There are so many new ways to implement environmentally friendly strategies and procedures in the data center. Nowadays, there are an abundance of companies across all industries claiming to be ‘green’. When it comes to the data center industry, what does green really mean? In his latest article, Data Center Dynamics, blogger Ian Bitterlin, CTO of Ark Continuity, tackles this issue.
As an environmentalist and ‘keen supporter of renewable energy’, Bitterlin focuses on the statement that, quite honestly, data centers can never be 100% green, as they utilize electrical power, which is fed in part to ITW hardware, with components used for cooling, lighting, etc. Subsequently, this is turned into heat and rejected as waste into the air. Facilities that are powered by renewable energy only have 5% server utilization, and a PUE of two, which, according to Bitterlin, is “a waste of greenness”.
Green data centers not only save energy, but they also reduce the need for costly infrastructure upgrades to deal with increased power and cooling demands. The common issue faced by data centers, however, is that the standards of what constitutes ‘green’ are changing to adhere to the times; but at the same time, power demand is rising steadily.
That being said, what can a data center do to essentially be greener?
- Consolidate servers; and consider upgrading to energy efficient servers.
- Ideally, applications that run on the data center hardware should be some sort of carbon reduction enabler. (Think video conferencing, online grocery shopping, internet searches, etc.)
- Choose IT hardware that best suits the software; the combination will minimize idle power and ensure a power-efficient platform. Even better, adding high-inlet temperature tolerance and a high delta-T will ensure the most power-efficient IT solution.
- Consider consolidating the clients’ business with other like-model users in order to gain load volume on a 24×7 basis.
- Minimize energy consumption through de-duplication. Prevent servers from sitting idle. The most optimal target core utilization is above 30%; much higher than the world average, which is said to be 5%.
- Refresh the IT hardware on a sub 30-month basis to ensure that operations/watt performance and server power supply efficiency remains high-end.
- Design rack layout so it is conducive to aisle containment, allowing no cooling air to bypass the IT load.
- Ensure the server inlet temperature is fairly high in normal service (about 26-27°C) with very occasional excursions to 35°C to 40°C in the extreme for about an hour. This is to avoid mechanical refrigeration; even in backup.
- Restrict the server inlet temperature and focus on air quality.
- Make sure all loads are dual-corded. Oftentimes, the overall system efficiency will be higher if an N+1 active/passive path topology is deployed.
- Choose a UPS that has the highest efficiency – most ideally higher than 97%, at 60 to 80% load.
- Supply the facility with utility power generated from renewable sources. The fuel will have to be sustainable, with high thermal efficiency and 99% or higher availability.
- Consider adding solar photovoltaic panels to the roof.
- Make use of the “wasted” heat, rather than just expelling it into the air. This can be done either on-site, or directly next to the facility. Some examples are greenhouses, biofuel growth, hospital heating, swimming pool heating, etc.
- Pay close mind to the standards set forth by both Energy Star (the government’s energy-saving program), and The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp (SPEC), which is working on a performance-per-watt benchmark for servers that aim to help in providing a baseline for energy efficiency comparisons.
The above list is a great guideline to refer to in creating ‘truly’ green data center. In summary, the actions enable a low-carbon process, are IT efficient, and are supplied with renewable energy, including 100% reuse of the waste heat.
TELEHOUSE is making its move towards a ‘greener’ future in 2012 and beyond. Read the latest on TELEHOUSE’s green initiatives.