by Jbs011910c3 — January 20, 2010—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on January 6 that it will award more than $47 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for 14 projects across the country to improve energy efficiency in the information technology (IT) and communication technology sectors. The Recovery Act funds will be matched by more than $70 million from private industry.
This DOE initiative is underway because the rapid growth in the data processing, data storage, and telecommunications industries has led to an increase in electricity consumption, notes DOE. IT and telecommunications facilities account for approximately 120 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, equaling three percent of all U.S. electricity consumption. Advances in the sectors’ energy efficiency can produce energy and cost savings while reducing carbon pollution, adds DOE.
The new funding is for research, development, and demonstration projects in three subject areas: equipment and software projects, focused on the core components such as servers and networking devices, as well as software to optimize energy use; technologies aimed at cutting both the power loss and heat generation that occurs as electricity moves through server-based systems; and advanced cooling technologies.
For more information see the DOE’s list of awardees (.pdf file), and DOE’s Industrial Technologies Program Web site.
