In an age of increasing power consumption from ever growing datacenters and increasing power rates from local utilities, the need for datacenter operators to keep control on their power usage has become important in order to keep operating cost at a minimum and reduce their carbon footprint.
While newer datacenters are built to standards that take into consideration more efficient designs and equipment, there are still many older sites that have a need for improvements.
GATHERING DATACENTER ENERGY USAGE DATA…..
An important part of successfully managing your power usage is having the information available to make the right decisions. The lack of accurate information being available to data center operators on their power usage is surprisingly high. There are many data points that are useful to have to maintain a highly efficient datacenter such as
Utility power load
IT power load
Cooling capacity
Datacenter configuration & layout
Occupancy rates by technicians
Air flow
Understanding your data center energy usage will have the following benefits:
Better decision making on increasing efficiency
More accurate capacity planning
Identify potential issues before an un planned outage occursIdentify areas of power misuse
SOME STRATEGIES THAT CAN BE DEPLOYED TO INCREASE ENERGY EFFICIENCY:
Increasing the energy efficiency of your datacenter can involve many factors. IT and cooling equipment are where over 90% of your energy usage will reside. Some areas where energy savings can be achieved are:
Switching server power supplies from single phase to 3 phase
Improving the building envelope
Following industry best practicesImplementing a predictive maintenance program
Reviewing the set point temperature of the data center
By implementing the above strategies, data center operators will be able to keep a handle on rising operating cost which will improve the bottom line.
Tom Devost, Facilities Support Missing Link Technologies Ltd.