System and method of controlling data center resources for management of greenhouse gas emission

• US 7,742,830 B1
• Filed: 01/23/2007
• Issued: 06/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Botes, Par
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Ramesh B
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHANG, SUNRAY
• Application Number:
  US11/657,670
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• Field of Search: 700/286, 700/295, 705/37, 709/224
• US Class Current: 700/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4893 taking into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/84 Greenhouse gas [GHG] management systems

Abstract

A data center control system includes a storage configured to maintain an emission usage value indicative of an estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission caused by consumption of power by resources within one or more data centers. The control system also includes a controller that may provide a signal to control an operation of at least one of the resources depending upon the indication of the estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission.

Claims

1. A method of operating one or more computing data center facilities, the method comprising:

a controller of a computer system determining an emission usage value indicative of an estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission caused by consumption of power by one or more resources within the one or more computing data center facilities, wherein the one or more resources include computing resources and data center infrastructure resources;

wherein determining the emission usage value includes the controller automatically using a number of available green credits to reduce the estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission, wherein a green credit corresponds to a predetermined amount of power generated using a renewable energy source;

the controller comparing an allocated emission value of the one or more computing data center facilities to the emission usage value, wherein the allocated emission value corresponds to an amount of greenhouse gas emissions allocated to the one or more computing data center facilities by a governing body and is specified as a number of emission units, wherein each emission unit represents a predetermined amount of greenhouse gas emissions; and

the controller providing a signal to control an operation of at least one of the one or more resources in at least one of the one or more computing data center facilities in response to the comparison between the emission usage value and the allocated emission value reaching a predetermined threshold value.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the emission usage value is dependent upon an emission characteristic of a power source used to supply power to resources within at least one of the one or more data center facilities.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the emission characteristic of the power source corresponds to a type of energy source used to generate the power.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the emission usage value corresponds to an estimated number of emission units used.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising acquiring the number of green credits to reduce the estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing a signal to control an operation of at least one of the resources comprises providing a signal to reduce power consumption of the at least one resource.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing a signal to control an operation of at least one of the resources comprises providing a signal to cause a process executing on a first computing resource to execute on a different computing resource within a given computing data center facility, wherein the different computing resource is associated with a lower emission usage than the first computing resource.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing a signal to control an operation of at least one of the resources comprises providing a signal to cause a process executing on a first computing resource within a first computing data center facility to execute on a different computing resource within a different computing data center facility.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising maintaining quality of service information corresponding to a service level agreement and providing the signal to control an operation of at least one of the resources depending upon the quality of service information.

10. A system for controlling a computing data center facility, the system comprising:

a controller including one or more processors configured to determine an emission usage value indicative of an estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission caused by consumption of power by one or more resources within the computing data center facility, wherein the one or more resources include computing resources and data center infrastructure resources;

wherein the controller is further configured to automatically use a number of available green credits to reduce the estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission when determining the emission usage value, wherein a green credit corresponds to a predetermined amount of power generated using a renewable energy source;

a storage coupled to the controller and configured to maintain the emission usage value;

wherein the controller is further configured to compare an allocated emission value of the computing data center facility to the emission usage value, wherein the allocated emission value corresponds to an amount of greenhouse gas emissions allocated to the one or more computing data center facilities by a governing body and is specified as a number of emission units, wherein each emission unit represents a predetermined amount of greenhouse gas emissions; and

wherein the controller is further configured to provide a signal to control an operation of at least one of the one or more resources in response to the comparison between the emission usage value and the allocated emission value reaching a predetermined threshold value.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the emission usage value is dependent upon an emission characteristic of a power source used to supply power to the computing resources within center facility.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the emission characteristic of the power source corresponds to a type of energy source used to generate the power.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the emission usage value corresponds to an estimated number of emission units used.

14. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether to acquire the number of green credits to reduce the estimated amount of greenhouse gas emission.

15. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to provide a signal to reduce power consumption of the at least one resource.

16. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to provide a signal to cause a process executing on a first computing resource to execute on a different computing resource within the computing data center facility.

17. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to provide a signal to cause a process executing on a first computing resource within a first computing data center facility to execute on a different computing resource within a different computing data center facility, wherein the different computing resource is associated with a lower emission usage than the first computing resource.

18. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the at least one resource comprises a computer processing unit.

19. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the at least one resource comprises at least a portion of a data center cooling system.

20. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the at least one resource comprises at least one uninterruptible power supply that supplies power to one or more of the resources within a given data center.

21. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to maintain quality of service information corresponding to a service level agreement, and to provide the signal to control an operation of at least one of the resources depending upon the quality of service information.