CSR: Small:Collaborative Research: Data Center Demand Response: Coordinating the Cloud and the Smart Grid

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Data centers have become both significant consumers of electricity and substantial sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and so a focus on energy-efficient computing has emerged. Until now, the most common approach for improving sustainability of data centers is a ?local? one, e.g., installing rooftop PV panels. This project takes a different, more ?global? approach: it allows data centers to contribute towards improving the sustainability of the electricity grid as a whole, in order to meet data centers' social responsibility as major energy consumers. Interestingly, engaging in such global sustainability efforts will, in turn, provide data centers with new opportunities to gain financial benefits.This project will coordinate data centers with the smart grid through programs such as demand response, which allow the utilities to signal consumers to reduce or increase consumption as needed in order to stabilize the grid and tackle the unpredictability of the renewable energy resources. New resource management algorithms for data centers will be developed to facilitate their participation in demand response and other electricity market programs; and the responsiveness that data centers can provide the smart grid through such participation will be quantified and optimized.This proposal is truly interdisciplinary as it requires a deep understanding not only about data centers and cloud computing but also about electricity markets and the smart grid. In particular, the results will help data centers in terms of both their choice of which electricity market programs to participate in and how to participate in such programs. Additionally, this project will help utility companies in the design of electricity market programs that encourage maximum data center responsiveness to better operate the grid and to reduce the price of electricity.