Cut Data Center Energy Bill in Six Ways

"People are looking at data center efficiency, whereas five years ago it wasn't an issue," says Adam Fairbanks, Bluestone Energy, a company that retrofits old data centers to make them more energy efficient and to qualify for utility rebates (many utilities are required to help pay for data center projects that will reduce energy use; if a project can be proven to cut energy draw by 20%, the utility might pay for as much as half the cost of the project). "Today any new data center build gets scrutinized by the CFO as well as facilities and IT."


Where lowering a company's carbon footprint was a big driver for such projects a few years ago, because of the economy, environmental concerns have gotten pushed back and today they're a matter of reducing operating expense, Fairbanks says. "Money drives the majority of the projects we work on," he says.

Fairbanks shares some of the most popular methods his clients have been using to cut energy costs in a power-guzzling data center:

• Turn the thermostat up. The common wisdom around how cold a data center needs to be has changed and an ASHRAE committee has revised the upper limits of its data center temperature recommendation up to 70-77 degrees. "People have said that's conservative, and many equipment manufacturers have said that up to 90 degrees is OK for their products," Fairbanks says.
   
  However, you have to be able to manage the movement of air before you can raise temperatures, he warns. If the air is not coming through the floor properly (due to excessive wires in the way or something) or air is swirling around, you won't see efficiencies.
  
  And you still have to cool computing equipment, even with a set point of 90 degrees. A server left running by itself uncooled would probably fry itself, Fairbanks says. "At one data center I was at recently, we did a thermal scan, where we measure and map temperatures all over the facility. One rack was at 110, which is a danger level," he says. With the proliferation of blade racks, such high cabinet temperatures are becoming more common, and there's a tendency to put all the racks in one corner of the data center, which creates one huge hot spot.

• Upgrade the HVAC. "About 30% of the power used by a data center is consumed by cooling," Fairbanks says, and the average data center is over-cooled by three or four times. A new cooling system also causes less stress on day-to-day operations than bringing in other types of new equipment. "If you put in new servers and power units, you have to rewire half the data center and move things around and it's higher risk than changing the HVAC," he says. "If you have a backup HVAC system for redundancy, you can flip over to the backup while you install the new system and achieve payback quickly."

• Use cold and hot aisles. This method of laying out a data center such that cold air used to cool computers is kept separate from the hot air they generate has been around for years, but has become more widely adopted this year.

• Try blanking panels. Server racks often have holes in the back of the cabinet, especially racks that are not full of blades. The cold air that is pushed up through the floor into these rack can escape out of the holes and into the hot aisle, causing the air conditioning system to run less efficiently. A blanking panel closes over the holes so that cold air is used exclusively to cool the servers in the racks.

• Virtualize. "There's often a conflict between the business units that own the racks and the IT staff that want to use virtualization," Fairbanks says. But here's an incentive: his company has qualified data centers for utility rebates through virtualization projects, since reduced power supplies are required for fewer servers.

• Get cooling and heating equipment to work together. Some inefficiencies are caused by CRAC units that operate independently and often fight each other, Fairbanks notes. Heating systems can conflict with air conditioning and humidifiers sometimes defeat the purpose of dehumidifiers. Bluestone offers software that has sensors and controls that monitor temperature and humidity all over a data center and aggregate information from all the units to a central point that monitors and manages all the set points. The company also provides fan trays that pull air from the floor efficiently into racks where wires or other obstacles are impeding the flow of air.

Adopted from http://www.wallstreetandtech.com

Data Center Facilities Design & Infrastructure Engineering

Two-day Workshop for Data Center Design (TIA-942 and Tier Standards), Cooling & IT Strategies

Overview

The workshop is designed for executive and data centre owners, managers and operators to enrich their relevant knowledge in data center E&M and facilities management. We provide an introduction of the critical infrastructure system that supports typical data centres and environments. It also prepares you to fully understand the main components that facilitate data centre design & build, operation and management by exploring the standards of TIA 942 and Tier. All sections are conducted by Chartered Engineers (CEng) and help you to approach best practices in designing and operating energy efficient data centers by our further technical programs.

