Power Inefficiency in Contemporary Electrical Power Systems for Data Centers
Energy inefficiency within Information Technology (IT) installations has become an international issue, owing to the ever increasing cost of energy in many regions. In 2006 it was conservatively estimated that IT facilities in the United States alone were spending over 4.5 billion dollars on energy and electrical power systems, this figure is currently believed to be much higher.
Electrical Power Systems and Green Computing
The contemporary trend toward ‘green computing’ and ‘green IT’ means however, that businesses are attempting to drastically reduce their energy consumption. It has been acknowledged that if IT establishments within the United States were to use efficiently run electrical power systems, the energy saved could power every home within the city limits of Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC. Many companies are consequently being pressured to conserve energy, with the majority focusing their attention on their data centers, as these installations generally house the majority of their IT equipment, including servers and storage devices.
A mass of literature currently exists regarding standard techniques for improving data center energy efficiency. The main source of energy inefficiency focused upon by most authors is the cooling system utilized. It is generally agreed that cooling and protecting IT components requires a large amount of a centers’ energy, with some studies stating that up to 70 percent of incoming energy is used solely to cool data center equipment. Experts have consequently successfully trialed various different, more energy efficient cooling systems, such as liquid cooling and ‘free air’ cooling.
Electrical Power Systems and Efficient Use
Another source of data center energy inefficiency usually discussed in current literature is the layout or floor plan of the center. It has been established that the floor plan can significantly affect energy efficiency, mainly due to the fact that it positively or negatively effects the operation of the cooling system. The layout of the center can also however, affect the number of components, such as power supplies, which are needed therefore further influencing overall energy consumption.
There are also however, less obvious causes of energy loss within data centers, one of which is voltage conversion. Establishments usually receive their electricity at 480 V / 277 V AC (depending upon the location), this is then converted down to 480 V / 277 V AC and consequently feeds computing components. This conversion however, as with all electrical voltage conversions, entails a loss of energy. As many IT components are manufactured to receive 230 V AC, this conversion is also frequently not required, and the energy is therefore needlessly wasted.
Another often overlooked source of wasted energy within data centers are electrical power systems. Although many contemporary power supplies are quite energy efficient there are still many older supplies in circulation. Data center technicians consequently need to be aware of the added cost that older equipment, such as conventional linear power supplies may incur.
In conclusion, it can be noted that there are numerous sources of energy inefficiency in modern data centers. Increased awareness of these issues, coupled with current progress regarding energy saving technologies however, is paving the way for more efficient and environmentally sustainable data centers.
