Real-time energy consumption measurements in data centers

Data centers are dense and complex environments that house a wide variety of energy consuming equipment. With information technology (IT) and facilities equipment, there are thousands of energy consumption monitoring points. If a data center operator cannot monitor a device, that device cannot be controlled. In addition, for a data center to reach its optimal energy efficiency, all equipment on the IT and facilities sides must be monitored and controlled as an ensemble. IT and facilities organizations in a company typically have different reporting structures, which results in a communication gap. This book is designed to help bridge that gap and provides an overview of how to instrument and monitor key power and cooling subsystems. This book also includes numerous examples of how to use energy consumption data in calculating power usage effectiveness (PUE), along with a practical method that can be used to quantify the PUE for a data center housed in a mixed-use facility. Finally, some coverage is provided for a data center that deploys a combined cooling, heat, and power system. Calculating the PUE for such a data center presents some challenges; this book helps clarify the key issues.

This book, coauthored by ASHRAE with The Green Grid's Data Collection and Analysis Work Group, is the ninth in a series of datacom books from Technical Committee 9.9, Mission Critical Facilities, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment. This series provides comprehensive treatment of datacom cooling and related subjects.
Keywords: data, data centers, data center, data processing, datacom, data com, energy consumption measurements; energy efficiency
Units: Dual