Service Rate Control of On/Off Servers

根据加拿大自然资源部的数据，数据中心支持加拿大经济的每个部门，消耗了加拿大大约1%的总电力消耗。在确定数据中心的规模时，它们通常被设计为适应峰值需求。其结果是，大部分时间，绝大多数服务器都处于空闲状态，但仍在消耗能源。如果能够确定如何有效地关闭（或打开）服务器，就数据中心运营商的直接节省而言，以及由于相应减少温室气体排放而对加拿大社会而言，显然都将取得重大收益。需要考虑的权衡是，如果需要打开服务器以应对不断增长的需求，则性能可能会下降（就等待时间而言），并且频繁打开和关闭服务器可能会减少设备的使用寿命。

According to Natural Resources Canada, data centres support every sector of the Canadian economy and consume roughly one percent of the total electricity consumed in Canada. When sizing data centres, they are typically designed to accommodate peak demand. A consequence is that much of the time, the vast majority of servers are idle yet still consuming energy. If one could determine how to effectively turn servers off (and on), there are clearly significant gains to be made, both in terms of direct savings for data centre operators, but also for Canadian society due to the corresponding reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The tradeoff to consider is that performance may decrease (in terms of waiting times) if servers need to be turned on to cope with rising demand, and that frequently turning servers on and off may reduce the lifetime of the equipment.