HVAC
ENERGY EFFICIENCY OR RELIABILITY? WHY NOT HAVE BOTH?
Westway Services’ Managing Director, Andy Donnell looks at how the company, as part of ABM, has used software to enable its customers operating business critical environments to achieve the seemingly impossible task of reducing energy consumption, whilst improving system reliability.
Most of us are likely unaware of the extent to which our everyday economic and social wellbeing depends upon reliable, secure and efficient datacentres and the services they provide. Global datacentre infrastructure delivers digital services through the provision of connectivity hubs, power distribution, operational environments and the physical security needed for all the equipment required to support our digital age.
Business critical environments, such as datacentres, present a unique environment both in terms of maintenance and energy consumption. The scale of this challenge can be seen in recent PEDCA (Pan-European Data Centre Alliance) research, which estimates that EU datacentres consume approximately 11.8GW (or 103,368 GWh p.a.). This is around 3% of the total electricity generated across the EU.
The need for 24/7 availability has historically made the planning of preventative maintenance and the introduction of energy saving initiatives quite challenging. At Westway, we have been looking at ways in which we can improve both reliability and efficiency for our datacentre customers.
The result was an algorithm-based software called Algoram designed specifically to support business critical markets such as data and financial services within our ‘Uptim(e)’ service offering.
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The software works to ensure uptime availability of plant, assessing its energy consumption and the risk and frequency of maintenance. By energy profiling it can tell when equipment is likely to break down or need additional maintenance before it breaks down.
In
business critical environments, where a key challenge is ensuring the service is continuous and uninterrupted, this provides an additional layer of backup. The ability to tell when a piece of equipment is likely to fail enables us to take proactive and preventative action– rather than having to work reactively when the clock is ticking.
A key to Algoram’s workings is that when a piece of equipment is about to fail it often consumes more energy. This is much the same principle as with your car at home, if you don’t have it serviced regularly and parts start to fail, it often starts to use more fuel. If equipment has not been serviced or there is something that is ‘abnormal’ then the energy analysis will identify spiking or increased energy usage, giving the opportunity to investigate and put any issues right.
The software also helps control costs by enabling the more efficient planning of maintenance. This reduces the time and resources spent on unnecessary work ensuring that all work undertaken is targeted and effective. It also significantly reduces the likelihood of non-planned call out charges being incurred. In what are often highly competitive markets, Algoram maximises system uptime
and allows datacentres and other business critical environments to maintain the uninterrupted service that their clients demand. Failing to do so could have significant commercial impact on their clients’ businesses and result in potentiality unrecoverable damage to their reputation.
It also enables the fine-tuning of equipment, which reduces energy consumption, saves money and is also an essential part of Westway’s commitment to sustainability and helping our customers improve their environmental performance. As part of our corporate social responsibility we are committed to raising environmental performance and acting in the best interests of the wider community, to which our recent ISO 50001 accreditation can attest. If we can make sure equipment is optimised and is using the right amount of energy, instead of using more than it should, then we’re contributing to a cleaner, greener environment.
The consequences of equipment going down and being unable to provide a service within a datacentre context differ to other market sectors: the contractual penalties our customers can be hit with are huge. These are usually built into the contracts between our customers and their customers but they can also be built into the agreement with the building services partner. Datacentres are continually operating to higher Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) with their customers and as such are (quite
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