Data Centre Energy Efficiency Analysis to minimize total cost of ownership
Sophia Flucker, Robert Tozer · Building Services Engineering Research and Technology · 2012
The data centre industry grows with our increasing demand for IT services; energy forms a large part of data centre operating costs. Operators face increasing pressure to reduce their environmental impact and deliver competitively priced services to support users. However, many existing data centres were designed without a ‘green’ design brief; priorities were focussed around infrastructure redundancy. There are significant opportunities to implement modifications to design and operation and reduce operating costs, particularly to cooling systems, including managing data hall air, operating at higher temperatures, using free cooling and optimising for part load operation. Energy analysis can identify areas for improvement, often with short payback periods. This enables operators to realise massive reductions in energy (and sometimes capital) costs, whilst still delivering a reliable service. Practical application: The paper describes the challenges of reducing energy consumption and operating cost faced by those working in the data centre industry, along with tools and solutions. Details on where and how to achieve energy savings are presented, whilst maintaining the required availability for both new build and legacy facilities. Practical examples of how to put theory into practice are explained, including case studies where real clients have implemented improvements.