Server Migration May 2009

Juicy Media has arranged to migrate all its servers to a new high specification Server House in Manchester, which has a PUE <1.4 and carbon offsetting. There are 2 main reasons for this change:

1. Our current hosting company has proposed to increase costs for electrical power buy over 50%; we have been working hard to reduce power consumption as part of our business strategy - a high regard for the environment - at its heart.
2. In conjunction with our hosting provider, we are moving to a new facility which boasts a more effective approach to energy efficiency. 

The new facility features a PUE <1.4

PUE is a metric to measure the energy efficiency of a data centre and was developed by the Green Grid. The PUE of a data centre is calculated by dividing the total power usage of a facility by the power usage of the IT equipment (servers, storage and network equipment as well as switches, monitors and workstations to control the data centre) within the facility. The average data centre PUE is 2.0 however some less efficient data centres have a PUE of anything up to 3.0. Our hosting provider has attained a PUE of < 1.4 by using Cold Aisle Containment on all rack aisles, Blanking Plate technologies, Inverter driven Airedale cooling systems and a near unity Chloride UPS system meaning minimal power is lost in conversion.

Data centre carbon offsetting

Data centre carbon offsetting is achieved by following the Carbon Passport's guidelines and their government approved method of carbon footprint reduction. Carbon Passport offset the facilitiy's carbon footprint by buying credits called Certified Emission Reductions (CERs). CERs are only issued to projects approved under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Treaty. These projects are subjected to rigorous qualification procedures and ongoing monitoring. CERs are only awarded to projects that would not have taken place without the revenue from CERs. CERs help to fund projects in the developing world and help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Examples include wind farms, energy efficiency projects and electricity generation from landfill gas. The UNFCC website provides details of all registered projects.