Experts thought about data center energy efficiency
Energy efficiency for data center is one of the major topic for any data center related conference or discussion. It is considered as the key issue of any data center. Too much usage of energy can make a bad impact in a nation and data centers can be responsible for that. Experts have been taking these problems seriously and giving different tips about energy efficient data center. Here are some statements and tips from the professional experts about energy efficiency.
Most of the professionals think that choosing the right location for a data center is very important if you looking for using less energy in cooling section. “You want to be in a cool dry geography with cheap power, like parts of the Pacific Northwest. For example, FaceBook’s data center in Prineville, Oregon. Or in a very dry place, where you can get very efficient evaporative cooling,” says Rich Fichera, VP and Principal Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations Group, Forrester Research.
Most big companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple always choose the suitable location for their data center. Giant companies have lots of thing going inside their data center so they practically suck up too much energy. If they don’t follow energy efficiency rules then they can take most of the power of a country. Not only big companies, the experts think that all data centers should follow the efficiency techniques.
Another nice way to utilize energy is to follow the carbon neutral power system which allows a company to get power from a source that doesn’t consume energy. “Power in Iceland is also abundant,” Rhodes points out, “The current power grid in Iceland offers approximately 2900 Megawatts (MW) of power capacity and the population of Iceland is roughly 320,000 people. Their utilization of the total available power is thought to be in the range of 300MWatts. Aluminum smelters are currently the most power-intensive industry in Iceland, leaving more than sufficient capacity for the data center industry.”
“Iceland’s year-around low ambient temperatures permit free cooling,” says Rhodes. “Chiller plants are not required, resulting in a significant reduction in power cost. If a wholesale client should decide they want cooling at the server, there is a natural cold-water aquifer on the campus that can be used to accommodate their needs.”
One of the common mistakes of some companies is that they think the cold places are good for data center which is not always true. It is all about humidity. A perfect location could be a desert. “One of the benefits of the desert is its very dry,” says Anthony Wanger, I/O President. “It’s easier to remove heat in a dry environment, which makes Arizona an ideal location.”
We are doing everything possible to be energy efficient at all of our data centers, says Wanger. “We separate cold air supply and warm air return.” To get the heat away, says Wanger, “There is still no more-efficient means of moving energy than through water. Air as a liquid is much less dense and less efficient. Once we get that hot air, we dump it into a closed loop system and exchange it into an open-loop system, where we can remove the heat. We also use thermal storage. We can consume energy at night when it’s sitting in the utility’s inventory.”
