Data Centre EnvironmentsCCS Commercial Overview Session 4Introduction to Energy in the Data Centre

17th April 2009

Paul Mathews MInstSMM

Global Channel Manager

• The heartbeat of any business, designed to manage the flow, processing and storage of information

• Must be reliable, secure and flexible to enable growth and reconfiguration

• A data centre can support small singular businesses through to thousands of clients ecommerce facilities

• “A building or portion of a building whose primary function is to house a computer room and its support areas,” according to TIA 942

Introduction to Data Centres

Why do businesses need a data centre?

• Huge growth in sizes of Storage Area Networks (SANs)

• Growing reliance on enterprise server applications and processes

• Daily internet access for online converged platforms

• Critical business processes and financial transactions / databases

• Prevention against the risk of lost data, reduced throughput (power outages), cooling failures and infrastructure problems for the IT Manager

• Changes in technological trends and the interdependence of electrical distribution, ventilation and cooling and information technology (IT) systems

The rising global IT energy problems

• IT Equipment is now a major consumer of electricity in the industrialised world

• UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait take 4 of the top 5 positions worldwide for energy consumption per of population

• Global trends show consumption is rising in all countries (in the US it is 2.8% of national electricity production; the same as the aviation sector

• IT Managers need support to identify where electricity is being used

• EU data centre consumption was 46 terawatt hours in 2006, set to rise to 93 terawatt hours by 2020

(equivalent of 100 million 100 watt light bulbs burning 24 hours a day, 365 days p.a.)

• Detrimental to the environment

• Huge operating expenditure bills caused by wasteful investment of capital expenditure

Data Centre energy consumption facts• Average data centre V average office consumes around 54 x more energy per

square metre

• A 600mm x 600mm floor tile in a computer room floor represents the equivalent of 1.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere every year

• The main data centre electricity processes are consumed as follows;

IT equipment 40%

Cooling and ventilation 35%

UPS and power distribution 20%

Lighting and other building accessories 5%

Data Centre energy consumption facts• Energy that is supplied into Data Centres eventually turns into dissipated heat

• Outside building temperature compared with computer rooms must be considered (hotter external environments require more energy management to flow large quantities of heat outside of the building)

• These characteristics fluctuate between data centres (and location), so calculating the cooling and ventilation system energy consumption varies between each enterprise

• The average figure is 35%

Cooling system factors for energy consumption• Method of cooling, e.g. direct expansion DX, centralised chillers

• Ability to effectively design and install a cooling solution

• Levels of maintenance required for cooling installation

• External environment characteristics, e.g. solar gain

• Implementation of air/water cooling economisers

• Energy consumption of equipment compressors, pumps and fans

Cooling and Building Management Systems• Cooling systems consume a large % of power and therefore should be controlled

and monitored

• Building Management Systems (BMS) record energy consumption by time, building zone, interior/exterior temperature etc

• BMS helps identify potential problems within advanced air cooling solutions and water side economisers

• Air side economisers can divert air from the outside when external temperatures drop below 20 degrees – so if implemented within Data Centres across the Gulf this would be operational 4 months per year, reducing electricity bills by 15-20%

The role of a UPS and power distribution system• UPS consume large amounts of energy

• UPS on-line double conversion units are most popular, but very inefficient

• Smaller systems often deploy transformer-less UPS versions

• Larger systems opt for rotating kinetic energy systems (very efficient for large megawatt systems)

• Modern UPS now equipped with software monitoring systems to allow phase loading outputs to be measured over time

• LED ammeters in power strips can measure power consumption per rack (4-6 kilowatts per racks is an ideal average for air cooling systems)

What legislation/standards activity can help?

• 2001 European Directive on Energy

• 2007 US Server and Data Centre Energy Efficiency, Public Law 109-431

• 2006 European Union Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

• 2007 Climate Change Bill

• 2008 EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres

• European Union Data Centre best practice guide (in progress)

• Connectix Cabling Systems suggests (our of the more than 50 ‘Green’Organisations) to be associated with The Green Grid, The Carbon Trust, European Commission, UK Green Building Council and The Uptime Institute

PUE and DCE Metrics

• Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is defined as;

Total Facility Power

IT Equipment Power

• Data Centre Efficiency (DCE) is measured as, (now redefined as DCiE);

IT Equipment Power

Total Facility Power

Data Centre Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE)• Measuring data centre efficiency is measured as the ratio of watts to the IT Load

/ Watts to the data centre (DCIE)

• To maximise DCiE, efficiency measurements for the whole data centre should be monitored and targeted for improvement in an ongoing strategy

Data Centre Whitepapers/Legislation• Data Centre Design Whitepaper

http://www.connectixcablingsystems.com/library/detail.cfm?item=10

• The EU Code of Conduct of Data Centre Energy Efficiencyhttp://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/html/standby_initiative_data%20centers.htm

• The Green Grid DCiE Metrics Whitepaperhttp://www.thegreengrid.org/~/media/WhitePapers/White_Paper_6_-_PUE_and_DCiE_Eff_Metrics_30_December_2008.ashx?lang=en

Connectix Technical Articles

• Log on to www.connectixcablingsystems.com for full access to our data centre and high speed LAN support articles

• Log on to www.connectixcablingsystems.com/events for details of our Data Centre Design Principle Seminars run in association with The IET

IET Endorsed Training provider

CIBSE Continuing Professional Development BICSI Continuing Education Credits