Registration Detail Date 26 & 27 October 2012 (Friday - Saturday, 2-day) Time 10:00am - 5:30pm Venue 10th Floor,Central Building, 1 - 3 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong Target Audience CIO, CTO, IT Directors, Data Center Operations / Facilities Managers, Data Center / ICT Consultants and E&M Engineers Fee Normal Rate: HK$4,700 (Early Bird Rate: 10% Discount) (Two refreshment breaks will be provided.)

Enrollment        Online Registration or Download Application Form (Attached)

Should you have any enquiry, please feel free to contact us at 3796 3026 / info@stmedia-asia.com

Day 1 Content - Data Centre Overview and Definition - Data Centre Standards (TIA and Tier) - Data Centre Network and Structure - IT Strategy - Cabinet Layout - Raised Floor System - Telecommunication Backbones, Redundancy, Sizing and Planning - Fiber and Optical System Design - Fiber and Optical Cable Components - Copper System Design and High Speed Ethernet Day 2 Content - Copper Cabling Components - Cable Distribution, Layout and Management - Cooling - Cooling Topologies, Chiller, CRAC, Cooling Towers, Hot / Cold Aisle, etc. - Power - High / Low Power, Switch System, UPS, Transformers, Fuel Tanks, Generators, etc. - Earthing / Grounding and Bounding - Electromagnetic Interference / Electromagnetic Pulse (EMI / EMP) - Environmental Management System (EMS) - Fire Protection System - Physical Security

Delivered by Experienced Speakers Mr Joe Tang Having more than 10 years experience in mission critical design, Mr Tang was working on numerous projects involving data centers, disaster recovery sites, trading floors for multinational financial institutes and data centre providers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai, South Korea and India. He is specialized in the areas of master site planning, mission critical infrastructure design, single point of failure study, cause and effect analysis and integrated system test. Mr Tang is now working in a multi-disciplines consultancy providing sustainable design and green initiatives to different sections in Asia Pacific. Mr Tang is also: - A Chartered Engineer of Engineering Council (CEng) - A Member of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET) - A Corporate Member of Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineering(MCIBSE) - A Member of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (MASHARE) Ir Joson Chan Ir Chan, a holder of Bachelor of Building Services Engineering, has endorsement units in Technical Services and Power Electronics, holds an Endorsement Certificate in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, a Higher Certificate in Electrical Engineering, a Certificate in Electrical Engineering and is an Environmental Officer. He has gained extensive experience within different aspects of infrastructure projects and as a Senior Engineer in an E&M consultant firm, mainly involved in the data centre / financial institutions MEPF design projects, working with companies such as Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and HSBC to name a few. He unites learning with this key career experiences, allowing delegates to gain essential insight into real-life working and scenarios. Ir Chan is also: - A Fellow of Society of Operations Engineers (FSOE) - A Chartered Engineer of Engineering Council (CEng) - A Member of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET) - A Corporate Member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (MHKIE) - Grade H0 and C0 Registration of Electrical Worker of the HKSAR Government Ir K.T. Poon Ir Poon has more than 10 years consultancy experience in Data Center design and build, operation management, energy and cost management projects both in Hong Kong and China. He was also working for a design and installation of a facility management system in an international school in Hong Kong with a subsystem of an energy management system. Ir Poon is a part time letcturer in various tertiary institutes. He also teaches facility management, business strategic management of the distance learning courses (both degree and master degree) offered by overseas Universities. Ir Poon is also: - A Corporate Member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (MHKIE) - A Chartered Member of the British Computer Society (MBCS) - A Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council, U.K. (CEng) - European Engineer of the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (Eur. Ing.) - A Chartered Information Technology Professional of the British Computer Society (CITP)

Recent Participants Come Form

Airport Authority Hong Kong Facilities Analysis & Control Limited Asia Satellite Telecommunications Limited Fujitsu Hong Kong Limited Citic Telecommunication CPC Group Johnson Controls Hong Kong Limited Electrical & Mechanical Services Department, HKSAR Government Leigh & Orange Limited Welcome Air-Tech Limited And More...

