DATA CENTRES 25


30 GWh of power a year, that’s an annual bill of at least £3 million. Any shortcomings in efficiency will result in vast amounts of unnecessary wasted energy, with all the associated economic and environmental costs. So whatever the size or


set-up, whether onsite, colocation, or cloud, there isn’t a data centre operator who can afford to ignore the drive to become more energy efficient, reduce their power consumption, and cut their carbon emissions. In fact, because of UK


government legislation – for example, the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic and Directors’ Reports) Regulations 2013 – many large organisations are now compelled to publicly state their progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions in their annual directors’ reports, and face fines if they fail to provide evidence for the necessary improvements.


Measuring data centre efficiency In the years immediately


following its introduction in 2006-07, for many data centre managers the primary way of demonstrating a reduced carbon footprint was through an improvement in their Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating. PUE is a measurement which


compares an estate’s total energy consumption with the amount of power used by ICT equipment to carry out data- related tasks. The closer the rating to 1, the more efficient a data centre was seen to be. However, the metric has become less influential during recent years with critics highlighting several flaws in its rather simplistic methodology. PUE doesn’t consider


differences in climate or factor in criteria such as how much water a facility uses and


www.gmp.uk.com


whether it generates any renewable energy on-site. While it was – and to this day


still is – a useful benchmark to encourage ongoing incremental performance improvements, as a method of comparing two completely different data centres it leaves a lot to be desired. The PUE rating has also been hijacked somewhat as a marketing tool used by data centres – colos in particular – keen to stand out from the crowd in an increasingly competitive market. Performance improvements


have been exaggerated or the ratio even manipulated to paint a facility in the best possible light, even if it doesn’t ring entirely true. Various contenders for PUE’s


crown have been experimented with, including Green Power Usage Effectiveness (GPUE) – which factors in CO2 emissions and renewable energy use – Effective PUE (ePUE), Data Centre Infrastructure Efficiency (DCIE), and Grid Usage Effectiveness (GUE). As yet though, none of these challengers have managed to separate themselves from the crowd as a more effective and trusted alternative. So while PUE isn’t perfect by


any means, for the time being it is likely to remain the principle metric datacentres use to measure energy efficiency.


Practical proof of efficiency savings The incredible impact improving UPS efficiency can have on cutting a data centre’s carbon emissions has been demonstrated by a recent project. Riello UPS was tasked with replacing the entire power protection system at two data centres integral to the day-to-day operations of one of the world’s largest


Worldwide Independent Power June 2018


consumer goods suppliers. First fitted back in 2007, the existing power protection set-up comprised singular static 400 kVA and 800 kVA units operating inefficiently at low loads of just 12-25%. The overall UPS efficiency averaged 92% and was as low as 89% in the main switchroom, meaning vast amounts of energy were being wasted. The large units required significant cooling too – 414 kW of energy a year resulting in annual costs of £315,000+, and that was just for air- conditioning, not including the bill for operating the UPS too. All the sizeable, inefficient, transformer-based UPS units were upgraded with compact, modular, transformerless Multi Power units configured to closely match the actual power requirements of the estate. UPS efficiency at both sites immediately jumped from 92% to 96% at all load levels, leading to huge savings in overall energy use, air- conditioning needs, and space. Annual carbon emissions


across the two sites were cut by 71.89% from 2,147kg to 603.5kg. Air-conditioning requirements decreased by 71.81% (saving £226,000 and 297.3 kW energy annually), with overall annual UPS and cooling energy savings adding up to 1.25 million kWH (enough to power 316 average


A modular installation is made up of several smaller rack-mount style units.


UK homes for a year). All these cost savings and environmental improvements were delivered in less than half the previous space, with the project also providing a 59% per m2 reduction in footprint. That’s plenty of room for


FOGO FD130


future expansion, or the freedom to use the space for other requirements.


For more information visit www.riello-ups.co.uk


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