Is Energy Procurement For Data Centers The Key To Saving Money? (Hint: Yes)

As a business owner, saving money without compromising on the quality of your services is an ongoing priority. It’s one that often requires your full attention at all times. Although there are many ways for businesses to save money, one often overlooked way is by enhancing the efficiency of your data centers through improved energy procurement and energy management.  

As you may already know, energy procurement is the process of finding the best energy solutions at the best possible rates for business. It takes into consideration the price of energy, sustainability, renewables, and future needs.  Energy management encompasses the controlling, monitoring and conserving of a business’s energy consumption.

Below we’ve outlined some of the key concepts for improved energy procurement and management for data centers. You’ll learn how these changes can be incorporated into your business model for immediate and lasting results.

Let’s get started.

What Are Data Centers?

Data centers are a common feature in commercial buildings. A data center is a designated space that’s used to keep track of all the data for your business.

With a network of computers and associated facilities, data centers allow the shared use and delivery of software applications and information. The sharing of data can range from emails and file sharing to sending data for collaborations.

Data centers can also be used to share simple software like a Microsoft Office package,  Customer Relationship Management software and even stock management applications. Data can be transferred to different devices throughout the building using the internet, cloud, and VoIP technologies. Due to the advancements in digital technologies, the designated data centers can now be far smaller than in previous years. However, they still play a vital role in the day-to-day activities of a company.

There are also large scale data centers. These data centers are operated by companies that operate in large facilities and provide commercial clients with a range of solutions for systems deployment and operation.  

Whether the network is contained in one building or the company is spread across multiple locations, improving energy efficiency should be considered a priority for success. Energy management will help your business find and bid on the best energy prices and control and monitor energy consumption.  All of these factors are important to keeping costs down for businesses and the IT department.

Why Is Energy Management For Data Centers So Important?

American data centers consume in excess of 90 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. This is equivalent to the energy provided by 34 500-megawatt power plants. The forecasts show that those figures are likely to double every four years.

Concepts such as the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) previously demanded to reduce the costs of physical data center operation. The effect has been data transferring to the cloud and networks outsourced to other locations. However, companies are guilty of consuming mass volumes of data and electricity – a lot of which is caused by waste.

Improved energy efficiency in data centers is a pressing matter for many reasons including:

• Reduce the costs associated with running a data center.
• Reduce energy waste to simultaneously save money.
• Satisfy the demands of the authorities.
• Save energy and data to actively speed up processes.

From a financial, logistical, and human perspective, paying extra attention to the energy consumption of the data center is pivotal. This change in approach is better executed sooner rather than later.

Why Does Your Business Need Energy Procurement and Management Services From Navigate Power?

Upgrading the energy efficiency of your data center is something that you may feel is within your scope. However, the job is a time-consuming one that requires a very specific set of skills. Therefore, you are best suited to hiring a professional like Navigate Power to help you.

Additional Read: Improving Energy Efficiency In Buildings

Navigate Power are leaders in the field of commercial energy procurement, managing over 30,000 commercial energy accounts that equate to over $1 billion. Our expert insight brings many benefits to the table, helping your business in many ways including:

• Save time and hassle by outsourcing this task to us.
• Know that ongoing management is under control.
• Save money for increased profitability by securing preferable energy rates.
• Gain easy access to green technologies to support reduced energy consumption.
• Know that all transitions comply with legal regulations.

It may even make sense to switch energy suppliers. This step might seem like a complicated process, but with Navigate Power, it can occur as easily within two weeks of your last meter read. We have provided energy procurement services for businesses across many industries with major clients including KFC, LEIBOVICH Steel and Aluminum Company, and Key Bank.

We help businesses like yours save money and energy, targeting the data center and network for optimum results.

Energy Procurement and Management Solutions For Established Data Centers

Even if you believe that your data center (large or small) is operating in a reasonably energy-efficient way, there’s a good chance that there is room for improvement. Navigate Power can help identify those problematic sources before overhauling the systems and strategies through a range of specialized energy procurement services for data centers.

Giving your company’s data center the attention it deserves involves several stages, including:

• Conducting a comprehensive utility bill audit will allow you to see where you stand and where the biggest problems for the data center are held.
• Developing an energy budget that actively considers your financial limitations as well as creating a plan to help bring energy consumption to its lowest level without affecting performances.
• Treating computers, data storage, and telecommunication systems to reduce waste. Many computers continue to run redundant operations, needlessly slow processes and wasting energy. Discovering where your business can streamline its activities by using cloud computing and upgraded facilities.

Transforming your data center into an efficient machine isn’t easy, which is why hiring Navigate Power is the best solution by far. Aside from leading you to the best results for the immediate and long-term future, it removes the admin, allowing you to focus on the job at hand. Better still, taking the professional route allows you to complete the transition without disruptions.

Energy Procurement and Management Solutions For New Data Centers

Utilizing energy efficiency in data centers, whether you have a startup or your company has relocated, follows a fairly similar pattern. Many of the strategies used for optimizing performance and cost-efficiency are implemented in our procurement solutions.

Designing energy-efficient data centers involve many steps, including:

• Conducting a thorough energy assessment that factors in all necessary usage and includes forecasts regarding business growth over the coming years.
• Strategic planning that weighs up the pros and cons of different computers, telecoms equipment, operating systems, cloud facilities, and software agreements.
• Selecting the right energy rate, tenure, and supplier to gain maximized efficiency in terms of costs as well as the supply itself.
• Insight into the use of greener technologies to further decrease the carbon footprint and potentially reduce the power plant-based energy requirements.
• Energy contract management to ensure that the immediate benefits are followed by sustained results that can evolve as new possibilities become available.

Conclusion

Improved energy efficiency satisfies legal compliance regulations and human responsibilities while simultaneously aiding the company’s control of productivity and expenses. By embracing the support of a dedicated team like Navigate Power, the best improvements can be implemented in a smooth fashion for fast progress and lasting results.

Want to learn more? Contact us today to speak with one of our experts and discuss how improved energy procurement and management in your data center can help save your business money.

About Navigate Power

Navigate Power is a leading electricity and natural gas consulting firm, headquartered in Chicago, IL. Ranked no. 550 on the 2017 and no. 856 on the 2018 Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing companies in the nation, Navigate Power continues to expand into new markets nationwide and currently manages over 30,000 commercial energy accounts and over one billion dollars in energy budgets.