A preliminary test by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) of a dc power system at a Duke Energy data center in Charlotte, North Carolina found that the system uses 15% less electricity than the existing ac power system.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported to Congress that data center industry power consumption doubled from 2000 to 2006 and was expected to double again over the next five years. If this trend continues to 2016, then reducing data centers’ energy consumption could reduce demand more than 25 billion kilowatt hours per year.