Data centers using less power.

• Position: GOING GREEN

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Despite the fact that the amount of data created increases at an astronomical rate each year, data centers are actually consuming fewer resources, according to an independent report.

The report on data center power use between 2005 and 2010 by Jonathan Koomey, an engineering professor at Stanford University, found that the actual number of computer servers declined compared to 2010 forecasts because of less demand for computing, the financial crisis of 2008, the global recession, and new power-saving technologies, such as more efficient computer chips and computer server virtualization, which enables fewer servers to run more programs.

In the new study, prepared at the request of The New York Times, Koomey found that electricity used by data centers worldwide grew significantly, but it was an increase of only about 56% from 2005 to 2010. In the United States, power consumption increased by 36%, according to the report, titled "Growth in Data Center Power Use 2005 to 2010."

Koomey said he could not determine which had a bigger effect on data centers' power usage, the recession or power-saving technologies. 'At any rate, the report's results are surprising considering that services that rely on data centers, such as cloud computing and streaming music and movies, have become popular during the time period studied by the report. Data centers are also used to process email and conduct web searches and online transactions, as well as banking transactions and corporate sales reports, The Times said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an influential report on data centers in 2007. It predicted that energy consumption by computer servers and data centers would...