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CHAPTER 3
BACKUP POWER,
DISTRIBUTION
AND CONVERSIONS
Targeted steps to lower data center power
consumption and strengthen the bottom line
BY MARK FONTECCHIO AND STEPHEN J. BIGELOW
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CHAPTER 3
Backup power,
distribution and
conversions
Feeding the data centers energy needs
without breaking the bank is possible
if you know a few tricks.
CONSERVATION STARTS
WITH UTILITY PROVIDERS
CHAPTER 3
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
IT equipment is
the largest energy
consumer within
the data center
accounting for
about half of the
energy used.
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
and Electric (PG&E). The utility company has 25 different energy-efficiency incentive programs, including one
for deploying server virtualization and
another that offers discounts to companies that install air-side or waterside economizers.
The online marketplace eBay has
taken advantage of utility provider
rebates. Olivier Sanche, former senior
director of eBays data center services, said the company did a simple
tech refresh, installed solar panels on
the roof of its San Jose, Calif., data
center and purchased economizers to
help reduce energy consumption and
save money.
The incentives help us do the right
thing, said Sanche. Would we be
doing some of these things without
the incentives? Probably, yes. But this
[incentives] helps the projects hap-
pen quicker.
Not all utility providers have these
incentive programs in place, so its
important to check with each
provider individually. Rebate money
comes from the rate base, meaning
that rate payers fund the program,
said Chris Johnston, national critical
facilities chief engineer for New Yorkbased data center design firm Syska
Hennessy. In essence, smart data
center users benefit financially from
other not-so-smart users.
CHAPTER 3
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
ters. The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp., an industry benchmarking organization based in Warrenton,
Va., also publishes several powerrelated metrics. The first, called
SPECpower ssj2008, compares a
servers Java performance to its
power consumption. The SPECvirt_
sc2010 benchmark evaluates server
performance in a virtual data center.
Taking advantage of these free tools
can help determine which servers are
best from a power perspective.
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
CHAPTER 3
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
Power supplies on
older servers could have
efficiency levels
as poor as 60%.
Whether you just acquired a new company or must increase its ever-expanding customer
or inventory database capacity, youre most likely facing pressing demands on your
companys IT infrastructure. Your existing data center infrastructure may not be able to
handle these up-to-the-minute changes. Thats where APC by Schneider Electric steps in
with its proven high-performance, scalable, data center infrastructure. As the industrys oneof-a-kind, truly modular, adaptable, and on-demand data center system, only InfraStruxure
ensures that your data center can adapt effectively, efficiently, and, perhaps most
important, quickly, to business changes.
We say that InfraStruxure data centers mean business. But what does that mean to you?
The answer is simple. A data center means business when it is always available, 24/7/365,
and performs at the highest level at all times, is able to grow at the breakneck speed of
business, lets you add capacity without waiting on logistical delays (e.g., work orders),
enables IT and facilities to keep pace with the business in a synchronized way, continues to
achieve greater and greater energy efficiencyfrom planning through operations, is able
to grow with the business itself, and supportsinstead of hindersbusiness.
InfraStruxure fulfills our triple promise of superior quality, which ensures highest
availability; speed, which ensures easy and quick alignment of IT to business needs; and
cost savings based on energy efficiency. What better way to mean business than to
enable quality, speed, and cost savingssimultaneously?
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Cooling. Rack-, row-, and room-based cooling options, including new overhead InRow
cooling units, for greater efficiency
Classification of Data
Center Operations
Technology (OT)
Management Tools
> Executive summary
Contents
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2011 Schneider Electric. All Rights Reserved. Schneider Electric, APC, InRow, and InfraStruxure are trademarks owned by Schneider Electric Industries SAS or its affiliated companies.
e-mail: esupport@apc.com 132 Fairgrounds Road, West Kingston, RI 02892 USA 998-5038_US
CHAPTER 3
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
CHAPTER 3
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
REPLACING BATTERIES
WITH FLYWHEELS
MEASURING PROGRESS
CHAPTER 3
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
CHAPTER 3
as a percentage that shows improvement as it nears 100%. Measurements for this number should be
taken in two locations. Energy use
should be measured at or near the
facilitys utility meter.
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
It's important to
keep the PUE metric
in perspective. The
Green Grid and other
experts recommend
keeping PUE
numbers internal.
If the data center is in a mixeduse facility or office building, take a
measurement only at the meter thats
powering the data center. If it is not
on a separate utility meter, estimate
the amount of power that the nondata center portion of the building
consumes and remove it from the
equation.
IT equipment load should be measured after power conversion, switching and conditioning is completed.
According to The Green Grid, the
most useful measurement point is at
the output of the power distribution
units (PDUs), but it can also be taken
at the output of the UPS. If you take
the measurement at the output of the
UPS, your PUE should be lower, and
therefore less accurate, than if you
take it at the output of the PDUs,
STANDARDS AND
LEED CERTIFICATION
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CHAPTER 3
CONSERVATION
STARTS WITH
UTILITY PROVIDERS
SAVING POWER
AT THE SERVER
THE DEBATE OF
AC VS. DC POWER
USING FLYWHEELS
INSTEAD OF
BATTERIES
MEASURING
PROGRESS
Stephen J. Bigelow
SITE EDITOR
Nicole Harding
Michelle Boisvert
Lauren Horwitz
MANAGING EDITOR
Christine Casatelli
Jeannette Beltran
Eugene Demaitre
Martha Moore
Linda Koury
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Cathleen Gagne
PUBLISHER
Marc Laplante
TechTarget
275 Grove Street
Newton, MA 02466
www.techtarget.com
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