© 2012 Strategic Media Asia Limited T (852) 3796 3026 | F (852) 2184 9978 | www.stmedia-asia.com Room 1303, Leighton Centre, 77 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Measuring Data Centre Efficiency by The Green Grid Tools

The Green Grid has finally released an online tool allowing data centre operators to compare efficiency, sustainability and resource consumption against the benchmarks set out in the Data Centre Maturity Model (DCMM).

The free-to-use tool will help measure various facets of a data centre, including power, cooling, compute, network and storage, and rate it against peers and industry best practices.

Measuring Green Credentials

In addition to the PUE / DCiE, the green Grid has also develop other metrics and benchmarks. "We developed the Data Centre Maturity Model to be the world’s most comprehensive single resource for setting data centre operators on the path to maximum sustainability and energy efficiency,” said Harkeeret Singh, the head of the Green Grid’s technical work group.

“The new online benchmarking tool builds on this work by providing users with clear assessment criteria that enables them to measure against current best practice, as well as a five year roadmap for the industry.”

While the Green Grid’s self-assessment tool will undoubtedly aid companies looking to improve their green credentials, it has taken more than a year after the DCMM was first announced for it to arrive. The previous method of measuring a data centre’s performance consisted of inputting information into a spreadsheet.

The industry consortium began testing the online tool last October, touting the inclusion of a “graphic equaliser” style feature.

“Once they have entered their data, users get access to their own personal DCMM equaliser, a model that enables them to determine their levels of maturity and identify the ongoing steps and innovations required as part of their strategy to achieve greater energy efficiency and sustainability improvements in the data centre,” Singh said.

“The Data Centre Maturity Model Tool will finally enable data centres to demonstrate credible proof that they leading the [IT] industry – and, perhaps, their rivals – in resource efficiency and sustainability.”

Adopted from http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk

Strategic Media Asia Limited is currently delivering an accredited training in Data Center Energy & Cost Management. The sysllabus is approved by The British Computer Society (BCS, www.bcs.org.uk) and the training content is largly related to The Green Grid Metrics, Measuring Power and Energy Consumption and Cost Control. You may find more informaiton from www.stmedia-asia.com/trainings.html

 

Towards a More Energy-Efficient Data Center

We recently saw the European Commission recognize 27 IBM Data Centers for energy efficiency. The commission, the executive body of the European Union, was going by the EU’s Code of Conduct for Data Centers, and we’re not 100 percent sure what requirements that entails, but we do know it’s A Good Thing.

In fact, as IBM officials said in a press statement, the honor represents “the largest portfolio of data centers from a single company to receive the recognition.”The idea is to reduce energy consumption “in a cost-effective manner without decreasing mission critical data center functions,” IBM officials said, using certain established best practices.

Great. What might those be?

Speaking broadly, IBM officials rattled off a list of general areas where one can find energy efficiencies in contact centers — energy-efficient hardware, free cooling, cold aisle containment and the like.

A bit more specifically, IBM officials said, one factor that weighed heavily in their winning the EU award is that many of their data centers support cloud computing. This isn’t only to save energy, of course, as the cloud is in high demand these days for its efficiencies, flexibility and profitability and other good common-sense business reasons.

Analytics are a huge part of IBM’s energy-saving success. The company uses Mobile Measurement Technology, an in-house product of IBM Research, using “thousands of sensors to record and analyze temperatures and air flow to detect hot and cold spots,” company officials explain, to get energy flow insight leading to the intelligence that lets IBM “efficiently cool data centers with a high measure of security and reliability and significant reduction in cost.”

The company believes in replacing older hardware equipment with more energy efficient servers, consolidating servers: fewer and more efficient servers = lower energy usage.

So that’s Big Blue’s overall approach. Solid, basic principles at work: Use the most energy-efficient servers you can find because they’ll save you money in the long run; consolidate your server needs; use analytics to find where you can cut down on costs within the data center itself; and take advantage of cloud computing where possible.

Bully for IBM. Does anybody else use a different approach?

