Embedded Data Centers: Designing Better Energy Efficiency Programs Robert Huang, Cadmus
Silicon Valley Leadership Group – Data Center Efficiency Summit
November 5, 2014
What are Embedded Data Centers (EDCs)?
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Type Square Feet # Physical Servers Number in U.S.
Server Closets Less than 100 Less than 5 1.4 million
Server Rooms 100 to 999 5 to 24 1.3 million
Localized Data Center 500 to 1,999 25 to 99 66,000
Mid-Tier Data Center 2,000 to 19,999 100 to 499 10,000
Enterprise Data Center At least 20,000 At least 500 7,000
Source: IDC, 2013
EDCs in Commercial Buildings
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Typical office building’s DC is:
23%
of annual energy costs
Efficient office building’s DC is:
40-50%
of annual energy costs
Source: 2013 E Source Energy Manager’s Roundtable: presentation entitled “Who needs skeletons? We’ve got servers in the closets” by Mark Monroe, Chief Technology Officer and VP at DLB Associates.
EDCs are…. • Ubiquitous
– 50% of all servers in the U.S. are installed in EDCs – Found in 50% of small and medium business customers at PG&E – CBSA found 250 EDCs in 230 commercial buildings*
• Hard-to-Reach – 50 calls per completed survey with EDC Manager
• Uninterested in EE • Limited Savings per Site
– Size – Opportunities not the same
* Preliminary results
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Importance of EE to EDC Managers
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Never 35%
Rarely 29%
Sometimes 18%
Often 12%
Always 6%
PG&E Study asked IT Vendor: How Often do Customers Ask About EE? (n=17)
When Do Closets Need to Have Dedicated Cooling?
• 1.5 kW IT load limit at 77 degrees
• Technically, based on # servers includes: – Most server closets
– Some server rooms
• CBSA: 35 of 85 server closets had no dedicated cooling
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Schneider Electric, Whitepaper
Airflow Management/Cooling Savings are Very Limited in Server Closets
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Growing Interest in EDCs
• EPA: Updating utility guidance to include EDCs • NEEA, PG&E, & SVP: Conducting charrettes with EDC
managers/IT vendors
• NRDC: Issued papers on topic • NWPCC: Analyzing CBSA data • PG&E: Surveyed EDC managers • NYSERDA: Examining entire DC market including EDCs • MN: Requested EDC pilot • VERGE and ACEEE Conferences Red denotes Cadmus projects
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How Can This Group be Reached?
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• PG&E:
– EDC Managers: 1 survey completed per 50 calls
– IT Vendor: 1 survey completed per 5 calls
– 45% of EDC Managers use an IT vendor
• Another survey found IT Vendor twice as likely to know about utility data center efforts
• Link program to IT Vendors that heavily influence EDC decision making (similar to HVAC programs)
If HVAC Opportunity is Limited, Look to IT
• Pursue prescriptive incentives (custom too costly):
– ENERGY STAR qualified servers, data storage, and networking based on efficiency metrics
– Server virtualization
– Migration to colocation and cloud services (chiller-less cooling)
• Explore per-unit incentives: midstream for IT Vendors or upstream for IT equipment makers
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Incentives Can Help Increase EE in EDCs
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Top 5 EE Barriers in EDCs
Ranking According to SDC Managers: According to IT Vendors:
1 Resource constraints Resource constraints
2 EE not priority Focus on upfront costs
3 Focus on upfront costs Lack of understanding of in-house IT manager
4 Lack of understanding of in-house IT manager
Risk averse
5 Risk averse EE not priority
Server Savings
• EPA study at MSFT DC metered HP ProLiant servers – G6 (ES)
– G5 (non-ES)
• Determined over 50% savings very low loads (where most servers operate)
Server Virtualization of EDCs
• 2012 NRDC study: 37% (n=30)
• 2014 CBSA study: 35% (n=86)
• EDCs ripe for server virtualization incentives
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ENERGY STAR Is Gathering SERT Data For Servers
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ENERGY STAR Requires Data Storage Performance Info
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• Three types of information collected: – Transaction (I/O per second per watt)
• Banking – Large number of random I/O operations
– Streaming (MiB per second per watt) • Netflix – Streaming large continuous chunks of data
– Capacity (GB raw capacity per watt) • Not accessed frequently but prepared to go
• Currently 60 models on qualified product list
IT Vendor Perspective on EDC Migration
• Eventually, will head to a co-location facility or the cloud
• Held back mostly by security and bandwidth
• Most indicated that EDCs would migrate to a colocation facility before moving to the cloud
-PGE Study
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ComEd Closet to Colocation Program
• 5 cents/KWh incentive
• EDC with 5kW total load that saves 10% from colocation migration…… pockets $200 incentive
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EPA EDC Case Study – Preliminary Info
• Small municipal server room
• Funding for new HVAC system
• Two rack server room
• 4 kW IT load
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Server Room HVAC Possibilities
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Panel Metering
• Metered total load and AC load at panel
– Watt nodes
– Data logger
• Also metered temperature and humidity
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Odd Findings
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• 3.5 ton spot cooler oversized for 4 kW IT load
• Mysterious increase in use of AC and temp changes with no change in IT load
Culprit
• During the summer, the manager was leaving the door open to cool adjoining offices on hot days
• The 3.5 ton spot cooler was going full blast all day
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Looking to be Efficient
• Consolidating another server room into this
• Getting rid of spot cooler
• Currently examining small cooling unit made by Daiken with air side economizer – Needs to be on outer wall
– $18K to install
– Extra $4K for economizer
– Incremental cost payback in 2 years
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Single Enthalpy Control
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Economizer Operation Parameters
ES1 80 60 28 80%
ES2 75 57 26 74%
ES3 70 54 24 68%
ES4 65 51 22 61%
ES5 60 48 20 54%
% Time
OnDB Temp
Temp
DewpointEnthalpyUnit
Summary of EDC Program
• Develop prescriptive rebates for IT measures (to ease administrative burden) – IT equipment – Colocation/cloud migration
• Leverage IT Vendors’ relationships and market influence (similar to HVAC programs’ use of contractors)
• Explore upstream incentives to manufacturers • Use classic HVAC measures for larger EDCs
– Possibly smaller, free cooling units – Variable speed drives to accommodate shrinking IT loads
• Run pilots
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Contact Info
Robert Huang
Office: 617-673-7117
Allison Bard
Office: 617-673-7264
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