By now we’ve all heard about the looming data-center power problem. But do we truly understand just what it we’re facing? Perhaps not really, contends Ken Brill, executive director of the Uptime Institute, a widely respected data-center consulting firm that has been tracking data-center energy consumption for years. “I’ve been ignoring [energy-consumption growth rate data] as somewhat alarmist – until we got in this recent Uptime member data,” says Brill in a video cast on the group’s findings. Now, he’s really taking notice. Recent statistics gathered from Uptime member companies, representing about 50 data centers, absolutely show an unprecedented growth rate in power consumption, he says. While the average data-center site shows an 11% compound annual growth rate in 2006 and 2007, the top third of data-center sites studied show about a 24% CAGR in 2006 and 2007. In two years, energy consumption has more than doubled at these sites. Data-center electric consumption is the fastest growing sector in the U.S. economy, and the U.S. doesn’t have the means of licensing as many power plants as will be needed to keep pace with these consumptions rates, Brill says. As Uptime keeps crunching the numbers, it promises to share more insight on the implications for the nation’s IT infrastructure. In the meantime, listen to Brill’s current analysis here. And, for more on the data-center energy consumption issue, check out:

Power: What you don’t know will hurt you
Power: the cost reality
5 ways to curb data-center energy use
Energy-efficiency case studies