The Green Grid Releases The First Comprehensive Guide To European Data Centre Legislation

October 21, 2009; 03:12 AM

London, UK – October 21, 2009 – The Green Grid, a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centres and business computing ecosystems, has today launched an easily digestible guide to policies affecting the data centre industry in EMEA.  The guide, which provides organisations with everything they need to know about current and forthcoming policies, is the latest initiative by The Green Grid to dramatically raise the energy efficiency of data centres in both the short and long term. The Green Grid announced this news today from the EMEA Technical Forum in London and will be discussing this at their upcoming Technical Forum in Paris this Thursday, October 22 as well. Last week The Green Grid also held EMEA Technical Forums in Frankfurt, Germany and Amsterdam. 

As climate change and fuel security have significantly moved up in the policy agenda, more comprehensive policy frameworks have been developed at both the European Union (EU) and national levels. The growth of data centres, and their energy intensity, means the industry will be particularly affected by the drive for energy efficiency of product design and building services.  In fact, this is one of the key highlights expected to result from the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December this year.

However, with the rising number and complexity of these frameworks, organisations may be unsure about the implications of the legislations, their responsibilities and how they should achieve this.

In order to help organisations achieve this, The Green Grid has created “The Green Grid Energy Policy Research For Data Centres,” a guide to existing and emerging energy policies affecting the data centre industry in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.  The report provides a summary of existing and forthcoming legislation, incentives and voluntary initiatives, along with practical steps for improvement and achievement.

“The overall finding from the report is that legislation is continuously tightening, and therefore it is advisable to innovate now and seek out opportunities to manage future implications for all data centres across the region,” said Vic Smith, Dell representative and EMEA Technical Work Group chair of The Green Grid.

The report highlights the most significant policies to affect organisations.

Policy      Financial   Operational  Reputation
Revisions to Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)             Significant (but uncertain) Low  Low
Revisions to Energy Labelling Directive 
      Moderate   Moderate Moderate
Environmental certification    Moderate   Low  Moderate
EC Code of Conduct    Low    Moderate Moderate
Feed-in tariffs     Moderate   Low  Low
Tax reductions     Low    Low  Low
Forthcoming CRC (carbon trading)  Significant Significant Significant
Expansion of Eco-Design Directive   Moderate   Moderate Low
F Gas Directive     Moderate   Moderate Moderate
Increasing building codes   Significant   Moderate Moderate
Evolving planning policies   Moderate   Moderate Moderate
Voluntary monitoring & reporting initiatives Low    Low Moderate

Those that resulted as the most significant are:

• Revisions to Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) – The previous EPBD has had minor implications to date.  However the revisions will include new buildings to be zero energy by the end of 2018, a definition of zero-energy buildings to be established by the end of 2010, and Member States to set minimum percentages for a share of existing buildings to be energy neutral in 2015 and 2020.
• Forthcoming UK Carbon Reduction Commitment (carbon trading).  This will establish a new carbon trading market from April 2010 and could present the most significant financial risk to the data centre sector as daily penalities will be enforced for non-compliance. It aims to support the UK government’s legally binding target of an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The whitepaper covers some indicative models of how the legislation would affect data centres of different sizes.
• Increasing building codes and planning policies.  Whilst these differ across the EMEA region, they will increase the financial burden associated with building and technical designs that comply with each country’s increasing number of energy efficiency requirements.

The guide also makes recommendations for how to best achieve these and prepare for future initiatives, such as:

• All stakeholders should prepare for and manage risks associated with the (UK) Carbon Reduction Commitment.
• Data centre operators should proactively measure and report their energy consumption and drive continuous improvements in hardware, software, and building services.
• Data centre operators should make full use of available energy efficiency incentives, such as tax reductions and capital allowances.

To read the guide in full, please go to www.thegreengrid.org.