efficient co-generation (CHP) power plant with added capabilities to provide chilled water to the GDCIQ (district cooling) and a CO2 capture mechanism to channel CO2 to the REQ.
Renewable Energy Quarter (REQ) – Three renewable energy power plants (Solar Thermal, Enhanced Geothermal System and Photovoltaic) and an enterprise Algae Photo-bioreactor producing Algae jet fuel and biodiesel.
Green Data Centre Infrastructure Quarter (GDCIQ) - Readymade plug & play next generation green data centres, land lots for customised designs and BioBox containerized DC plots
Academic, Research, Development & Commercialization Quarter (ARDCQ) – Learning institution that creates and retains the next generation of local green technology talent.
SETTING THE STAGE – CONTEXT
Malaysia’s ambitions to become a regional hub through EPP 3 for data centres poses big challenges, which however can be transformed into a huge opportunity. The biggest challenge faced is the lack of medium/long term marketability due to being environmentally unsustainable. In the next 5 years, data centres risk being obsolete based on new global green standards. Digital Malaysia’s Sustainable Green Data Parks sets out to address these issues and will differentiate Malaysia as the worldwide leader in this area by the creation of three sustainable green data parks located South, East and Central Malaysia.
The world has generated 1.2 zettabytes of digital information (zettabyte =1 trillion gigabytes or 250bn DVDs) with our tweets, YouTube videos, Facebook status updates, iTunes downloads, emails and other data transfers. Additionally, there are five billion mobile users worldwide, and over 50bn mobile connections are predicted by 2020 as smart meters and other ‘smart’ devices are added to online networks. The size of the digital world is predicted to continue to increase by a factor of 44 by 2020.
Existing Data Centre Energy Efficiency technologies have helped to reduce power consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE.
PRIMARY CASES FOR CHANGE
New International Green Data Centre Standards
Existing green data centres even though energy efficient, still consume energy from conventional power plants which are not sustainable and not environmentally friendly. Green efforts in the Data Centre almost solely defined by energy efficiency improvements, or decreasing the relative amount of energy consumed for delivery of computing services. Such IT energy efficiency efforts have largely been motivated out of a desire to curb rising energy needs and related costs, and, to some extent, with regard for environmental performance.
Given the potential impacts of the Jevons Paradox, improved IT efficiency will likely increase its environmental footprint even beyond what is currently projected without a shift away from dirty sources of energy. The type of energy used to feed consumption is equally if not more important than increasing efficiencies.
Echoing what GCI’s Matthew Rajendra has been advocating for the past three years, Google’s Energy Czar, Bill Whiel was quoted in March 2011 as saying “We are not going to solve the climate problem via efficiency. We must move to cleaner sources of energy”.
By 2015, there will be a fundamental shift in existing green data centre standards towards more efficient, renewable and carbon neutral sources of energy for data centre operations. The Sustainable Green Data Park will meet this standard and additionally will most likely set the precedence for policies within the standard.
Dramatic Increases in Electricity Tariffs
Electricity tariffs in Malaysia are destined to grow exponentially by 2015 due to a variety of factors. These include the removal of gas subsidies, increase in wholesale prices of natural gas and coal, shortage of fossil fuel supply and higher inflation.
The Sustainable Green Data Park will ensure a continous and renewable source of energy as well as make renewable and efficient energy more cheaper than conventional energy sources.
Carbon Taxes are Inevitable
The cost of operating a data centre outside of the Sustainable Green Data Park will escalate rapidly once carbon taxes are in place in Malaysia in 2014. A carbon tax is an environmental tax that is levied on the carbon content of fuels. It is a form of carbon pricing. Carbon is present in every fossil fuel (coal, petroleum, and natural gas) and is released as carbon dioxide (CO2) when they are burnt.
Data Centres operating within the Sustainable Green Data Park will pay zero or substantially less carbon taxes as the EEQ and REQ quadrants are carbon-neutral.
Lack of Energy Security
Energy security is a term for an association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led to significant vulnerabilities. Long term measures to increase energy security center on reducing dependence on any one source of imported energy, increasing the number of suppliers, exploiting native fossil fuel or renewable energy resources, and reducing overall demand through energy conservation measures.
At the Sustainable Green Data Park, the deployment of renewable technologies will increases the diversity of electricity sources and, through efficient local generation, contributes to the flexibility of the system and its resistance to central shocks.
Increased Environmental Pressures from Society
Scientists have warned us that global CO2 emissions must peak by 2015, and decline afterwards, if we hope to avoid a permanent and planetary crisis. Every sector in the economy must take responsibility for reducing the use of dirty energy, particularly the IT sector, which stands to profit from an increase in the use of technological clean energy solutions.