Follow these Best Practices for Power Usage
Any process aimed at improving a metric must start with a current value, then find ways to improve it and validate it through subsequent measurement.
To improve data center cooling, begin by understanding the actual energy performance of the data center. Guides like the one produced by Energy Star can help determine initial and subsequent energy efficiency levels.
Power Usage Effectiveness is the common measurement for describing how efficiently a data center uses energy. The ideal PUE is 1; the average in 2020 was 1.58. Many colocation providers boast PUE values of 1.1, by using free air cooling and liquid cooling.
Once a baseline has been established, investigate areas that are ripe for improvement and can contribute to energy efficiency. A data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution can help identify inefficient servers that should be eliminated, map optimal placement of equipment and more.
DIVE DEEPER: The future of the fed data center is green.
Implement improvements for quick wins. Make sure to avoid mixing hot and cold air. Look at virtualizing or consolidating servers, and choose new servers wisely. Match server capacity to actual load; consolidate or virtualize those that have been deployed and configured for peak capacity.
Finally, use DCIM to measure progress, tracking critical metrics. This will help you optimize your data center’s entire performance by giving you visibility into and control over energy consumption and capacity.
The most carbon-efficient data center is one that is refurbished instead of built from scratch. Look to liquid cooling to save energy and improve efficiency. Be on the lookout for ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Efficiency is a crucial component in current and future power distribution, energy recovery, IT and environmental networks. In other words, monitor, manage and don’t be hesitant to share lessons learned.