Power inefficiencies within data centres are often the consequence of old data centre designs, which don't allow data centre managers to install the needed hardware.
Clearly, improved electrical efficiency within the IT room - “the greening of the data centre” - is now a priority. Car Kleynhans, regional director: Africa, Critical Power and Cooling Services division of Schneider Electric, outlines why data centres are so energy inefficient and offers practical tips that they can use to become “green”.
“Data centre power consumption is rapidly becoming a global issue - as both an environmental concern and a business matter. As energy costs skyrocket, IT departments are facing increased C-level demands to bring the escalating power and cooling expenses of today's high-density deployments under control. And growing public concern over the long-term health of the planet has forward-thinking corporations and governments looking at ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he says.
As companies have continued to use technology to support the most important aspects for their business processes, the installed base of servers has continued to climb at a rapid rate. In 1996, IDC estimated that five million servers were installed on a worldwide basis and expected it to climb to 45 million servers by 2010. Interestingly, customer spending on servers has grown only modestly over the same period as average server prices continue to drop dramatically. This is due to the introduction of x86-based systems that quickly found favour for their low cost and constantly improving functionality.
Although customers have been able to add significant processing capabilities into their environment while keeping hardware budgets essentially flat for the last 10 years, a consequence of this large increase in the installed base of servers has been a rapid increase in systems management costs and power and cooling costs.
Server power and cooling costs are growing at eight times the rate of new server investment and will equate to two-thirds of new server spending by 2010. This shift in OIT (oldest interesting transactions) costs has many customers re-evaluating the economic models for their data centres. These power inefficiencies are often the consequence of old data centre designs, which don't allow data centre managers to install the needed hardware.
According to Kleynhans, there are a number of practical tips to improve the electrical efficiency of a data centre:
* Right-size your infrastructure - Use a modular scalable power and cooling architecture that allows you to deploy as needed and avoid “just in case” over-sizing. This is the single best strategy for improving data centre efficiency. Savings are even greater for redundant systems.
* Virtualise servers - Consolidating your applications into fewer servers, typically blade servers, frees up power and cooling capacity for expansion.
* Use more efficient air conditioner architecture - Instead of room-based cooling, deploy row-based units, which promote higher efficiency in high-density environments. Shorter air paths require less fan power.
* Efficient floor layout - Employ a hot-aisle/cold-aisle configuration with suitable air conditioner locations.
* More efficient power equipment - New best-in-class uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems significantly improve efficiency at typical operating loads. Light-load efficiency is the key parameter, not the full-load efficiency. And don't forget that UPS inefficiency losses must also be cooled, doubling their cost.
* Locate vented floor tiles correctly - Data centres using a raised floor often do not have the right number of vented tiles, nor are they located correctly. Locating tiles properly will also reduce hot spots.
* Co-ordinate air conditioners - Many data centres have multiple air conditioners, which actually undermine one another's performance. Get a professional assessment to diagnose and correct problems.
* Install energy-efficient lighting - Use more efficient lighting. Lighting power must also be cooled, doubling its cost. Turn off some or all via tie-of-day or motion settings
* Install blanking panels - This strategy reduces hot spots and saves energy. New snap-in tool less blanking panels make installation easy and inexpensive.
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