Energy audit: how to leverage regulatory constraints?

International initiatives and agreements have multiplied in recent years, aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of human activities. It is in this context that European Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency was published in 2012, transposed into French law as the DDADUE law, with its implementing decree issued on November 24, 2014. The objective set by the European Union in this "3x20" text is to reduce primary energy consumption by 20%, decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, and use 20% renewable energy, all by 2020. To achieve this, the directive obliges large companies (*) to conduct an energy audit of their activities every four years, in order to evaluate and optimize their energy consumption.

In parallel, and from a purely economic perspective, the end of regulated energy tariffs since December 31, 2015, encourages French companies to be more vigilant about their energy consumption.

However, despite these regulatory developments, nearly 80% of companies in France have, to date, initiated nothing in terms of energy transition...

This inertia is linked to the fact that most companies are unable to precisely identify which equipment, installations, or activities are the most energy-intensive, because electricity bills do not allow for isolating or consolidating (at the group level, for example) consumption in an "analytical" manner. It is also explained by a lack of internal experts, facing regulations and an awareness that are still recent.

Given the current weight of digital technology, it is known that data centers can account for up to nearly 50% of a company's total energy consumption. If data center equipment and operations are not optimized, the bill can quickly become very heavy. It must not be forgotten that they operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: the slightest improvement, however minimal it may seem, can actually have not only positive but also very rapid effects.

For example, the primary source of energy consumption in a data center is its cooling system. However, recent IT equipment tolerates higher temperature levels to operate: increasing the temperature in IT rooms, even by just one degree, significantly and rapidly reduces the bill. Rearranging the layout of the racks also optimizes the operation of air conditioners and cooling systems. It is estimated that optimizing data center operations, which does not require colossal investments, can lead to a 30% to 40% reduction in its energy consumption over a year.

Given the growing importance of digital technology, and even apart from regulatory obligations, companies have everything to gain by conducting an energy audit of their data centers: it provides an exhaustive analysis of energy consumption as well as avenues for optimization, which allow for the implementation of improvement programs. It should also be noted that for companies with fewer than 250 employees, it is possible to obtain an ADEME subsidy covering 40% of the audit cost.

Not to mention that this energy assessment constitutes a unique opportunity for companies to further their reflection on their hosting needs and the reliability of their IT infrastructures. The results can indeed reveal more serious dysfunctions than a simple temperature defect or operational procedures in the data center: obvious oversizing, obsolete installations, random failures, etc. With, as a corollary, a redefinition of hosting choices, to both control their energy consumption and rationalize their data centers.

Energy audits also pave the way for ISO 50001 certification, related to energy management, which positions energy performance as a true strategic axis within the company, in a continuous improvement approach.

In all cases, it is important to be able to rely on experts capable of analyzing energy consumption with regard to the specificities of data center design, layout, and operational constraints, to make the right decisions in the short, medium, and long term.

(*) Companies with more than 250 people, or whose annual turnover exceeds 50 million euros and whose balance sheet total is greater than 43 million euros. Companies certified ISO 50001 (certified energy management system) are exempt from this obligation.