ShareEnergy efficiency of the cooling systems used in data centres is a key issue
The number of data centres has grown to around 45 million worldwide, global energy consumption of data centres has doubled over the last 5 years and currently reaches 123 TWh/year, i.e. 1% of global electricity consumption.
Energy efficiency of the cooling systems used in data centres is a key issue: the number of data centres has grown to around 45 million worldwide, global energy consumption of data centres has doubled over the last 5 years and currently reaches 123 TWh/year, i.e. 1% of global electricity consumption. Cooling a standard data centre requires 35-50% of its energy resources.
Chaud-Froid-Performance, June 2011
Here are two significant examples of attempts to achieve more energy-efficient heat dissipation systems for servers.
- Facebook data centre uses 52% less energy
Facebook claim their new data centre in Prineville, Oregon, USA, requires 52% less energy than a comparable facility. One of the key elements in this achievement consists in the new low-energy chiller-less cooling system that uses outside air, taking advantage of Oregon’s low-humidity climate. The air is drawn into the building and then cooled further through evaporation, without the use of a cooling tower. The 14 000 m² centre received the LEED® Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council.
More specifics on the system’s operation – including technical problems encountered – can be found on http://opencompute.org, a site designed to share technical information about this data centre: http://opencompute.org/2011/11/17/learning-lessons-at-the-prineville-data-center/
- CO2 as a secondary fluid for Data IV
Adavante3C has designed a tailored solution for Data IV, a large Web hosting company. Data IV wished to increase thermal dissipation capacity twofold as compared to classic systems (from 1500 W/m² to 3000 W/m²), and also set high energy-efficiency requirements.
The solution was to use CO2 as a secondary refrigerant in a loop circulating between the chilled water network outside the data room and the ambient near the computer racks. The loop is also connected to a series of fan-coil units and to a water/CO2 heat exchanger and a liquid CO2 circulation pump. Each fan-coil unit is equipped with a variable drive standard exchange engine fan and its air flow can be regulated separately. The designer claims energy use is lowered by up to 20-50% thanks to this system.
www.larpf.fr
Chaud-Froid-Performance, June 2011
Here are two significant examples of attempts to achieve more energy-efficient heat dissipation systems for servers.
- Facebook data centre uses 52% less energy
Facebook claim their new data centre in Prineville, Oregon, USA, requires 52% less energy than a comparable facility. One of the key elements in this achievement consists in the new low-energy chiller-less cooling system that uses outside air, taking advantage of Oregon’s low-humidity climate. The air is drawn into the building and then cooled further through evaporation, without the use of a cooling tower. The 14 000 m² centre received the LEED® Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council.
More specifics on the system’s operation – including technical problems encountered – can be found on http://opencompute.org, a site designed to share technical information about this data centre: http://opencompute.org/2011/11/17/learning-lessons-at-the-prineville-data-center/
- CO2 as a secondary fluid for Data IV
Adavante3C has designed a tailored solution for Data IV, a large Web hosting company. Data IV wished to increase thermal dissipation capacity twofold as compared to classic systems (from 1500 W/m² to 3000 W/m²), and also set high energy-efficiency requirements.
The solution was to use CO2 as a secondary refrigerant in a loop circulating between the chilled water network outside the data room and the ambient near the computer racks. The loop is also connected to a series of fan-coil units and to a water/CO2 heat exchanger and a liquid CO2 circulation pump. Each fan-coil unit is equipped with a variable drive standard exchange engine fan and its air flow can be regulated separately. The designer claims energy use is lowered by up to 20-50% thanks to this system.
www.larpf.fr