24 Energy Efficient Equipment
Cheaper, greener cooling – the next data centre challenge
Cooling and the requirement to do so while also reducing power will be a key driver in the data centre agenda moving forward according to Rob Elder, director at Keysource. He looks at what this means for the industry.
T
HIS IS A key challenge which will attract innovations from throughout the marketplace as companies look to save money and reduce their carbon footprint without compromising on resilience.
Already we are seeing server manufacturers start to develop a way to increase density but also reduce thermal output as well as other technology enabling equipment to be able to operate in higher temperatures. As a result the ASHRAE
recommendations for the operating window within data centres have increased and are likely to continue as the technology evolves.
In the UK and Northern Europe where the weather is cooler, developments such as these are likely to encourage the use of indirect cooling solutions.
These use a reduced number of chillers which can be switched on for the few days a year when temperatures rise. Key benefits of this include a reduction in capital expenditure and maintenance costs, and also the fact that the chillers do not have to be fully rated.
Renewables
The use of renewable power sources will also be high on the agenda. Earlier this year a high profile Greenpeace report gave kudos to tech giants such as Facebook and Apple for using an increasing amount of renewable electricity to power their data centres. The research showed that Google, which sells its data centre services to businesses, has been the most ambitious by buying wind energy that is then injected into the local electric grids where it runs data centres.
Microsoft started to do the same last year when it agreed to buy power from a wind farm in Texas. Amazon and Oracle, on the other hand, earned poor grades from Greenpeace for not showing a willingness to use clean energy for their data centres.
As a result many data centres are now being located in Northern Europe close to the renewable energy sources available in these countries. Locating here delivers cost savings and environmental benefits because data centre owners or providers can buy environmentally friendly energy at low costs.
However data centres that need to be ACR News February 2015
located in metropolitan areas such as the UK and Western Europe, as well as those in some of the emerging markets, are restricted when it comes to access renewable energy.
One alternative option is to see power cooling as a utility with data centres using heat from another process or nearby facility, perhaps in the form of CHP, using absorption chillers to gain cheap or free cooling. Or by locating the data centre next to a recycling plant and using its by- products such as steam to provide ‘free’ cooling power.
By utilising these waste to energy plants it would allow power to be sourced directly instead of from the grid, although there would still be a need for a mains grid for back up.
At Keysource we have formed a joint venture with 2OC, a specialist renewable energy and green utility company. 2OC has thirty sites around the UK located next to energy plants and we will be exploring options with them moving forward to ensure that we can provide our customers with the best options. In conclusion the drive to get cheaper and greener cooling solutions is likely to be the main focus for the data
centre industry moving forward. Ours is an industry that rarely stands still and with the continued growth of cloud computing, there is an increasing need for highly efficient data centre facilities that can reduce costs and minimise environmental impact. These are exciting times for the data centre industry.
Chillerless cooling
ECOFRIS IS A high-performance and resilient cooling solution that has been developed to support the deployment of the latest IT technology including high density in a flexible and efficient data centre environment.
Keysource recently undertook a key project with PGS and upgraded its existing cooling system to incorporate a ‘chillerless’ design, helping to reduce expenditure without comprising on availability and performance. This has enabled PGS to become one of the most efficient data centre facilities in Europe, without affecting availability.
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