Planning IUCRC at University of California, Irvine: Energy Information Nexus (EIN)

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Data centers represent ~2% of all electricity consumption in the United States, with a projected growth rate of 12% per year. Cloud service companies and mechanical/electrical infrastructure suppliers must continuously adapt to satisfy this growing demand, while meeting reliability, cost, and sustainability targets. Rather than focusing on energy and computing as separate problems, the Energy Information Nexus (EIN) consortium supports development of a new generation of data centers that embed power production and storage into the data center itself. On-site power at the rack or pod level offers many strategic advantages, including redundancy and reliability (eliminating the need for backup power), high efficiency, improved load following and supply management, as well as technological pathways to renewable energy based on stored fuels derived from intermittent wind and solar power. EIN will collaborate with industry and government partners to explore the use of fuel cells, batteries, supercapacitors, DC power networks, and other energy technologies in data centers, and to identify and overcome key process and technology bottlenecks. Through collaborative research, industrial forums, educational initiatives, and public outreach, EIN will advance data center engineering as a leading arena for distributed power and energy storage, and facilitate our nation's transition toward energy sustainability. The Energy Information Nexus (EIN) will fulfill these goals through the following mission objectives: Conducting technoeconomic analyses and system modeling of new approaches to data center energy architecture. Quantitative case studies by EIN will allow members to forecast the directions of technology and business and to better position themselves for growth in this area. Performing pre-competitive research that accelerates development of embedded energy technology relevant to data centers. EIN research will focus on fundamental problems residing at key bottlenecks or junctures among technologies identified by industrial members. Interdisciplinary training of students to foster broad understanding of both computing and energy technology. EIN will bridge the divide between these technology arenas and create a new generation of engineers who understand the opportunities and constraints of both. Facilitating development of supply-chain standards with widespread support among industrial participants. EIN will help members develop new infrastructure and supply-chain standards such that participants in the supply chain share risk and synchronize businesses growth. Industrial and government membership of the EIN will span four principle overlapping business sectors including end users, infrastructure providers, energy technology developers, and utilities to facilitate a broad discussion to achieve the consortium's mission.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.