As the number of devices and the amount of traffic on the Internet grow, the energy needed to handle that growth will continue to increase. For example, the energy required to power the world’s data centers has doubled in the past five years. It now accounts for nearly two percent of worldwide power consumption, according to a recent study by Jonathan G. Koomey, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and consulting professor at Stanford University. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculates that U.S. data centers used about 61 billion kWh of electricity in 2006.

A study by Gartner estimates that two percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions can be attributed to information and communications technology—as much carbon dioxide as the aviation industry emits.

To help alleviate this problem, Cisco strives to increase the energy efficiency of our products while also enhancing performance. First, we are improving the configuration of key components and subassemblies to keep power requirements at a minimum. Second, we are assisting customers and service providers in maximizing utilization of their equipment, so they do not have to add more power-consuming devices to their networks when they want to expand capacity. We continue to explore ways to virtualize network resources, a strategy that makes infrastructures greener by consolidating and concentrating services.

Energy Efficiency Standards

Cisco supports government and private-sector energy regulations as well as voluntary standards. We are working with industry, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and governments around the world to explore ways to improve energy efficiency while still maintaining high levels of product functionality and reliability.

Cisco actively participates in the following organizations and groups:

• U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/ EPA ENERGY STAR energy efficiency specifications for set-top boxes
• The Green Grid consortium and the U.S. EPA / DOE Report to Congress on Data Center and Server Energy Efficiency, which will include policy recommendations on how the federal government, industry, and other stakeholders can work together to promote energy efficiency practices for data centers
• The Government of Japan’s Ministry of Economic Trade and Industry (METI) Top Runner program to develop energy-consumption metrics and energy efficiency standards for networking equipment sold to households and small-to-midsize businesses
• The EU Eco-Design for Energy-Using Products (EuP) Directive for developing and implementing measures related to stand-by power for network equipment and external power supplies
• The EU Broadband Communication Code of Conduct working group devoted to energy-efficient design for home and small-business network appliances
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Study of Energy Efficient Ethernet 2010, a group developing a standard that is expected to save large amounts of power during idle operation

During 2006 Cisco also established an internal, cross-functional working group to support energy-efficient product design, industry standards, and metrics. This Power Steering Committee serves as a single point of contact for inquiries from customers and other stakeholders.

Product and Component Efficiency

Energy efficiency is of particular concern in consumer electronic devices and appliances that are sold in large volumes. Even in idle or standby mode, home devices such as computers, network equipment, home entertainment products, and telephones continue to draw power. When multiplied by millions of households, this adds up to billions of kilowatt-hours.

Here are three examples of power-reduction features that we have incorporated into our consumer products:

• Spin-down and screen saver: The hard drive in the Scientific Atlanta set-top digital video recorder automatically goes into sleep mode (spins down) between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. unless the user presses a remote key. Once spin-down is complete and the screen saver is active, the drive remains spun down until the user presses a remote or front panel key.
• Low-power modes on IP phones: Cisco Unified Communications Manager Version 4 provides a central command that can darken the displays on all the IP phones connected to a network at a given time after business hours. This can save up to 25 percent of a phone’s typical energy consumption.
• External power adapters: Any device with an external power adapter continually draws electrical current even when it is not in use. According to the U.S. government’s ENERGY STAR program, these power adapters consume about 300 billion kWh per year, approximately 11 percent of the national electric bill. In 2006 the California Energy Commission enacted Title 20 to make external power adaptors more efficient. All Cisco’s power adapters meet this standard, and we are addressing similar standards in Australia, the European Union, and the rest of the United States.

System-Level Energy Efficiency

Besides designing power efficiency into individual products, Cisco is also lowering power consumption in data centers with modular, scalable solutions that make better use of existing capacity. For example, Cisco’s network-based virtualization capabilities help customers increase utilization of their data storage assets by up to 70 percent. Furthermore, Cisco’s service-module approach to systems design helps make data centers greener by reducing the number of power-consuming appliances that need to be connected to the network.

The convergence of data center infrastructure, applications, and operations has also opened new opportunities for power efficiency at the systems level. Cisco’s intelligent networks provide a solid foundation for monitoring and managing energy use across the enterprise. We are exploring these opportunities as a member of The Green Grid, an international industry consortium devoted to lowering power consumption in data centers by developing standards, measurement methods, processes, and new technologies.