Cisco
At a Glance
Industry
Internet, Software, Hardware and Technology Services
Project Types
Commercial Energy Efficiency, Data Analysis, Engagement and Behavior Change, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy
Year
2009
Location
San Jose, CA
Annual kWh Savings:
18,000,000 kWh
Annual CO2 Reductions:
39,000 metric tons
Summary
Sarah Shapiro furthered a Power Distribution Unit project that 2008 fellow Emily Reyna started and investigated possible energy savings from incremental temperature increases in large data labs.
Goals
Climate Corps fellow Sarah Shapiro, a University of Michigan MBA/MS student, was working alongside engineers at Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in supplying networking equipment and network management for the Internet.
Solutions
Shapiro first worked on a project to analyze installing Power Distribution Units (PDUs) on racks in data labs. The project was started in 2008 by EDF fellow Emily Reyna.
Shapiro also helped analyze the savings generated by implementing incremental temperature increases in Cisco's large data labs. Cisco has experimented with raising ambient temperatures in data labs by 10 degrees Fahrenheit and chilled water supply temperatures by 4 degrees Fahrenheit and discovered that these increases do not harm lab equipment.
Potential Impact
Shapiro’s first project could save Cisco an estimated $8 million per year (with an 18-month payback) and reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 39,000 tonnes of GHG emissions each year.
By implementing temperature increases in all of Cisco's major labs, the project team estimates that it can save approximately $1.8 million and 18 million kWh of electricity annually.