By employing energy-efficient data centre design strategies, such as effective cooling systems, optimizing IT equipment efficiency, and leveraging advanced power management technologies, companies can significantly reduce energy consumption, leading to more energy-efficient data centres. Moreover, monitoring and optimizing energy consumption in data centres paves the way for continuous improvements and cost savings. With promising advancements in technology and best practices, the future of maximizing energy efficiency in data centres is bright.
Key metrics such as Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Data centre Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) help measure energy efficiency. Improving these figures helps reduce energy consumption in data centres, offering benefits such as cost savings, improved reliability and performance of equipment, and increased capacity and scalability. It also helps organizations meet their sustainability goals. Identifying the energy dedicated to the server and tracking their performance in terms of energy consumption also plays a vital role in optimizing the PUE.
Data Center Cooling Energy Consumption
Cooling systems in data centres are critical for maintaining optimal operating temperatures for equipment. However, they also account for a significant portion of the total energy consumption. Traditional cooling methods often consume vast amounts of energy, but newer technologies like liquid cooling, free cooling, and advanced airflow management can drastically reduce this consumption. For example, using cold aisle containment and hot aisle containment strategies can improve cooling efficiency by preventing the mixing of hot and cold air streams.
Are Data Centres More Energy-Efficient Than Ever?
Yes, data centres are more energy-efficient than ever. Continuous advancements in technology, such as the development of more efficient cooling systems, power management technologies, and IT equipment, have significantly improved the energy efficiency of data centres. Additionally, the adoption of renewable energy sources and the implementation of energy-efficient practices have further reduced their environmental impact. Modern data centres are designed with energy efficiency in mind, often achieving PUE values close to 1.0, indicating highly efficient operations.
What Are Energy-Efficient Data Centres?
Energy-efficient data centres are designed to minimize energy consumption while maintaining optimal performance and reliability. These data centres utilize a combination of advanced technologies and best practices, including:
- Efficient Cooling Systems: Implementing cooling technologies such as liquid cooling, free cooling, and air economization to reduce energy use. Power Management: Using uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and power distribution units (PDU) that offer high efficiency.
- Renewable Energy: Incorporating renewable energy sources like solar and wind to power operations.
- Efficient IT Equipment: Deploying servers, storage devices, and network equipment that consume less power and generate less heat.
Data Centre Energy Efficiency Best Practices
Implementing best practices is essential for maximizing energy efficiency in data centres. Here are some key strategies:
- Optimize Cooling Systems: Utilize advanced cooling techniques such as liquid cooling, free cooling, and hot/cold aisle containment.
- Improve Airflow Management: Ensure proper airflow to prevent hot spots and reduce the workload on cooling systems.
- Monitor Energy Usage: Implement real-time monitoring tools to track energy consumption and identify inefficiencies.
- Utilize Energy-Efficient Hardware: Invest in high-efficiency servers, storage, and networking equipment.
- Implement Virtualization: Use virtualization to optimize server usage and reduce the number of physical machines needed.
- Adopt Renewable Energy: Incorporate renewable energy sources to power data centre operations.
- Regular Maintenance: Conduct regular maintenance to ensure all systems are operating efficiently and identify potential issues early.
Data Centre Energy Efficiency Standards
Adhering to established standards is crucial for ensuring energy efficiency in data centres. Key standards include:
- ISO 50001: Provides a framework for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving an energy management system.
- ASHRAE 90.4: Establishes minimum energy efficiency requirements for data centres.
- ENERGY STAR: A program that certifies energy-efficient products and practices.
- The Green Grid: Provides metrics, tools, and recommendations for improving data centre energy efficiency, including PUE and DCiE.
The perpetual need for good quality power versus the growing environmental and running cost concerns has encouraged data centre owners, facility managers, design offices, and consultants to specify equipment that provides the right service level and reduces operational costs.
New data centre installations are typically designed with 50% room for future expansion. No matter the size, a data centre facility represents a high asset cost both in terms of capital investment and recurring operational expenses. The floor space within the data centre needs to consider future expansion and is often left empty to be equipped when the need arises.
Power and cooling must also be adequate and scalable to ensure that the data centre is optimizing both capital and operational costs. Ultimately, designers must consider ways of managing today’s loads and services while also scaling well into the future for the needs of tomorrow.
Rightsizing and Scalability of the Data Centre
- Building Space: Planned and available from day one.
- Power Distribution and Metering: Partially available and scalable.
- Uninterrupted Power Supply Systems (UPS): Partly available and must be easy to upscale quickly.
Rightsizing through utilizing modularity means you now have flexible scalability and can optimize your project design costs by installing (and only paying for) what you need incrementally as you grow!
As a data centre grows, the electrical installation is upgraded to accommodate the integration of new servers or the reassignment of IT servers. As a consequence, the initial measuring points would need to be analyzed. Most times, metering points would either need to be reconfigured or additional points added to track the power consumption in line with the additional loads.
Next-generation solutions take into account the type of electrical distribution, typically either a busway with tap-off boxes or circuit breakers included in a remote power panel (RPP) or power distribution unit (PDU). They must also consider the limited possibilities of adapting traditional metering equipment to the distribution scalability, as well as the speed and ease of adding new measurement points without disrupting the operation and power availability of the data centres.
Rising energy costs and a premium on floor space in a data centre mean that every facility manager is now focused on efficiency and power usage to ensure that they reduce operational costs and environmental impact through CO2 emissions. This reality has driven the design of high-power UPS to combine several advanced working modes that optimize efficiency without sacrificing power quality to critical loads.
The Socomec UPS Solution: DELPHYS XL & MODULYS XL
DIRIS Digiware Metering and Monitoring System
With DIRIS Digiware modular plug & play metering systems, the measuring modules are connected via an RJ45 communication bus, making it possible to add measurement points quickly, without tools and safely.
Thanks to its compact size, this system adapts perfectly to upgrades to the electrical distribution (Tap-off or RPP/PDU). Furthermore, the wide range of solid-core or split-core transformers, equipped with an RJ12 connector, is ideal for new and existing installations.
DIRIS Digiware provides infinite scalability, unique versatility, virtual monitor simple wiring with auto-correct features, and unrivalled intelligence. The DIRIS Digiware metering and monitoring system is based on a plug & play and modular concept, allowing for the progressive addition of modules with class 0.5 accuracy (IEC 61557-12) and class (EN 50470), allowing accurate measurements with the best accuracy on the market across the entire chain.
A full range of split-core and flexible current sensors makes the system suitable for existing and new data centre electrical installations.
ATS Controller for Transfer Switching Equipment
The ATyS C65 is an advanced ATSE controller offering all the functions of the ATyS C55, with the addition of current, power & energy monitoring, increased I/O capacity and functions, load shedding, lift control function, energy backup, increased number of events and alarms (measurement and combination alarms), and DIRIS Digiware module compatibility.