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Data Centre Efficiency & The Public Workspace – Take Control !
By Dr. Shaun Smith, Technical Director DCA and Principle Consultant at CS Technology
Everybody is feeling the pinch nowadays, and the public sector is under constraint more than most. Pressure from energy reduction legislation, ever increasing energy prices and tighter budgets driving down operational costs are all challenges we should fight with better energy efficiency and smarter energy control.
That is why for any energy manager, facilities or IT director who is mandated to meet stringent energy saving targets such as those imposed by the Climate Change Act 2008, it would be folly to ignore the ripe fruit in the form of electricity savings that are available in today’s legacy data centres. Even the most modern IT room or data centre has significant energy savings potential. The solution is not a secret one, as the technology is available and successful case studies are well documented, as are the guidelines for achieving this such as the EU Code of Conduct and ASHRAE TC9.9 to name just two. The clinch pin to achieving maximum and realistic energy savings is all down to control, and a well-planned analogous process of aligning the data centre to best practices.
On average as a high level rule of thumb, a data centre with a PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of 2.5 can save approximately £500 per year for each kilo-Watt of operational IT installed. In its broadest sense the PUE for a data centre is calculated as PUE = Total Facility Power ÷ Total IT Power. Therefore estimated annual energy savings that are achievable could easily run into tens of thousands of pounds for a small to medium sized data centre. Additionally typical substantial energy saving projects such as free cooling installation can deliver returns on investment in the order of 10-15 months, making them financially economical as well as helping to deliver energy saving targets.
Although data centres typically use 25-50 times the power of office spaces, the energy consumed in these areas is still overwhelming. For example a thousand PC’s running 24/7 would incur an annual electricity bill of £70,000. If all UK businesses shut down their computers when not in use, it would contribute 10% of the Government’s Climate Change Levy target and 40% of the energy efficiency targets set by the Carbon Trust. A well thought out data centre and IT strategy plan succeeds by balancing the business requirements with financial realities and correctly provisioning the
CapEx for infrastructure, by recapturing lost power and cooling, and by reducing the OpEx through more efficient energy usage. A truly unified efficiency strategy and business plan that aims to realign the infrastructure to the energy saving targets whilst meeting the business requirements delivers a clear roadmap for a smarter data centre provision.
CS Technology is working with the Data Centre Alliance helping to provide crucial energy efficiency advice to data centre and office space users in the public sector. By understanding the targets and pressures on the public sector for reducing energy usage and minimising operational costs, the data centre services and consulting advice is provided by industry experts who are bringing practical solutions with realistic benefits and energy savings to customers who operate critical IT in the public sector. Too often, data centres small and large are fitted with aisle containment, blanking plates, gaps in the floor sealed, and floor grilles are upgraded, as these are but a few common steps that are recommended as part of an efficiency improvement plan. Yet to only have the facility manager complaining that his energy bill has in fact increased for the data centre, not reduced.
This is not because these measures are not conducive to energy saving, quite the contrary, it is because these are only a small part of the overall energy improvement plan and alone can lead to a detriment effect on efficiency if these measures are not accompanied by an efficiency control process. If more significant measures of reducing energy costs are deployed, such as installing free cooling, then the overall net impact in energy savings would undoubtedly be very favourable, however this scenario would still be flawed in two major ways. Firstly the efficiency loss due to inadequate control over air management just mentioned would be overshadowed and hidden by the significant energy savings being made outside the data centre, with the free cooling. Thus there exists the same problem, one of poor energy management and control even though energy is actually being saved. Secondly, energy saving in data centres is often gained by taking several small steps accompanied by one or two major steps.
These are all important to the overall efficiency plan, and the small increases in efficiency should not be overlooked in favour of the larger ones, as these minor details are vital in completing the whole picture for reducing energy use, and maximising the cost savings.
Dr. Jon Summers University of Leeds
It was a pleasure to chair the Gov Today master class sponsored by the Data Centre Alliance (DCA), presented by Duncan Clubb of CS Technology.
As with the all public sector organisations, Universities also have data centres and in my experience most of them could use some simple
solutions to make them more energy efficient. Some of these solutions were highlighted in the excellent presentation by Duncan. The data
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www.dcsuk.info I February 2012
centre is largely unseen by most employees in an organisation, but it is a major contributor to the organisation’s background energy use. Addressing issues in the data centre, not only reduces the carbon emissions, but it also saves on operational costs.
The DCA with the help of its partners and accreditation and certification board, on which I sit as an impartial (or unbiased) member, can offer some assistance in assessing the energy efficiency of public sector data centres and thereby help these organisations reach their carbon reduction targets.
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