The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) issued a white paper titled “Best Practices Guide For Energy-Efficient Data Center Design” in March 2011. It addresses energy efficiency across the enterprise, breaking down its recommendations in seven areas.

Information Technology (IT) Systems

This is a good place to start because “IT equipment loads can account for over half of the entire facility’s energy use.” The white paper identifies rack servers as a major culprit, saying they account for “the largest portion of the IT energy load in a typical data center,” taking up lots of space, and drawing full power even when running at 20 percent use or lower, which according to the paper is, in fact, most of the time.

The FEMP recommends looking for servers with variable speed fans, as they can adjust to how much power is needed to actually cool the server. Throttle-down devices are helpful as well, reducing energy consumption on idle processors via “power management.” Use multi-core processor chips where possible, and consolidate your IT system redundancies — “consider one power supply per server rack,” instead of power supplies for each server.

Grouping equipment with similar heat load densities and temperature requirements means you can cool them more efficiently, the paper says, pointing to virtualization as another way to find efficiency.

Environmental Conditions

Yes, these matter. The FEMP cites the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and Network Equipment Building System, which has published recommendations for “environmental envelopes” for inlet air for IT equipment. Done correctly, it can help reduce overall energy consumption, and the recommendations are presented in the paper with cool charts and graphs we really can’t do justice to here.

But bear in mind that variable speed fans in servers are guided by internal server temperature, so if your data center’s using inlet air conditions higher than what’s recommended, well, the fans aren’t going to do the best job they can saving you money.

Air Management

Another important yet frequently overlooked area. Basically, what this refers to is the way you configure the center to get rid of as much air mixing between cool and hot as possible. You have lower operating costs if the hot air being expelled from the equipment isn’t recirculated to the machines again. The cooling air needs to be delivered to the servers as efficiently as possible.

No, it’s not a horribly sexy aspect of data center efficiency, but the money you save is.

The paper talks about cable congestion reducing total air flow, and allowing hot spots to develop. It recommends greater under-floor clearance, of at least two feet for raised-floor installations, and having a “cable management strategy” to minimize air flow obstructions, with possibly a cable mining program, involving the removal of abandoned or inoperable cables. Aisle separation’s a good idea too, with cool air aisles on one side of a row of servers and hot on the other. Those flexible plastic strips you see at supermarket refrigeration sections can really help here.

Cooling Systems

Probably one of the first things you thought of when you thought of data center energy efficiency, but as we hope you’ve seen by now, other considerations play a considerable part. The most common type of system here for smaller data centers would be a direct expansion (DX) system, CRAC units readily available off the shelf. Rooftop units are not pricey and work well, too.

Central air handler systems provide better performance, the paper notes, observing that they can “improve efficiency by taking advantage of surplus and redundant capacity to improve efficiency.”

Chilled water systems are another option, with a high-efficiency VFD-equipped chiller with condenser water reset recommended by the FEMP as “the most efficient cooling option for large facilities.”

There’s much more in the paper about other options for cooling systems.

Electrical Systems

Keep in mind both initial and future loads here, the FEMP white paper warns, adding that efficiencies can range widely from manufacturer to manufacturer. Use uninterruptible power supply systems for backup power, and for maximum efficiency determine exactly what equipment actually needs UPS and which doesn’t.

Demand response is voluntarily lowering energy usage during peak demand, and your utility will probably offer you some incentive to sign up for a program like that. Many companies simply switch to backup power during peak times and pocket the savings from the lower rates.

Using DC power distribution will save conversions, but it’s expensive to install since it’s still not widely-used. And consider savings you can find with lighting — think about what space really needs to be illuminated all day and what space doesn’t. Zone occupancy sensors can really help you reduce your lighting costs and overall energy costs.

