Even though ASHRAE recommends that data centers maintain 80 F temperatures, 100% of respondents cooled their facilities to 74 F or less.
Abstract:
A recent study (PDF) by server and computing giants shows that data centers are wasting energy-and money-by over-cooling their servers, according to a story in The Register.
Byline:
Source: Rik Myslewski, The Register and Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine
Publication Date:
Wed, 2009-09-16 09:49
A recent study (PDF[1]) by server and computing giants shows that data centers are wasting energy-and money-by over-cooling their servers, according to a story in The Register[2].
Representatives from Intel, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Liebert Precision Cooling, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab conducted the study, along with a recent Liebert survey of members of the Data Center Users Group (DCUG), that showed that 100% of respondents was cooling data centers significantly below ASHRAE's recommended 80.6 F.
Last year, ASHRAE raised its 2004 high-end recommendation for inflow temperature from 77 F to 80.6 F. Of the 98 respondents to the DCUG survey, however, none had a computer-room air handling inflow temperature higher than 74 F, and the majority chilled their air to 70 F or below.
Chilling the air, of course, requires a significant power outlay, but getting the servers to communicate their cooling needs to computer-room air conditioning (CRAC) units is difficult because the equipment works on different protocols. Additionally, CRAC-unit vendors aren't motivated to step up and say that overly cool data centers are wasting power and money, since they profit from selling more powerful cooling systems.
