Theoretical and Empirical Energy Impacts of Economization in Data Centers

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Comperchio ◽  
Sameer Behere
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Close Monitoring ◽  
Direct Expansion ◽  
System Architectures ◽  
Air Conditioners

Data center energy consumption can be divided into three broad categories: Information Technology (IT), Electrical, and Mechanical. An efficient data center uses the least amount of non-IT energy, which is typically divided between the mechanical and electrical systems. Mechanical systems generally contribute a large portion of the non-IT energy use by providing cooling from compressor-based equipment [1,2] and because of this, strategies to reduce compressor energy consumption can lead to significant mechanical system energy savings. The most efficient way to reduce compressor energy is through elimination or significant reduction in annual runtime. This is possible with the use of integrated airside or waterside economizers. This paper demonstrates the impacts of economization in data centers through data collected from four operating facilities over the course of implementing various economizer improvement projects. System architectures include water-cooled centrifugal chiller plant with waterside economization, direct expansion air handling units (AHU) with airside economization, air-cooled centrifugal chillers with integrated waterside economization, and direct expansion computer room air conditioners (CRAC) with evaporative cooling and waterside economization. A systematic and methodical comparison of the baseline and post-conditions is discussed, comparing expected to observed economizer operating conditions. The comparison of multiple real-world scenarios revealed a range of variances in expected operation of economizer sequences to actual observations, indicating a need for close monitoring of system performance by data center operators to fully realize economizer benefits within facilities.

Cooling of Data Centers Using Airside Economizers

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saket Karajgikar ◽  
Veerendra Mulay ◽  
Dereje Agonafer ◽  
Roger Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Energy Usage ◽  
Air Conditioners ◽  
Server Systems ◽  
Free Cooling

The power trend for Server systems continues to grow thereby making thermal management of Data centers a very challenging task. Although various configurations exist, the raised floor plenum with Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs) providing cold air is a popular operating strategy. These rising heat load trends in data center facilities have raised concerns over energy usage. The environmental protection agency has reported that the energy used in 2006 by data center industry was 1.5% of the total energy usage by entire nation. The experts agree that by year 2010, this usage will approach 2% of the annual energy use nationwide. This has been the driving force behind the new solutions or technologies such as free cooling. Recent studies show that the outside air can be drawn in to cool the IT equipment without any undue electronic component failure due to contaminant. In this paper, different cases employing air side economizer are discussed. Numerical models are created to study the qualitative impact of the solution under various operating conditions.

Achieving Ultra-Low Energy Consumption in Data Center Mechanical Systems Through Indirect Airside Economization

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Comperchio ◽  
Sameer Behere
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Mechanical Systems ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Vapor Compression ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Air Temperatures

Data center cooling systems have long been burdened by high levels of redundancy requirements, resulting in inefficient system designs to satisfy a risk-adverse operating environment. As attitudes, technologies, and sustainability awareness change within the industry, data centers are beginning to realize higher levels of energy efficiency without sacrificing operational security. By exploiting the increased temperature and humidity tolerances of the information technology equipment (ITE), data center mechanical systems can leverage ambient conditions to operate in economization mode for increased times during the year. Economization provides one of the largest methodologies for data centers to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint. As outside air temperatures and conditions become more favorable for cooling the data center, mechanical cooling through vapor-compression cycles is reduced or entirely eliminated. One favorable method for utilizing low outside air temperatures without sacrificing indoor air quality is through deploying rotary heat wheels to transfer heat between the data center return air and outside air without introducing outside air into the white space. A metal corrugated wheel is rotated through two opposing airstreams with varying thermal gradients to provide a net cooling effect at significantly reduced electrical energy over traditional mechanical cooling topologies. To further extend the impacts of economization, data centers are also able to significantly raise operating temperatures beyond what is traditionally found in comfort cooling applications. The increase in the dry bulb temperature provided to the inlet of the information technology equipment, as well as an elevated temperature rise across the equipment significantly reduces the energy use within a data center.

scholarly journals Optimized data center site selection—mesoclimatic effects on data center energy consumption and costs

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Turek ◽  
Peter Radgen
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Site Selection ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
National Level ◽  
Small Radius ◽  
Average Maximum ◽  
National Borders

AbstractThe effect of the location on the energy consumption of data centers has already been studied in detail on the macro-climatic level. To take advantage of these effects, however, it is usually necessary for the location of data centers to cross international borders. The influence of site changes within national borders and in a small radius of < 100 km has not yet been quantified. To investigate this, a dynamic mathematical model of the temperature-dependent components of a reference data center was created and the influence on the energy consumption in an area of 240 × 215 km in Germany was investigated. It could be shown that even small changes of the location within a 10 km radius of a location lead to annual energy savings in the recirculating chiller of 9.12% on average (maximum 56.58%). With a freedom of location of 100 km within national borders, savings of 37.35% on average (maximum 76.11%) are even possible. Location-dependent optimizations are therefore also relevant at local and national level with regard to their influence on energy consumption, and the consideration of mesoclimatic aspects should be an elementary part of the site selection process for data centers in the future.