Other Energy-Efficient Design Opportunities

The FEMP paper provides a few more things to think about:

• On-Site Generation. With a constant electrical demand this option can make sense. They’re an alternative to grid power. Some places let you sell self-generated power back to the grid, which lowers capital expenses.
• Co-Generation Plants. This is using a power station or similar technology to help produce electricity, and its waste heat can run a chiller to provide cooling.
• Standby Losses. Reduce these, and use waste heat from the data center to minimize losses by block heaters. Here’s one place solar panels might make sense.
• Waste Heat. This can be used to provide cooling — nifty irony there, no? Done correctly, the FEMP says, using absorption or adsorption chillers, your chilled water plant energy costs can be cut by at least 50 percent. Adsorption chillers require less maintenance than absorption models, but are new to the U.S. market.

Data Center Metrics and Benchmarking

You do this to track performance and see where you can find improvements. The paper provides links to various benchmarks.

Measuring Power Usage Effectiveness and Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency is a good place to begin benchmarking, not that they represent the entire, overall efficiency of your whole data center, as the paper says, but rather the “efficiency of the supporting equipment within a data center.” Which is still quite a lot.

Energy Reuse Effectiveness is another area for productive benchmarking, as is the Rack Cooling Index and Return Temperature Index, your Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning System Effectiveness and the Airflow Efficiency, not to mention the Cooling System Efficiency.

On-Site Monitoring and Continuous Performance Measurement is an important area to benchmark, and the paper provides resources to assist with this as well.


Adopted from http://news.thomasnet.com

EU Code of Conduct for Data Centers, A Toothless Guard Dog?

The EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres, as a practical set of guidelines designed to improve energy efficiency within the data centre industry, bringing vendors and data centre operators together and developing good practices for reducing the energy consumption of data centres, has now made up 12 percent of data centre expenditure.

Few Adopters?

The code is voluntary, and has faced persistent criticism over the small number of organisations that have publicly embraced it. Some have argued that unless more people adopt it, it may have to be embodied in mandatory regulations.

However, according to, Zahl Limbuwala, the Chairman of BCS-Data Centre Specialist Group, the code’s best practices have had not just a significant impact in the EU but much further afield also.

"There are very few data centre people in the EU now that have not heard of the code and most speak positively of it’s goals and effect on the industry."

"Telecity group are one data centre operator that has proven implementing the code’s best practices has made and continues to make good business sense!"

The code was never about regulation or legislation or about forcing businesses to comply, it’s was about making an impact on the ever growing use of energy to ensure it gets used efficiently rather than wasted.

For more green data center training and technical seminars in Hong Kong, please visit http://www.stmedia-asia.com/trainings.html

The Data Center of Google in Hong Kong

Google has kicked off the construction of its first Asian data center in Hong Kong which is expected be up and running in early-2013.

In a statement released Thursday, the Internet giant said it will be investing US$300 million--which includes the cost of land, construction and technical equipment--to build the facility in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on a 2.7 hectare site. Once completed, users in Asia can expect "faster and more reliable" access to Google's online tools and services, said Simon Chang, Google's head of Asia-Pacific hardware operations.

Even with Hong Kong's warm weather, Chang said the "innovative design" of the facility will make it one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly in Asia. "One way we'll achieve region-leading efficiency [in Hong Kong] is by custom designing each element to operate at optimal efficiency," he said.

Beside custom designs, he noted that the Hong Kong facility will make use of efforts used across its global data center network to increase efficiency. These include, for example, maximizing the use of free cooling instead of chillers, running equipment at a much hotter temperature than typical data center, and measuing and adjusting power usage to achieve peak efficiency, said the Google executive.

Once fully operational, the Hong Kong data center will hire about 25 full-time staff and a number of part- and full-time contractors for various roles such as computer technicians, electrical and mechanical engineers, and catering and security staff.

Hong Kong will not be the only Asian data center for Google. In September, the Internet giant announced it had purchased 2.45 hectares of land in Singapore to build a data center, although it was unable to confirm when construction for the site would begin.

Adopted from www.zdnetasia.com

Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance

Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance in Hong Kong Enchances the Energy Efficiency in Buildings

The Building Energy Efficiency Ordinance (Cap. 610) will come into full operation on 21 September 2012. The purpose of this ordinance is to enchance the energy efficiency in buildings by means of regulating the building services installations including lighting, electrical, air-conditioning and lift & escalator installations of prescribed buildings in new construction and in major retrofitting works to comply with the minimum energy efficiency standards and requirements specified in Building Energy Code (BEC). Moreover, the Ordinance also requires the central building services installation in commercial building and in a portion of a composite building that is for commercial use to conduct the energy audit in accordance with Energy Audit Code (EAC) in Hong Kong.

