FOCUS POWER & COOLING
Issue 4, June 2009
CONSERVING ENERGY FOR THE FUTURE
Expanding power demands, increasing energy costs, excessive heat – these are some of the issues being raised by data centers concerned about the future. Eaton Power believes meaningful data is key
Data centers have a challenge to not only conserve energy while powering and cooling growing loads, but to do this without alerting governmental scrutiny or surcharges for being an energy hog. To increase efficiency while reducing power consumption and cost, data centers must plan ahead for energy management.
Q: What tools are available to address this issue?
A: There are two key aspects to this issue. First, you must have reliable and meaningful data about present-day power consumption and quality – not just a snapshot, but a performance record. Second, you need the ability to analyse, troubleshoot and assess trends over time.
The good news is that even a small data center can afford the tools to address both these aspects; to proactively manage energy consumption, prevent overload conditions, improve capacity planning and optimise power distribution. With new energy management systems, new or existing electrical infrastructures can easily be equipped for 24/7 monitoring, all the way to the branch circuit or receptacle level:
• High-speed power meters can accurately detect even the most fleeting anomalies in power quality on critical loads.
• Branch circuit monitoring systems enable users to keep tabs on current flow at a very granular level, even on power distribution systems that were not designed to have this capability.
• Compact environmental monitors fit into unused side or rear channels in racks to monitor temperature and humidity.
At a central vantage point, or from anywhere, software systems aggregate all this data, present it in easy-to-grasp terms (or visuals) and support in-depth analysis. With these technologies, data center managers can get visibility into their power systems at multiple levels – down to the individual branch circuit or receptacle, or summarised across loads or for the whole data center.
Q: Are more data centers using real-time automated monitoring systems to analyse power usage and help identify hot spots and cooling problems?
Absolutely, and this has been driven not only by rising energy costs but by recent technology advances. For example, back in the day, if
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you wanted high-speed sampling of power quality, you would have to call in a consultant with a $20,000 (£13,000) portable power meter. Even then, you’d get a snapshot view of power consumption and quality. You could miss fleeting anomalies or seasonal variations.
This kind of high-end monitoring is affordable and practical for data centers to own and use all the time, and you don’t have to be a power guru to understand the information it delivers. These technologies are now so readily available, and so easy to use, that we are definitely seeing an increase in interest from data center customers.
Q: The first step in understanding power usage would be an energy assessment. What recommendations do you have for data center managers to begin this process?
A: Many data center managers don’t know the efficiency of their IT equipment or site infrastructure – or have a clear path in mind for maintaining and improving that efficiency. There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit being overlooked – easy opportunities to reduce energy costs and become “greener” in the process. A good first step is simply to determine how much of the data center power budget goes to IT systems, and how much to support systems, such as power distribution and cooling. For every kilowatt-hour of power being fed to IT systems, how much real IT output do you get, in terms of web pages served, transactions processed or network traffic handled?
Take the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) figure – a ratio of total facility power to the power drawn by all IT equipment. After applying this calculation to several data centers, a very efficient data center will have a PUE of 1.6 and a realistic goal PUE of 2 for a well- designed and operated data center.
If PUE is poor, data center managers can investigate operational changes, such as virtualisation or consolidation; or configuration changes, such as alternating hot and cool aisles; and new technologies, such as high-efficiency UPSs and power supplies.
In this process, data center managers can turn to outside consultants to conduct an energy audit and make recommendations. If time and manpower are in short supply, this is an attractive option. But with new monitoring and management tools available, data center managers can be more self-sufficient than ever in assessing their power systems.
“First, you must have reliable and meaningful data about present-day power consumption and quality – not just a snapshot, but a performance record. Second, you need the ability to analyse, troubleshoot and assess trends over time”
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