Eco-efficiency? A matter of concept!

 

According to APC, the system design is more important than the choice of power and cooling equipment.
  
Eco-efficiency? A matter of concept!
The power consumption of a system is NOT determined by the effectiveness of its different components! The main approach to reduce consumption is NOT to look at the effectiveness of these components!
 
According to APC, the system design has a huge impact on energy consumption in data centers,
This is so true that two different data centers consisting of the same equipment may have totally different energy invoices.
In other words, the system design is a more important factor than the choice of power and cooling equipment.
 
But what does "design problems" exactly mean? It may be the power distributor unit or processors operating far below their maximum load capacity; 
air conditioners operating at low output temperatures, continuously dehumidifying the air, which will have to be constantly re-humidified, say air conditioners working with a rturned air temperature far below the outlet temperature of equipment, which leads to reduced efficiency and capacity.
 
These examples-related to the Air conditioning- are not exhaustive. But one has to know that most of bad design practices leading to waste of energy are related to air conditioners: architectures for power systems are more standard and therefore less subject to design errors.
 
These examples are self-speaking. Design problems make data centers regularly consume  twice as much electricity than needed, ensures APC. Besides all these problems can be avoided with little or no cost, simply by design choices ...
 
According to APC, there are two ways to avoid these problems. A: Ensure that the design was completely developed and tested in order to avoid problems, including complex CFD modeling (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and a complete final reception test . Two: get a complete phtsical infrastructure system based on a standardized design, consisting of pre-developed modules that have been pre-tested and specified to avoid these problems.
 
It goes without saying that the first approach is costly. While the second provides APC, is called to become the standard way to specify and acquire data centers in the future ...
 
"Don't consider the problem in terms of equipment and thus components, but in terms of
objectives "Ben De Clercq, Enterprise Account Manager, APC
 
You argue that the design of any system has a huge impact on energy consumption of
data centers.
 
Are companies aware of that?
 
"Let's say they guess, but do not know how to do. It is very clear as soon as questions about virtualization are raised. Few companies are aware of the impact of this concept
on their power consumption. On the contrary, they believe they will be able to reduce it drastically.
It's true ... if we take into account the implications of virtualization in terms of 
electrical and air conditioning facilities"
 
Whose fault?
 
"Apart from the large players, integrators do not play their advisory role. We have to understand that virtualization, to limit ourselves to this example, involves a more intensive use of CPU and processor, which is translated into a higher power consumption of the server.
However, increased consumption means increased amperage ... "
 
Ignorance, lack of tools ... How do you explain these gaps?
 
"Once again, we think technology, not design. Similarly, we neglect the technical
and organizational issues. This is the reason why, at APC, we have increased the assessment and analysis tools.
The TradeOffTools, accessible online, allow to optimize a large amount of parameters, such as virtualization, energy efficiency or the size of the power supply. Everything is there to design its eco data center. In addition, we offer a range of professional services, largely
recognized. Recently, in fact, Forrester Research has awarded the quality of assistance to our customers. "
 
Should we understand by this that priority is to change attitudes?
 
"Changing attitudes to no longer consider the issue in terms of equipment and thus
components, but in terms of objectives. Specifically, how do I reduce my Energy bill by
40, 50 or 60%? Often, I invite my contacts to take a look on the strategy of Google. I do
say that Google is not a standard, but its ideas and its approach are worth of interest.
This company claims to spend five times less energy than conventional data centers
to power and cool its servers. And this by working primarily on the performance of the power supplies of servers while using passive cooling systems. "
 
You take an example in North America. Quid in Belgium and Luxemburg? Where are our businesses?
 
"They are neither ahead nor behind. However, I noticed a greater commitment in
smaller businesses, although they certainly have fewer resources to evaluate their
situation and deploy the solutions. Say they are more volunteers. Note that SMEs are often more inclined to adopt the latest technologies. We saw it with VoIP. We also note it, relatively speaking, for eco-efficiency. "
 
The 7 TradeOffTools designed by the Data Center Science Center (DCSC) of APC
Carbon Calculator - Calculate the impact of changes in the location of the data center,
performance and power supply, on greenhouse carbon gas and electricity bill.
 
Energy Efficiency Calculator - Establishes the profile of a data center and calculates the performance and consumption
in function of this profile, the tool helps understand the impact of each decision.
 
Capital Cost Calculator - Identifies the main parameters of the physical infrastructure of the Data center and allows to judge the impact on costs of infrastructure changes to the site.
 
Virtualization Energy Cost Calculator - Allows you to test the impact of virtualization and various improvements to physical infrastructure as far as used space and power consumption are concerned.
 
Power Sizing Calculator - Defines the basic characteristics of the computing load and calculates power supply required, giving a general idea of the number of kilowatts needed to power the data center.
 
InRow Containment Selector - Generates a configuration prototype of cooling rack and online depending on user preferences and on physical constraints of the room.
 
AC vs. DC Calculator - Compares four architectures for the distribution of power supply / battery and calculates their respective efficiency. The user can then choose the optimal architecture.
 
 
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