Data centers consume large amounts of energy and require many investments of significant financial resources to continue operations. To facilitate data center professionals fulfill the requirements of the Ordinance, Strategic Media Asia (SMA) has recently launch a series of technical seminar in Energy Efficient Data center and Green Data Center Design which cover general data center design standards, TIA-942 and Tier, Facilities Management (E&M) System, EU Green Data Center Design Standard, Data Center Cost and Energy Management. For more training and event detail, please visit www.stmedia-asia.com/events.html

 

Direct Current (DC) for Data Center: You can save more

It was also the year that direct current (DC) took a back seat to alternating current (AC) after Niagara Falls Power Company chose AC transmission for its power plant. Although we live in an AC-dominated world, DC seems poised for a comeback, particularly in data centers. Facebook adopted a DC architecture in its Prineville, Ore., data center. SAP spent $128,000 retrofitting a data center at its offices in Palo Alto, Calif., to rely on DC power. In 2010 it cut SAP’s energy bills by $24,000 per year.

ABB, the Swiss-Swedish conglomerate, bought a controlling interest last year in Validus DC Systems, which specializes in DC data center equipment. ABB also opened a factory in North Carolina to produce HVDC (high voltage DC) equipment for delivering power from solar and offshore wind farms to the grid. The Tres Amigas “superstation” will rely heavily on HVDC.

General Electric, meanwhile, bought Lineage Power, which produces DC equipment, and it has talked about using DC to power mining shovels and other heavy-duty equipment.

Nextek Power Systems and the EMmerge Alliance are also promoting DC as a way to cut power in buildings.

Behind the DC drive

What’s driving it? Although AC became the standard for electronic transmission, DC didn’t disappear. It just hid. Servers, large numbers of electric motors, batteries, even ships and airplanes run on DC. Solar panels produce DC power. Wind turbines can produce AC or DC power, but the extreme variability of wind power means that electricity generated by turbines has to pass through battery banks before it gets to the grid. As a result, wind farms are effectively DC.

The landline telephone system runs on DC too, notes Brian Fortenberry, a program manager at the Electric Power Research Institute.

To solve the mismatch, a whole industry of AC-DC converters has been developed. National Semiconductor sells billions of dollars’ worth of chips to convert power. Inverters in the solar industry exist to convert DC from solar panels to AC that can run on the wires in your home.

In data centers, the AC-DC gymnastics top the charts. Typically, AC from the grid has to be stepped down in voltage so it can be routed safely in building equipment. Lower-voltage AC then gets converted to DC so it can go to an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). DC power from the UPS then gets converted to AC so it can go over the wires in the building. Then it gets converted back to DC. Usually five conversions, or steps, downward take place.

By converting grid AC at the door of a data center to medium-voltage DC or converting stepped-down AC to DC at the last possible moment, a data center can cut utility bills by 10 to 20 percent or more, according to Trent Waterhouse, the VP of marketing for power electronics at General Electric.

Validus and others have also eliminated some of the technological hurdles involved in transmitting via DC, namely the monster-sized copper cables.

The same dynamics work in buildings. In a retail establishment, DC power from solar panels could go directly to DC-powered LED lights with not-intermediate conversions that sap energy, according to Nextek. Perhaps not coincidentally, Redwood Systems, the lighting networking company, touts that its technology is actually an example of DC networking.

More savings comes in real estate. DC data centers require 25 percent to 40 percent less square footage than their AC counterparts, largely because computer equipment can connect directly to backup batteries.

In a hypothetical example, a 2.5-megawatt data center power module in the AC world might need 7,295 square feet, Ronald Ranaldi, the VP of sales at Validus, told me last year. An equivalent DC power module might occupy only 5,102 square feet, a savings of 2,193 square feet. What’s more, a single data center might consist of several 2.5-megawatt modules.