Energy Efficient Data Centers Using Evaporative Cooling and Air Side Economizers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhusudan Iyengar ◽  
Roger Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Air Temperature ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Transfer Functions ◽  
Water Evaporation ◽  
Outdoor Air ◽  
Data Center Cooling ◽  
The Usa

Information Technology (IT) data centers consume a large amount of electricity in the US and world-wide. Cooling has been found to contribute about one third of this energy use. The two primary contributors to the data center cooling energy use are the refrigeration chiller (about 50% of cooling) and the Computer Room Air Conditioning units (about 33% of cooling). This paper focuses on a data center configuration that eliminates the use of the chiller plant thereby yielding substantial energy savings. One method of eliminating the chiller plant is to directly pump outdoor air into a data center with some amount of conditioning (particulate filtration). This configuration is can be called Direct Air Side Economizer (ASE). Since computer equipment is usually designed with the assumption that the rack air inlet temperatures are in the 15–32 °C range, the use of ASE is constrained to use only in those geographies where the outdoor air conditions allow such direct air use. One method to reduce the sensible air temperature of the outdoor air that is being ducted into a data center room is water evaporation directly into the air stream. Such a method can be called Evaporative Air Side Economizer (EASE). This paper discusses the benefits of EASE data center configurations in the context of the climate in the USA and realizable energy savings compared with traditional chiller plant based cooling loops. Hour by hour outdoor air temperature data for a typical year and psychometric charts are utilized in conjunction with simple transfer functions to model cooling via evaporative media. Phoenix, a US city in a hot climate is used to illustrate the use of the relatively new method of data center cooling. A comparison to the traditional chiller plant based approach resulted in about 30% of energy savings at the data center level.

Optimization of Enclosed Aisle Data Centers Using Bypass Recirculation

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin W. Demetriou ◽  
H. Ezzat Khalifa
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Total Energy Consumption ◽  
Air Conditioners ◽  
Data Center Cooling ◽  
Flow Through

The work presented in this paper describes a simplified thermodynamic model that can be used for exploring optimization possibilities in air-cooled data centers. The model is used to evaluate parametrically the total energy consumption of the data center cooling infrastructure for data centers that utilize aisle containment. The analysis highlights the importance of reducing the total power required for moving the air within the computer room air conditioners (CRACs), the plenum, and the servers, rather than focusing primarily or exclusively on reducing the refrigeration system’s power consumption. In addition, the benefits of introducing a bypass recirculation branch in enclosed aisle configurations are shown. The analysis shows a potential for as much as a 60% savings in cooling infrastructure energy consumption by utilizing an optimized enclosed aisle configuration with bypass recirculation, instead of a traditional enclosed aisle in which all the data center exhaust is forced to flow through the CRACs. Furthermore, computational fluid dynamics is used to evaluate practical arrangements for implementing bypass recirculation in raised floor data centers. A configuration where bypass tiles, with controllable low-lift fans, are placed close to the discharge of CRACs results in increased mixing and is shown to be a suitable method for providing nearly thermally uniform conditions to the inlet of the servers in an enclosed cold aisle. Other configurations of bypass implementation are also discussed and explored.

scholarly journals Energy-aware load balancing in distributed data centers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo A. C. Da Silva ◽  
Nelson L. S. Da Fonseca
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Load Balancing ◽  
Virtual Machine ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Virtual Machines ◽  
Distributed Data ◽  
Energy Aware ◽  
Cloud Data

This paper summarizes the dissertation ”Energy-aware load balancing in distributed data centers”, which proposed two new algorithms for minimizing energy consumption in cloud data centers. Both algorithms consider hierarchical data center network topologies and requests for the allocation of groups of virtual machines (VMs). The Topology-aware Virtual Machine Placement (TAVMP) algorithm deals with the placement of virtual machines in a single data center. It reduces the blocking of requests and yet maintains acceptable levels of energy consumption. The Topology-aware Virtual Machine Selection (TAVMS) algorithm chooses sets of VM groups for migration between different data centers. Its employment leads to relevant overall energy savings.

scholarly journals Towards Sustainable Energy Retrofitting, a Simulation for Potential Energy Use Reduction in Residential Buildings in Palestine

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3876
Author(s):  
Sameh Monna ◽  
Adel Juaidi ◽  
Ramez Abdallah ◽  
Aiman Albatayneh ◽  
Patrick Dutournie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Water Heating ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Space Cooling ◽  
Cooling Loads

