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BSRIA Looks To Set Up Energy Benchmarking Operation At a CIBSE (www.cibse.org) seminar held mid-June in London on data centres, BSRIA (www.bsria.co.uk) revealed how it is looking to set up energy benchmarking metrics. It intends to list by site: GIA (sq. m), DRA (sq. m), age (years), tier rating, IT power (MW and kW), total power (MW and kW), DCiE (as a percentage) and PUE. Worldwide data centres consume 40,000,000,000kWh costing GBP14 billion and generating up to 159 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The average corporate data centre costs GBP5.3 million per year to run. All this is set to double over the next five years making the UK the most expensive place in Europe to host data centres. Indeed the South East UK’s national grid is said to be near breaking point. Most electrical power ends up as heat. Only a fraction of the input is converted to the desired useful output – and non-useful output is considered waste. (Hint: think of waste heat as a pollutant). Building services are useful in providing the output but are not considered as a useful output for a data centre. The problem with benchmarking is that you cannot control what is not measured. Some do not have the data – others do have the data but don’t know how to use it. Management commitment is required – measurement needs to be comparable. What is needed is a standard guide to benchmarking – a standard language of describing, a standard method for measuring, a standard method for specifying and a standard method for analysing. There needs to be benchmarking data relating to efficiency and ways of determining contributors to inefficiency. Further, there is a need for efficiency modelling tools to assess improvements or alternatives. Hence the energy benchmarking metrics at the opening of this item. But how do we improve? Challenge the way we work – develop new strategies for operating and embrace new technologies that reduce power demands. Capture where the energy is going and benchmark. Design new data centres differently – improve the internal design of building services so that they consume less power and match the size of building services components closer to the actual IT load. More details from jo.harris@bsria.co.uk
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Greenwash?
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