“Real estate is often greater than the energy savings,” says Ranaldi. “In large, green field data centers, you are literally eliminating buildings.”

DC won’t take over the world. And not everyone is sold. Google is not taking DC for its data centers in part because of the cost that would be involved in retrofitting their existing architecture. But it seems that an idea that was current when Grover Cleveland was in the White House and Japan was just adopting the Gregorian calendar could make a comeback.


Adopted from http://gigaom.com/cleantech/

Many Paths to the Green Data Center

The economics of data center power and cooling are hard to ignore.

According to triplepundit.com's Jeff Rangel, data center power consumption stands at 1.3 percent of worldwide use, nearly three times what it was in 2000. That represents nearly 80 metric megatons of carbon emissions per year and is on pace to more than quadruple by 2020. In dollar terms, Gartner reports that the cost to cool a 25,000-square-foot data center now tops out at $4.1 million per year.

Clearly, something has to give to both the economic and political pressures that high-energy consumption entails. That's probably why we're seeing such a wide range of ever-more exotic solutions to the data center's green problem.

Facebook, for example, wanted to go big with its latest European facility, a set of three 300,000-square-foot behemoths that would have been a nightmare to cool in the warm, humid south. Instead, the company chose Lulea, Sweden, less than 100 km from the Arctic Circle. The site features ample supplies of hydropower and a climate that rarely exceeds 80 degrees F even at the height of summer. When opened in 2014, the center will consume about 120 MW in order to handle the traffic needs of users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The Facebook facility is only one of a number of new constructs that were built with energy efficiency in mind. Apple claims that its new site in Cupertino will house its own power-generation system, relying on the grid for backup only, and that the abundance of trees on the property will actually make it carbon negative. At the same time, Google is investing heavily in wind energy production, a move that it hopes will eventually cut energy costs below today's largely coal-based infrastructure.

Energy conservation isn't just about new construction. Some organizations are learning how to use unwanted heat in productive ways. KPMG, for example, shuttles exhaust from a natural gas power plant in its New Jersey facility to a pair of giant absorption chillers that in turn feed cold air to equipment racks. This kind of co-generation system — both power and cooling from essentially the same source — is estimated to require 22 percent less fuel than a traditional electrical system and cuts carbon emissions by 2,200 tons per year.

Data centers, even green ones, will no doubt continue to consume significant amounts of energy for some time to come — that's just the nature of the technology. But as long as the industry can show continued improvement in energy conservation, both the economic and public relations dividends should be substantial.

Adopted from www.itbusinessedge.com

Modular Data Centers Make Business and Environmental Sense

Pre-engineered and prefabricated data centers now make environmental and economic sense, according a report by environmental IT research consortium The Green Grid.

According to Deploying and Using Containerized/Modular Data Center Facilities, this new modular approach to the construction and deployment of a data centers can be rapidly deployed, have lower operating and capital costs, and be equipped with higher density and energy-savings targets than those data centers built using traditional methods.

As such buildings are pre-designed with energy efficiency in mind they often come equipped with a host of energy and money saving features, the report says. For instance, pre-fabricated data centers often have their heat loads closer to their cooling coils and are designed to handle wider temperature and humidity bands than other data centers, according to the report.

As modular data centers can be constructed faster than traditional ones, upfront capital costs can be reduced as well. Rather than build a center designed to handle whatever capacity may be needed in the future, companies using prefabricated data centers can expand the facility as and when increased capacity is required, the report says.

In October, it emerged that Allianz Global Investors of America was using IO’s IO Anywhere modular data center system.

Allianz said that by using the system it hoped to avoid the upfront commitment of a multiple megawatt power plan, resulting in significant operating and capital expense savings.


Adopted from http://www.environmentalleader.com

Strategic Media Asia (SMA) provides any data centre and IT professionals with top level understanding of best practices in energy efficient data centre management from a series of accredited certificate courses and training seminars which focus on international green standard, financial and regulatory, facilities management, hardware management and software / system networks of Data Centre. For more informaiton, please visit the Program Page.