Since buildings are one of the major contributors to global warming, efforts should be intensified to make them more energy-efficient, particularly existing buildings. This research intends to analyze the energy savings from a suggested retrofitting program using energy simulation for typical existing residential buildings. For the assessment of the energy retrofitting program using computer simulation, the most commonly utilized residential building types were selected. The energy consumption of those selected residential buildings was assessed, and a baseline for evaluating energy retrofitting was established. Three levels of retrofitting programs were implemented. These levels were ordered by cost, with the first level being the least costly and the third level is the most expensive. The simulation models were created for two different types of buildings in three different climatic zones in Palestine. The findings suggest that water heating, space heating, space cooling, and electric lighting are the highest energy consumers in ordinary houses. Level one measures resulted in a 19–24 percent decrease in energy consumption due to reduced heating and cooling loads. The use of a combination of levels one and two resulted in a decrease of energy consumption for heating, cooling, and lighting by 50–57%. The use of the three levels resulted in a decrease of 71–80% in total energy usage for heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, and air conditioning.

People or Systems: Does Productivity Enhancement Matter More than Energy Management in LEED Certified Buildings?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13863
Author(s):  
Yana Akhtyrska ◽  
Franz Fuerst
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Management ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Occupant Comfort ◽  
Energy Use Intensity ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Advanced Metering ◽  
The Impact

This study examines the impact of energy management and productivity-enhancing measures, implemented as part of LEED Existing Buildings Operations and Management (EBOM) certification, on source energy use intensity and rental premiums of office spaces using data on four major US markets. Energy management practices, comprised of commissioning and advanced metering, may reduce energy usage. Conversely, improving air quality and occupant comfort in an effort to increase worker productivity may in turn lead to higher overall energy consumption. The willingness to pay for these features in rental office buildings is hypothesised to depend not only on the extent to which productivity gains enhance the profits of a commercial tenant but also on the lease arrangements for passing any energy savings to the tenant. We apply a difference-in-differences method at a LEED EBOM certification group level and a multi-level modelling approach with a panel data structure. The results indicate that energy management and indoor environment practices have the expected effect on energy consumption as described above. However, the magnitude of the achieved rental premiums appears to be independent of the lease type.

scholarly journals Humidity-Sensitive Demand-Controlled Ventilation Applied to Multi-Unit Residential Building – Performance and Energy Consumption in Dfb Continental Climate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Sowa ◽  
Maciej Mijakowski
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Controlled Ventilation ◽  
Demand Controlled Ventilation ◽  
Continental Climate

A humidity-sensitive demand-controlled ventilation system is known for many years. It has been developed and commonly applied in regions with an oceanic climate. Some attempts were made to introduce this solution in Poland in a much severe continental climate. The article evaluates this system's performance and energy consumption applied in an 8-floor multi-unit residential building, virtual reference building described by the National Energy Conservation Agency NAPE, Poland. The simulations using the computer program CONTAM were performed for the whole hating season for Warsaw's climate. Besides passive stack ventilation that worked as a reference, two versions of humidity-sensitive demand-controlled ventilation were checked. The difference between them lies in applying the additional roof fans that convert the system to hybrid. The study confirmed that the application of demand-controlled ventilation in multi-unit residential buildings in a continental climate with warm summer (Dfb) leads to significant energy savings. However, the efforts to ensure acceptable indoor air quality require hybrid ventilation, which reduces the energy benefits. It is especially visible when primary energy use is analyzed.

Energy-Efficiency in Cloud Data Centers

2013 ◽  
pp. 241-263
Author(s):  
Burak Kantarci ◽  
Hussein T. Mouftah
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Data Center ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Data Centers ◽  
High Energy ◽  
It Services ◽  
Data Center Network ◽  
Cloud Data

Cloud computing aims to migrate IT services to distant data centers in order to reduce the dependency of the services on the limited local resources. Cloud computing provides access to distant computing resources via Web services while the end user is not aware of how the IT infrastructure is managed. Besides the novelties and advantages of cloud computing, deployment of a large number of servers and data centers introduces the challenge of high energy consumption. Additionally, transportation of IT services over the Internet backbone accumulates the energy consumption problem of the backbone infrastructure. In this chapter, the authors cover energy-efficient cloud computing studies in the data center involving various aspects such as: reduction of processing, storage, and data center network-related power consumption. They first provide a brief overview of the existing approaches on cool data centers that can be mainly grouped as studies on virtualization techniques, energy-efficient data center network design schemes, and studies that monitor the data center thermal activity by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The authors also present solutions that aim to reduce energy consumption in data centers by considering the communications aspects over the backbone of large-scale cloud systems.

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