Lifetime exergy consumption as a sustainability metric for information technologies

This paper summarizes recent explorations of the use of lifetime exergy consumption as a thermodynamically based metric for sustainability of information technologies. Other proposed thermodynamic metrics are described and compared with life cycle exergy consumption. The pros and cons of different metrics are discussed, and the advantages of life cycle exergy as a metric for information technologies are described. A lifetime exergy consumption model designed specifically for data center server analysis is presented as an example of how this type of metric can be used for information technologies. Database needs to facilitate this type of analysis are described. The operation of the lifetime exergy consumption model is demonstrated for case studies examining the effects of varying some of the data center design parameters. The use of this type of life cycle exergy consumption analysis for other information technologies is also discussed and assessed.