What are data centre energy efficiency metrics? Why Is It Important?
Data center energy efficiency metrics are key performance indicators used to measure a data center's energy consumption and efficiency to help it maximize performance.
Since the data center industry is an energy-hungry segment of almost every organization worldwide, energy efficiency is urgently needed to harness the best outcome out of their data center facilities, work with environmental consciousness, and reduce carbon footprint without hampering operations.
Therefore, to achieve this goal, data centers use efficiency metrics that help them visualize the performance of various data center components. Further, it also helps them offer 100% uptime to attract customers amidst the competitive ecosystem of the data center industry.
Now, let us briefly examine the data center energy efficiency metrics used to analyze energy efficiency across the facility.
How Much is The Energy Consumption of a Data Center Facility?
Since data centers work with heavy-duty IT equipment, Cooling systems, and 24*7 working servers, they consume approximately 30 times more energy than any other traditional office buildings.
According to a report by Advances in Science, Technology, and Engineering Systems (ASTES) Journal, more than half of the energy consumption is attributed to IT equipment, and over 30% energy consumption is due to the cooling systems, other than that electrical and lightning and electric distribution amounts to only 15% of the total consumption.
Data Center Energy Efficiency Metrics
Initially, the companies calculate the total power consumption of the data center facility.
The total energy consumption (EDC) is measured as:
Where N = total number of energy-consuming units
Ei = amount of energy consumed by a unit ‘i’
How Does Energy Flow Inside a Data Center Facility?
First, energy from all the sources flows to the data center power delivery system (PDS), such as UPS, remote power panel, generators, power distribution units (PDUs), etc. Further, the energy flow to various IT equipment such as servers, storage systems, networking systems, cooling systems, security systems, automation units, and fire systems, etc
Key Metrics Used to Measure Data Center Efficiency
The data center energy metrics reflect how efficient various systems are. This is calculated with the use of certain specific formulas to analyze the energy efficiency by multiple segments of the data center facility, such as:
Physical space utilization
Peak power load per cabinet
Power usage effectiveness
Power and data ports availability metrics
Let us explore what the above-mentioned energy efficiency metrics mean.
It is defined as the ratio of energy delivered to different IT equipment total to the total energy used by the data center.
Physical space utilization
It is defined as the physical space used divided by the total physical facilities space available.Energy consumption of all equipment divided by the total physical space.
Peak power load per cabinet
It is defined as the power available in the facility and how much each cabinet uses.
Power usage effectiveness (PUE)
It is defined as the ratio of total energy used by the facility by the total amount used by the IT equipment.
It is defined as the total ratio of potential IT equipment capacity and the total energy consumption by the IT equipment.
It is defined as the ratio of the total measured power of the IT equipment to the total rated power of the IT equipment.
Power and data ports availability metrics
It is identified by identifying the cabinets with the most available power and data ports that enable the implementation of new equipment.
Water usage effectiveness (WUE)
It is defined as the measure of water used by the data center facility for cooling.
Carbon utilization effectiveness (CUE)
It is defined as the total carbon emission to the total energy consumption.
Along with energy efficiency metrics, another important data center metric emerging today is the sustainability metrics. Due to stringent environmental compliance, organizations have shifted to a more environmentally friendly solution to resolve data center performance challenges.
Let us learn more about the sustainability metrics.
According to the IEA, data centers accounted for upto 1% of the total global energy consumption in 2020. In contrast, the data center industry currently takes up approximately 2% of the world’s total energy consumption, and it is forecasted that by 2030, it will reach up to 8%.
Such significant energy consumption amounts to an increased carbon footprint and overuse of natural resources such as water.
This presents the dire need to change our energy sources to a much more sustainable and green approach.
Sustainability is defined as the development that caters to the current requirements without jeopardizing future generations, to satisfy their needs.
Various metrics are beneficial in analyzing a data center's sustainability ratio.
It is measured by the extent to which the components and processes used are environmentally friendly.
It is defined as the value of carbon footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by each energy source.
The ratio of total water used to total energy consumption of IT equipment.
the ratio of green energy consumption to total energy consumption.
Energy reuse effectiveness (RE)
It is a ratio of the spent energy reused in a data center.
This current family of data center energy efficiency and data center sustainability metrics fails to holistically cover the existing measures of energy consumption, due to which a new family of data center energy efficiency metrics have emerged which is known as ‘multidimensional data center metrics.
Multidimensional Data Center Metrics
The existing data center energy efficiency matrix has failed to incorporate all the possible and existing energy consumption measures fully. Moreover, the existing metrics fail to incorporate the risk of failure involved in the operations of a data center.
For example, all the above-mentioned metrics can show high performance indicators, but at the same time, they can also involve a high risk of failure.
This gap between high performance and risk of failure needs to be covered with a more comprehensive study of the data center operations.
According to a study by Advances in Science, Technology, and Engineering Systems ( ASTES), a new family of measurement metrics can holistically cover this gap and present us with a more comprehensive analysis, including the associated risks.
This new scorecard includes the following metrics:
Risks( both external and internal)
Ways to Optimize Data Center Energy Efficiency
There can be several ways to optimise data centre energy efficiency, some of them are mentioned below:
Sourcing energy from renewable energy resources such as wind, hydroelectric, solar, etc., will help data centers minimize their energy costs and optimize their energy efficiency.
Using modern energy-efficient server solutions to harness the power of technology to aid optimization.
Power management and monitoring systems can help data centers monitor and analyze real-time power distribution and usage activity insights.
Ventilation systems can help minimise heat and improve the efficiency of cooling systems without increasing heat load.
Diversifying the energy sources can also help data centers maintain a hybrid power source and reduce downtime and risk of failure.
Using a Data center infrastructure Management (DCIM) system can advance the tracking procedure of a data center, provide a better analysis mechanism, and establish an automated machine response system that will prove to be more efficient than traditional monitoring systems.
Using high-tech cooling systems designed for heavy workload can help data centers optimize their cooling efficiency.
Maximizing the data center's performance and harnessing the potential return on investment (ROI) while keeping sustainability standards and compliances in mind are critical in today's era.
Data center facilities have evolved to be more than just physical facilities; they have become a living, breathing, energy-eating facility that needs optimization to function correctly, and for this, data center energy efficiency metrics are essential to analyze and modify new strategies and to create a vision related to performance and risk visualization.
Moreover, emerging technological advancements such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, automation, etc, will contribute to a smarter and more sustainable operation of the data center sector that will, in turn, open investment opportunities for big IT giants to innovate and develop a future-proof technology.
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