LBNL research and demonstrations

1
(No Transcript)
2
Acknowledgement to LBNL sponsors

• California Energy Commission PIER program
• Pacific Gas and Electric Company
• New York State Energy and Development Agency
  (NYSERDA)
• US - Environmental Protection Agency
• US Department of Energy

3
Data Center research activities

• Research Roadmap
• Benchmarking and 23 data center case studies
• Self-benchmarking protocol
• Power supply efficiency study
• UPS systems efficiency study
• Standby generation losses
• Performance metrics Computation/watt
• EPA report to Congress
• DOE Save Energy Now program

4
LBNL data center demonstrations

• Air management demonstration
• Outside air economizer demonstration
• DC powering demonstrations

5
Data center energy roadmap

• July, 2003 Jay Stein a major contributor
• The problem receded for several years as excess
  data center space was absorbed
• Now the concerns are back and they are badder
  than ever!

6
Performance varies
The relative percentages of the energy actually
doing computing varies considerably.
7
Percentage of electricity delivered to IT
equipment
Average .57
Higher is better
Source LBNL Benchmarking
8
Benchmark results helped to find best practices

• The ratio of IT equipment power to the total is
  an indicator of relative overall efficiency.
  Examination of individual systems and components
  in the centers that performed well helped to
  identify best practices.
• Lets talk about a few.

9
Energy efficiency opportunities are everywhere

• Better air management
• Move to liquid cooling
• Optimized chilled-water plants
• Use of free cooling

• Load management
• Server innovation

Cooling Equipment
Power Conversion Distribution
Server Load/ComputingOperations

• On-site generation
• Waste heat for cooling
• Use of renewable energy/fuel cells

• High voltage distribution
• Use of DC power
• Highly efficient UPS systems
• Efficient redundancy strategies

AlternativePower Generation
10
Best practices topics identified through
benchmarking
11
A word about appropriate environmental conditions

• ASHRAE published thermal guidelines
• All IT suppliers participated
• Guidelines allow most centers to relax setpoints
• Recommended and allowable ranges of temperature
  and humidity are provided at the inlet to the
  IT equipment
• High temperatures in the hot aisles and return
  to air conditioners is desirable.

12
Humidity guidelines at the inlet to IT
equipment
ASHRAE Allowable Maximum
ASHRAE Recommended Maximum
ASHRAE Recommended Minimum
ASHRAE Allowable Minimum
13
Temperature guidelines at the inlet to IT
equipment
ASHRAE Allowable Maximum
ASHRAE Recommended Maximum
ASHRAE Recommended Minimum
ASHRAE Allowable Minimum
14
Air management best scenario isolate cold and
hot
95-100º
70-75º
15
Another isolation scheme
16
Measured fan energy savings 75
If mixing of cold supply air with hot return air
can be eliminated- fan speed can be reduced
17
Better temperature control can allow raising the
temperature in the entire data center!
ASHRAE Recommended Range
Ranges during demonstration
18
Best practices Free cooling with air economizers
19
Encouraging outside air economizers

• Issue
• Many are reluctant to use air economizers
• Outdoor pollutants and humidity control
  considered equipment risk
• Goal
• Encourage use of outside air economizers where
  climate is appropriate
• Strategy
• Address concerns contamination/humidity control
• Quantify energy savings benefits

20
Outdoor measurements
IBM Standard
EPA 24-Hour Health Standard
EPA Annual Health Standard
and ASHRAE Standard
21
Measurements inside the centers
IBM Standard
EPA 24-Hour Health Standard
EPA Annual Health Standard
and ASHRAE Standard
22
Indoor measurements
23
Data center w/economizer
24
Humidity measurements
ASHRAE Allowable Upper Limit
ASHRAE Recommended Upper Limit
ASHRAE Recommended Lower Limit
ASHRAE Allowable Lower Limit
25
Findings

• Water soluble salts in combination with high
  humidity can cause failures
• Static electricity can occur with very low
  humidity
• New ASHRAE particle limits drastically lower than
  manufacturer standard
• Particle concentration typically (no economizer)
  an order of magnitude lower than new ASHRAE
  limits
• Economizers, without other mitigation, can cause
  particle concentration to approach new ASHRAE
  limits but filtration can mitigate this

26
Best practices power conversion
27
Data center power conversions
AC voltage conversions
28

• Prior research illustrated large losses in power
  conversion

Power Supplies in IT equipment
Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS)
29
With over 25 industry partners direct DC powering
of servers was demonstrated
30
Typical AC distribution today
480 Volt AC
31
Facility-level DC distribution
380V.DC
480 Volt AC
32
AC system loss compared to DC
7-7.3 measured improvement
2-5 measured improvement
Rotary UPS
33
Whats new
Infrared thermography can be used as a
visualization tool
34

• websites
• http//hightech.lbl.gov/datacenters/
• www.energystar.gov/datacenters
• www.eere.energy.gov/datacenters/

35

• Discussion/Questions??